high pitched whine while hubs are locked

97 tacoma

I recently replaced a cv axle. First fifty + miles of driving in 4x4, everything was fine. Today, a noise starts up in 4x4 from the side with the new axle. It only happens when the hub is locked (doesn't matter if 4wd is engaged) above around 15 mph. It's a high pitched whine or grinding noise. What's really weird about it is that it's not constant, there are short breaks of silence every half second or so. I'm out in woods right now so I don't want to take the axle totally out of the truck, but I did take off the hub (everything looked fine) and the plate that the end of the axle slots into that fits against the rotor. Everything looked ok in there, lots of grease and no sign of abrasion. The axle is seated where it's supposed to be up against the differential and on the knuckle side. What the hell could be causing this noise? It seems like turning left (the axle in question is passenger side) alleviates the noise a little bit. Thanks.

 

Have you raised it up in the air, and spun the wheel by hand?

Easier to do things up close and better to pinpoint where the noise comes from.

I'd pull everything apart again, maybe even swap the manual hubs over (left to right).

What's the condition of the clutch itself? You didn't accidentally assemble it incorrectly right?

 

I'm not sure I will be able to spin the wheel fast enough off the ground to get the noise but I can give it a shot. Definitely will be swapping hubs, that's a great idea. The clutch looks ok and I'm pretty sure I have it put together correctly. It's pretty simple and I followed a video tutorial to understand how to do it.

 

Switched the hubs, that seemed to have no effect. Therefore it's the axle. I couldn't spin the wheel off the ground fast enough to make the noise. So I pulled the axle out of the hub (left it in the diff) and I see a few potential sources of the whine.

1. When rotating the axle, I can see through a tiny crack that the gasket that seals the diff spins along with the axle. Guessing I probably should have greased that up.

2. The face at the hub end of the disk out of which the spindle protrudes is dry and maybe looks likes it's been rubbing on the surface it seats onto, though it doesn't look like there's channeling or anything. More grease perhaps.

3. There's a slight ding in the lip that sits around that face, I'll tap that out with a drift but I doubt that's where the noise comes from

4. The snap ring that seats on the spindle seemed quite loose, though the slots on the spindle don't look damaged.

Let me know if any of these sound like a glaring issue that could make that annoying chirping sound. Thanks

 

Well I greased the shit out of everything. I also don't think the snap ring is the issue since it was plenty tight going on. Put it all back together and took it out for a drive. Started out quiet but within half a mile the squeak slowly started up again. So something I greased went right back to rubbing. I think maybe the axle I put in is causing problems. You really would think though that there'd have been more sign of wear in there with that noise happening

 

I'm answering from my phone so bare with me; this is a NEW cv axle?

I can't imagine the shaft getting that way with just a few miles on it.

Also, you should always replace the cv axle seal when you pull cv axles. They're cheap enough and ensure you don't develop a leak after install of the new one (won't make a difference in noise though).

And good thing checking the snap ring, I was going to make mention of that regarding install.

Did you check for any wobbling and confirm your wheel bearing is good to go?

 

It is a new axle. Would a wheel bearing squeek like that only when the hubs locked? If it was failing, I think it would whine all the time since it's always in motion while the wheels moving regardless of whether or not the axles moving with it

 

I doubt it, but checking for play in the wheel can tell you something right off the bat.

 

I think I figured it out. Pretty sure it's the u joint squeeking on the front drive line. I greased it which quieted it for a bit. The noise came back quickly but now I'm pretty sure I have a failing u joint. I was also wrong about the noise only happening while the passenger side hub being locked, it happens with the drivers side locked too.

 

Wanted to revive this thread because I have not figured this noise out. I replaced the front driveline u joint as well as the hubs (a shop told me that was the cause), neither did anything to stop it.

Since the noise happens if I only lock one hub (doesn't matter which side) I feel like that eliminates the cv axles since they will turn independently of one another. And because it's not the u joints, it's gotta be the front diff, right? Any thoughts on this