3rd Gen Poll: Rear End Noise howling when feathering throttle

Maybe some sound deadening on the wall behind the seats will quiet it down.

 

I have the windows down all of the time. So that won’t help much.

 

It must be pretty loud if you can hear it with the windows down. I can only hear the howl if windows are up and music is off

 

I can contest it gets loud. More than a radio or an open window would make up for. Particularly when you’re honed into the sound.

I can now hear it in any vehicle I ride in, that has the same issue. Unfortunately it’s not unique to the Tacoma.

At 40k+ miles on my second diff, it’s still there. Comes and goes though and not as loud as it used to be for whatever reason.

 

I think the biggest issue is that for many people, once you hear it you cannot unhear it. That was what drove both my wife and I crazy. My first one could be heard with my radio volume with Kicker tweeters set on 35. It was loud. Toyota agreed it was bad and had excessive shavings and the tech told me the gears were ground. My second one was church pew quiet - for about 1500 miles. Then it started at speeds that I couldn’t hear on the old one.

The reason I sold my truck was that the second one, while not as loud, had the howling at numerous speeds. That, coupled with the tranny issues and the fact that my door seal areas were rusting was enough for me to call it a day on many many years of Taco driving. I have yet to buy another truck and would love for Toyota to actually fix this issue. They are fully capable but they are choosing to mask, or try to mask, the noise as opposed to truly fixing it.

If this issue is fixed by the time I’m ready for another truck then I’ll be in another Taco. If not, I won’t. I think the competition is only going to get better and hopefully that’ll drive Toyota to fix this and heck, we might get a front locker too! Lol. Either way, if noises bother you, this is a tough one to handle. FWIW, my last Yukon XL (2016 model) howled around 55 while feathering the throttle.

 

Once you hear it, you can feel it. Even with the windows down and radio on.

 

Adding one more data point:

I've had my truck for about a year and a half now. Rear end just started this whine/harmonic issue. I'd say it started around 11,000 miles. I'll bring it up with the dealer when I'm in next, but don't really believe they'll do anything about it...

 

I have a 19 Trd Off Road and the carrier assembly was replaced at 2400 miles for a loud whining noise. The noise is still there but just not as loud and I was told by the dealership that Toyota will not replace it again unless it gets loud or fails.

 

Par for the course. Mine has been whining for about 20,000 miles, but no issues other than the noise being annoying. I just turn the stereo up.

 

Mine has added an additional harmonic while feathering around 30 mph. It isn't as loud as the 55 mph resonance, but it is definitely there. Even the service advisor noticed it without me bringing it up.

 

Mine developed the sound at 30mph AFTER the tsb. Before the tsb it was only around 60mph.

 

This question is for those of you that had the TSB/Fix applied at the factory instead of by the dealership. Did they install the dynamic dampeners on your rear cab mounts? Mine still look like figure 6 of the TSB without the addition of part 51229-04010.

 

Not a problem, just a quirk of the way the entire rear end, frame, suspensions, and body are designed.

If it were a *problem*, people would have reported long term issues with abnormal wear patterns, and failures. Neither of which have occurred.

Conventional logic doesn't always apply in every single case. Sometimes things are just designed differently, and don't behave as expected. I suspect that is what's going on here. Yes, the sound is annoying, and yes Toyota should have designed the rear end better to eliminate it, but calling it a "problem" just gets everyone wound up and angry for no reason. Accept it and enjoy the truck otherwise, or don't accept it and move on to something else.. that's everyone's choice.

 

I had what Corporate engineers deemed to be excessive shavings with ground gears and my pinion angle was off. When the next diff was put in it was church pew quiet, for 1500 miles, and then it started making the same noise at multiple speeds. If a diff can be quiet for 1500 miles it should be able to be quiet for 50,000. Just because no one has had one grenade yet doesn’t mean it’s not a problem. I sold mine as opposed to worrying with a LL claim while dealing with a busy practice and a dying family member. I still like the Taco (driven them for quite a while) but won’t touch another one until they pony up and fix this issue, and I truly hope they do it.

 

Well said, and yes it is a problem.

 

Thank you. And, I’m in no way trying to argue with anyone on this, but this is clearly an issue.

I am now firmly planted in that 45-54 demographic and I’ve owned a lot of new cars over the years, and what mine did was not normal. I’ve had some great ones and some terrible ones, but when my door sill areas (I live in a virtually rust free state) started rusting out, along with the tranny issues and howling, it was time for me to move on. It just wasn’t worth it to keep up with the stress and back and forth with corporate.

My hope is that competition forces Toyota to fix some of these nagging issues. Time will tell. Take care - time to get back to work!

 

That is unfortunate in your case. Sorry to hear that.

Some guy on here posted a pic of his diff torn apart by a diff shop for examination and they found absolutely nothing wrong with it. No unusual wear, nothing broken, etc. He had the howl. Diff shop concluded that everything was in spec and the noise was merely harmonic related. I wish I could find the post...

If these diffs truly were problematic, that would be a safety hazard, which would be a gigantic liability on Toyota's part given how many Tacos have the noise (practically all of them). This fact leads me to believe that Toyota has looked into the noise and determined that the noise is acceptable from a functional and safety perspective.

 

Maybe that is the case but there is also the possibility that money and risk benefit analysis is driving the train. I hate to say this but I see it daily in my job. Look up the Remington Model 700 safety issues. That went unaddressed for decades because of costs and fear of litigation. But, my hope is that this is just a noise that can be addressed so I can get back in one. . Otherwise, I’m heading in a different direction because stuff like that bothers me whereas it might not bother others. Be well.

 

For anyone curious about the theory behind T-SB-0013-18's fix, here's more than you've ever wanted to know:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d92e/dcd213fad59d4e720283eb70b5837f6d9db6.pdf

 

Yeah does anyone know if our 19s already have the TSB?