2010 Tacoma Grinding noise in 5th gear when let off gas pedal

My dealer installed the new drive shaft today, part number 37110-04171, and now the noise is entirely gone, so sweet! It only took them about ten minutes to do the job, and the new slip joint is rock solid. Total invoice amount was $710.29, so I'm glad it was still under warranty. Just hope it doesn't eventually go loose like the original one did.

 

Finally, a drive train noise thread that got somewhere!

I've been battling this since I've owned the truck. The only thing is, mine is mostly at 38-42 in 4th gear. You guys think its the same thing?

I was about at a loss. I'm preparing to just drop a new transmission into the thing. I guess I should look at the driveshaft now.

 

Early on, I suddenly got a scraping noise that was very alarming, any time I let off the gas or hit the brakes. (In any gear.) I assumed it was a rock in the brakes. So did the mechanics at first, and they took that all apart a couple of times with no luck.

It turned out to be some thin metal dust shield (on the transmission?) that had somehow gotten way out of place - it was scraping against the drive shaft. I have no idea how mine would have gotten so extra far out of whack (wasn't off-roading or anything) but it sounds like this could be causing some of the symptoms I read about here.

Worth a look, anyways...

 

I don't have time to search, but there are several threads on this exact issue. I've been experiencing the same thing for the last 2000 miles since I bought the truck. Those of us who have regular cabs and single piece driveshafts had some luck with flipping it so the slip yoke was at the rear. I tried it and it got rid of the noise, but introduced even more annoying vibrations felt through the seat. I'd rather put up with the noise than the vibrations, so i flipped it back again to the original setup. The main theory for the noise is that the driveshaft angle is too great, putting too much stress on the U-joints.

 

In my case the loose slip joint was definitely where the grinding noise was coming from. By the way, the new drive shaft has a different part number from the old one, don't know how significant that is but hope if means Toyota is finally improving the design. I'd advise anyone with a similar noise to try wiggle the drive shaft and see if there is play in it.

 

The noise is caused by the slip yoke like islander said. I bought some teflon grease and cleaned & lubed the slip joint a few weeks ago, and it almost eliminated the noise completely. The biggest benefit from re-greasing was getting rid of the binding that I had assumed was just the design of the truck (clunking when pressing the clutch). The truck feels much more sprightly now.

Since the noise seems to disappear when there's a heavier load in the bed, it makes me think that the driveshaft is slightly over extended. I think that some shims will be probably eliminate this grinding noise completely. Going to try this soon.

I'd recommend greasing the slip joint to anyone, it was pretty dry inside with only 25,000 miles on the odo.

 

had the same issue with my 08 reg 4x4...they probably have no clue what it is...because the mechanic told me it was how the air intake sounded, which i knew was not the case.

 

This was the problem I had, Jefenator, same as you. I used a big screw driver and pried the section of that dust cover away from the shaft.... tried to get it even all around. No noise since then. I realize this is an ancient thread.... still, might be of use to someone.

 

12 years later and after putting another 50K on the truck the noise is back and I can feel play at the slip joint again, time to get another driveshaft! Or live with the noise but I wonder if it will fail eventually? Ecoterragaia mentioned using shims might work too...?

 

How’s the last 12 years been ha ha?! I still have the truck and have put about 160k miles on it since my last post in this thread. I’ve just learned to live with the grind. It goes away when the bed is loaded heavily, and even reduces drastically with a full gas tank, so I’m still convinced that reducing the slip yolk play would work via a shim. But unfortunately I just never pulled the trigger because there haven’t been any mechanical issues and I’ve bought a couple of other vehicles since then that I use for travel. The truck is my daily driver and weekend project warrior.

Sorry, I wish I could be of more help.

 

Hey, nice to know your shaft hasn't broken after all those miles and grinds! Guess I can try to learn to live with the noise and not worry about it, I have a heavy camper shell I could put on the back to see if that helps. Otherwise the truck has been mostly good...I did get the leaf spring recall done and the airbag one too, have replaced the driver side wheel bearing, and most recently the valve cover gasket, should do shocks one of these days.. only have 110K on it now, don't see many other type 2 regular cabs on the roads here anymore..

 

Our trucks are unicorns at this point, for sure. I’ve also done some minor repairs but for the most part, this truck has definitely spoiled me as far reliability goes.

 

Guess my main gripe at this point is that the AC stopped working and none of the easy fixes I tried helped - relay, drive belt tension.. of course trucks didn't used to even have AC and we managed.. but that's getting off topic.