Drive Line Creak When Placed in Gear

I've been having trouble with vibration in my two-piece drive line and am hoping the group wisdom of the Tacoma World community can help solve this mystery.

About a year ago I replaced the center support bearing, which helped a bit, but then I had that "ping" when I shifted into gear (manual tranny), so I replaced front and rear u-joints, which eliminated the ping reduced the vibration for a while.

Then the vibration returned and a month ago I determined the cardan joint had a bit of play in it, so I had that replaced (and balanced the shaft), then about 10 days ago the new front u-joint developed about 1/64" of slop around the spring clips, so I replaced that one, which helped for a bit, then the rear u-joint developed that same 1/64" slop at the clips.

So yesterday I replaced the rear u-joint and rebalanced the shaft thinking that it may be the culprit...and now, when I put it into gear, I hear this creak sound, like metal is being stressed, coming from the new rear u-joint. Here is a link to a video that records the sound (cue to 1:00 when I put the parking break on and released the clutch): https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...&key=WmJCbWdCVnFoZ2Vtc2RNNlV2VUR0RmtRSE5mRUp3

Any insight into the mystery is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld
We're all the zerks well lubed ?
Some are hard to see.

 

When you replaced the ujoint did you make sure there was smooth/free movement without any resistance? From what I've seen, you've got to tap it a bit on each side to help get it into place. Not just making sure the snap ring is in place but loading it up a bit.

Then again, I'm not the expert. I fuxored a ujoint royally trying to remove it on the front drive shaft lol.

 

Thanks for the quick replies!

Black Dog, you bring up a good point. The first set of u-joints were not lubed well - the synthetic grease I had purchased 6-12 months earlier had separated into mineral oil and paste, so only one u-joint got some grease. On this second set of u-joints I made certain they were full before I installed them - I used the red grease from NAPA. The slide shaft is lubed and I watched the mechanic lube the cardan joint with a needle fitting when I picked it up, so I think we're good. I could crawl up under there and lube then again, that wouldn't hurt.

Area 51, they appeared to be free moving to me. The clips appeared to be inserted correctly (they snapped in without a problem) and I gave the yokes a few good taps with a ball peen. I haven't even looked at the front drivel line u-joints - sorry to hear you've had problems with yours.

I appreciate your suggestions - hopefully someone has traveled this trail before and will chime in.

 

I all your discussion of the driveline work, there is no mention of greasing the slip joint that is right before the rear pinion. FWIW, a dry slip joint was the source of the ping noise I had.

 

He said it right here. But called it the ‘slide shaft’ I think

 

Slip joint, you are correct. It's the splined shaft that is between the support bearing and the rear differential. It has grease. Sorry about that - my terminology could use improvement.
I greased all the ujoints and took it for a test drive...still making the creaking noise. I wonder if it could be coming from something other than the drive shaft? Maybe a bushing on the tranny or something on the rear axle (seems like a long shot to me).