really really bad vibration

Ok i just want to say hi first. My name is brandon and I have a 06 tacoma prerunner. The truck is bone stock and I love it. Well i noticed a driveline vibration a couple weeks ago but it seem to go away so I didnt think anything of it. Well a couple days ago my wife was driving it and say man this truck is running really bad. well I get in it and the vibration is awful! I feel like im on my riding lawnmower lol. It vibrates no matter what the speed is. I can be running at 55mph and throw it in Netural and the virbration goes away. Im thinking it might be the u joints or carrier bearing. Its so bad we're not even driving it right now until we figure it out. Do the u joint or carrier bearing really go out at 75k miles on these trucks? we have had it since it was new and this is the first problem we have had with it. hoping you guys could help. remember it is bone stock access cab 2wd automatic. thanks in advance.

 

so it goes away when u put it in nuetral.... is it rotational like, with speed does the frequency increase? check ur u joints, and carrier bearing. if its so bad, it should be easy to find what the problem is

 

You are supposed to tighten the driveshaft bolts and lubricate the U-joints every year or 10K. Was that ever done?

 

its seems to increase with rpm. I just dont want to start replacing stuff and it not be the problem.

 

bolts are tight.

 

if it goes away when put in nuetral tho thats weird. cuz everything is still spinning trans back...

 

He's taking the pressure off the joints in neut. So they are kinda floating.
If it's that bad you should be able to find the problem fairly easy.
Chock the tires and put it in neut (not running) and crawl under it and start shaking and twisting the drive shaft. Check the joints as you do this for slop.

 

maybe the balance weights flew off the shaft?

 

ok mike i will check that out, thanks. also it looks like the weights are still there but who knows, they could have fell off. im just trying to figure it out before i just start throwing money at it.

 

also i checked the the carrier bearing and it looks good.

 

Absolutely Brandon
If you don't see anything get another set of eyes to look at it.

 

PreRunners have sealed u-joints, they can't be greased.

 

OP, my first u-joint went bad at 30k and the second at 85k. What u describe sounds like a bad u-joint, do u hear any squeaking ?

 

yes i hear squeaking and clunking sometimes.

 

so ur leaning towards the u-joints being bad mike?

 

HEHEHE my son texted me yesterday and his truck is starting to squeak.

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow. So much for my day of rest lol

With the squeaking like Chris mentioned i'd be looking there yes.