'Clunk' when coming to complete stop

So to continue my own thread above about the intermittent clunk when coming to a stop or pulling forward again.
I took my 03 Tacoma into a transmission speciality shop and they found no problem with my transmission. They did grease the zerks on the drive shaft. Stated they did not see a problem doing an external visual inspection on the shaft. They did notice a leaking seal on the rear axel leaking down into and affecting my braking possibly making the brakes stick and the rear end lift a little uneven on one side.
Will run down to my local garage to repair that.
The mechanic from the transmission shop did not notice the intermittent clunk during the test drive. So not able to speak on that.
So off to the local garage where the other mechanic was able to reproduce the clunk to repair the leaking fluid on the rear brakes and report the new opinion on the transmission. So it continues...

 

Following this - I have similar symptoms of:

1) Coasting / Mild braking to stop = Clunk
2) Shifting from D > N > R = Clunk
3) Clunk appears to originate "below" the cupholders - this is a rough estimate of where the sound seems to come from, aka ruling out a rear end culprit(slip yoke?).

I shook each U-joint fwd/bwd and left/right and observed one joint had enough play to be the culprit. All other U-joints did not have any amount of play so this must be it. For lack of a better term the joint is "below" the cupholders. I'm not savvy on driveline speak - I think its the joint nearest to the transfer case going to the transmission.

The only other culprit I'm thinking is axle wrap, my leaf springs have at least a frown/sad look to them.

 

I had this (axle wrap) until I installed new Deaver J59 leaf springs. Hasn't happened once since. Installed them a little under two years ago now.

 

Hey Mike here. Thanks for your comments on things that go bump on a Taco when coming to a stop.
I Misunderstood the Transmission mechanic about the rear brakes. He said those were "possible" reasons for the rear brake problem. So will have the brakes checked out also. As far as axel wrap that was just mentioned (Thank you) the mechanic also mentioned the possibility of axel wrap as its looking rusty in that area. I was thinking about replacing the springs any way as they also have that sad look . I'll checkout the J59 leaf springs as mentioned above in the comments (THANKS) I bought a Montauk 170 and plan to trailer her around some so need the support.
I'll report back as I continue checking out the possibilities for the"bump or clank".
Thanks again MIKE

 

Hi Mike here Fossilguy
FIXED !
So after all That it turned out to be axel wrap. Replaced the Leaf springs
and that was that. Every time I mentioned Leaf springs and axel wrap as a possible cause I kept getting a blank stare. The mechanics around here just don't seem to have experience replacing leaf springs or what goes bump in the night on old Tacos !
Shows how great Tacos hold up through the years.
Thanks for all your remarks !
Mike

 

Good to hear bud, what kind of leaf springs did you get? Go with the J59s?

thanks,
EP

 

Hey EP
I purchased OEM TOYOTA Leaf springs. From Toyota through a garage who did the work for me.Supposed to be an exact replacement. Paid through the nose but its what i did.
After the Holidays there is something else I want to check out in addition. Its a service bulletin from Toyota I found on a Toyota forum.
For the years 2005 -2013. Maybe 2003 could be added ?
Service Category- Drivetrain.
Section - Drive Shaft / Propeller Shaft
August 8 2014 Rev 2:
Introduction
Some 4WD 2005 - 2013 model year tacoma vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission may exhibit a clunk/thunk noise from the rear of the vehicle or a"bump from behind" sensation just before a stop or when accelerating from a stop. improvements have been implemented on the rear propellar shaft (drive shaft) to reduce this condition. Follow the repair procedure in this bulletin to improve this condition.
Yes mine is an 03 but might be interesting to follow up on.
So will see ....
Mike

 

Cool man! thanks for the follow up and info.

I have some Deaver J59's en route along with some Front/Rear Bilstein 6112/5100s I snagged over black Friday. We'll see how that improvement goes!

 

Good luck on it. Let us know how it works out !

 

For whatever it's worth- I recently upgraded to J59s from OEM + 1.5" 3 leaf AAL. And I'd say that if you're expecting the J59s to reduce your axle wrap, you might be disappointed. The J59's ride as well as they have been described for the last 20 years, but they are progressive pack, and in general a bit softer "at first" until the stiffer spring rate "kicks in". I have notably more axle wrap with them. They have considerably more droop (down travel) over OEM. The rear shocks are almost always the limiting factor in droop, but it's extremely noticeable with the J59s, even with the 5100s for lifted trucks. To the point where if I did more off roading I'd go back to my custom rear shock /\ setup (I switched back to the OEM shock mounts when I was low on cash and couldn't afford to fix my custom setup).

 

Update:

Finally installed my J59s along with Bilstein 6112 Front Shocks + Springs & 5100 Rear shocks and happy to report all (noticeable) axle wrap is gone! These suckers gave me a >4inch lift on the rear and I posted my front 6112's for a 2.5in lift. I'm hoping the rear will eventually settle and meet the front 2.5inch lift. Currently my J59's are not drooping but smiling.

Cheers!

 

OP, your dry erase board has me wondering what the status of the potty smell is? Hahaha

Glad the new springs helped. Be sure to torque your new ubolts after a few hundred miles.

 

Central Texas had an unprepared freeze last week and we had some friends without power stay here for 2/3 nights. We got to eat their fridge food but boy something didn't sit right with me and our poor bathroom was ravaged without air freshener!

 

I had exactly the same symptoms, but just replacing the carrier barring and disassembling, cleaning and re-greasing the slip yoke completely resolved the issue. Honestly, although the center/carrier barring's robber grommet was pretty worn, I think the real issue was the slip yoke binding.

I wonder if the effect of having stiffer leaf springs requires the slip yoke to travel or flex less, similarly resolving the issue. In my case the grease in the slip yoke had almost congealed, so I cleaned it all out with break cleaner and regressed.

Just thought I would share my resolution!