Drive shaft? Exploded on highway

Driving on highway and boom. No bueno. Driveshaft I think? Anyone have this happen? Nothing noticeable wrong with driving previously, keep up with all maintenance and don't off-road.

 

did you grease teh u joints?

Did you feel a vibration in the drive train?

 

I'll be honest I have never greased anything myself. The last time it was, was at the 120k service. I haven't felt any vibration at all. Been driving really smooth.

 

well that sucks. call up spicer and get some new u joints

 

Take the whole thing out and do the carrier bearing at the same time.
Hard to tell from the pics, but it doesn’t look like you damaged the ears on the shaft too bad?
Sometimes they get trashed when you physically break a u-joint. The driveshaft get pounded in to the pavement. You’ll know pretty quick once you have out.

 

If it has a zerk fitting, you should be greasing it at every oil change. That's why they call it a LOF job: Lube, Oil, Filter.


Edit: If you fix this driveshaft, I recommend having a driveshaft specialist check to make sure it’s not bent/warped, and rebalance it as an assembly.

 

Did you have two u joints come out in different places at the same time? wtf?

Hard to tell with your pics, but it looks like the one just behind the T-case came apart along with the one just behind the carrier bearing.

Does the carrier bearing still turn or is it half ripped off the underside of the truck?

 

What’s a u joint?

 

I know now to grease it.

 

Does not turn. All the joints up close look pretty messed up.

11 year old truck problems?

 

Please, I am a master at using lube.....alone....

 

Oh, poop

 

You should have some on the front driveshaft also.
It’s not too bad. The driveshaft will turn when NOT in 4WD and parked.
Just reach up and turn it to where you can get to the zerks.

Also, if you decide to remove the driveshaft yourself.
Chock the wheel. The truck is free to roll when the drive shaft is removed.
It should be free to roll now. Definitely use the e-brake. And chock it too.

 

Damn... Happened to me, about 2 months ago. Front drive shaft. Got it fixed at Clutchcity Transmission in Sw Houston

 

If you can, replace the driveshaft entirely.

 

I don’t think his truck has zerks that need to be lubed.

 

Yeah I was wondering. I'm a 2WD guy. Sorry to everyone, I don't off-road except for the beach and the farm. Lol

 

Could be anything, but my truck is older.

Not all of these came with greasable u joints, could be neglect/not crawling under the truck to inspect it, could be simply not recognizing the signs of issues, or could have been something catastrophic. Sometimes shit happens. On a couple of my previous trucks with one piece rear driveshafts I fabricated a driveshaft loop out of metal wire simply to limit damage in case the shaft came loose at the front. I passed by many a truck when I was a kid with the rear end propped up on the driveshaft.

also, while I expect you knew what I was talking about, I just want to clarify that the outer part of the carrier bearing does not turn--the driveshaft turns within the carrier bearing.

While I myself would probably do a complete DIY, if you're not comfortable with that any driveshaft shop should be able to completely fix you up with 3 new u joints, a new carrier bearing, and balance the shaft. One of the keys to DIY is knowing exactly how the shaft went together so it maintains its balance--considering yours took itself apart, you didn't have the opportunity to make mating or witness marks on the multiple pieces of the shaft.

 

Yeah I gotcha. Turns on one part, not the other. If anything this gives me an opportunity to learn more about my truck.

 

I believe the 2010 Tacoma in the 2 wheel drive version used non greaseable polypropylene universal joints . According to the Seminars I have been at , Spicer says they are designed to last 50,000 trouble free miles - life time of the vehicle .

The OP now has the opportunity to replace those u-joints with the greaseable version . The con ? he gets to buy a new grease gun

Seen an ambulance flip over a few years ago from the driveshaft digging into the roadway .