Drive-shaft, u-joints, carrier support bearing, shudder, vibration, "Growl"

Thank you to all of the contributors to this site. Thank you for the time you put into your post and for recording your work. I wanted to repay a little by posting on my experience with a bad u joint. My truck details are listed in my profile. I have 120k miles and started to notice a vibration and squeak that almost sounded like a bird chirp. with in the next couple of days the vibrations progressively worsened and started to "growl". Here is what I found.

Inspection:
1. raised the rear wheels, took all safety measures, put the truck in neutral, and twisted the drive-shaft. The U-joint closest to the transmission had lots of play and twisted with a clunk at the end of the rotation. Closer inspection of that u-joint revealed a cap that was loose and noticeable grease surrounding the joint. The other 2 "sounded" fine and did not have much play.
2. although i originally figured my carrier support bearing was at fault, it in fact was fine. it had give which i believe is the purpose of the rubber grommet. and it did not have any sound when the d-s was rotated.

Action:
1. called dealer for pricing carrier bearing $206 - $235 and u-joints $70 - $75 from various toyota dealers. apparently not many brick and mortar locations carry the bearing. however i did find u-joints in stores priced anywhere from $11 - $30 depending on brand and such.
2. local mechanic shop quoted $400 for csb and only 2 u-joints.
2. contacted a drive-shaft specialist close to me in D/FW area, Drive Train of Mesquite, and AJ was a great help. They quoted me $200 for bringing them the drive-shaft in 1 piece and replacing 3 u-joints and the c.s.b. He also offered to sell me the parts at $80 for the carrier support bearing and $17 for the u-joints

i read many post and felt comfortable replacing the u-joints. I have experience with some rather complicated projects but didnt want to turn this into a nightmare especially since i have never changed them before. so i chose to take my d-s to the specialist for the repair. with an appointment the repair would take at most a couple of hours. I dropped it off the day i called them and it was ready the following afternoon. When I picked it up, AJ showed me the old u-joints, the other 2 that didnt have much play showed lots of wear and were soon on their way out. The c.s.b. was fine but was replaced anyways. Once installed on the truck the ride is markedly improved. less vibration then i can remember in a long time. the torque feels solid. the removal and re-installation of the d-s was simple and took less than 15 minutes. (4) 14mm bolts and nut on the rear end. I used a crescent wrench and ratchet/socket and breaker bar. the carrier bearing bracket bolt is also 14mm. i supported the d-s with several jack stands for lowering it. at the transmission end, some atf was lost. i am not sure if csb bracket kit is instore or shims or spacers only time will tell.
The End

 

Thanks for posting this - the rearmost u-joint has gone bad in my Taco.

Bought 3 new (sealed) Duralast Gold U-joints from Auto Zone today, and borrowed a ball joint/u-joint press from them as well.

Going to attempt to replace all three joints tomorrow. Hopefully the old joints will come out easily and the new ones will go in with no problem.

I'm going to jack the rear of the truck up a bit in an effort to keep from losing transmission fluid...something tells me I won't be fully successful, though. Need to change the fluid anyway...I've read through the method posted here and I want to try it.

I am also wondering about the center carrier bearing...I have the problem that many others have with the "shudder" or "vibration" on hard acceleration. Doesn't happen unless throttle is open at least 45-50%, I would say...

The carrier bearing moves around when I push/pull on the shaft...as you say, I assume this is due to the rubber "donut" around it. Is it designed to give like this?

How do you tell if the center carrier bearing is bad?

 

For anyone who runs into this problem and is considering replacing the universal joints yourself, I'd encourage you to give this a try.

I was a little apprehensive, but I decided to give it a shot, and it was really no sweat. The driveshaft was a cinch to remove - literally 6 bolts - the 4 on the diff and the 2 on the carrier bearing - and it comes out.

It would really be simple with 2 people...I did it by myself and just used a cooler and a couple of dirt bike stands.

A friend recommended that I jack up the rear of the truck a little bit to keep transmission fluid from running out when I removed the shaft. I did this, and only a few drops came out...an insignificant amount. (I already had a set of jack stands...I wouldn't recommend getting underneath any vehicle with only a hydraulic jack supporting it.)

As suggested by a member here, I borrowed a ball joint press from Auto Zone. This ended up being the perfect tool for the job...and, indeed, on the case, the press says, "ball joint/u-joint press."

The press is like a big, heavy-duty C-clamp, and it kept me from having to pound the old u-joints out of the driveshaft. I had a 24" breaker bar which made it pretty easy to get the leverage I needed. If you are thinking about using this method, you will need a 7/8" socket to turn the jackscrew on the press.

Only 1 bearing cup was obviously bad on the rear u-joint, but I decided to take the recommendation of others here and go ahead and replace all three while I had the shaft out. I thought about doing the carrier bearing but it seemed to be OK.

Anyway, like I say, if you're thinking about trying this job, go for it!

As others have said, just take your time and be careful not to get any of the needles in the bearing cups crooked.

 

Thanks to both of you guys for your information, I now have more confidence in doing the job myself and saving myself some money!!!