Heinous vibration after replacing transmission and axles

So long story short.. broke my tranny, replaced it with a used one, accidentally pierced the upper oil pan by mixing the screws of the bell housing (I know...), towed to garage where they replaced it and had them replace the axles at same time (they didnt do rebuilds). Now truck has a constant annoying vibration coming through steering wheel and pedal.

I feel it at all speeds and if I put my trans in say neutral and rev up/down vibration stays same. Seems consistent in turns, acceleration, 2wd/4wd etc...

I marked my drive shaft when I took it off so I am pretty sure (99%) that its back in same place.

Took it back to garage, they thought left wheel bearing, replaced it but didnt change.

I have heard some after market axles can cause issues and I still have old ones I could try to rebuild (maybe- the boots were cracked and they said one made a bit of a click).

What would you suggest? How can I check if its the drive shaft or something else?

 

Off the top of my head I’d say check your motor mounts to make sure they survived the tranny swap.

 

Did you have your driveshaft apart? If so are the 2 halves phased correctly?

 

This!

 

Late reply… was getting work done on it. So mounts look fine though i did forget to readd the 4 small bolts that stabilize the rear mount. It helped but vibe still partly there. I did not take the two halves apart but I could not find the mark i may or may not have put on rear diff and just switched it around without a difference. Had a garage look at it and they said rear of shaft near diff does shake a bit. Not sure if it did before and not sure how it would happen during a swap. Still searching. Only when driving, turning or 4wd makes no diff

 

Might you have thrown a rim weight?

 

well whatever happened happened during tranny and axle swap. No vibe before that . I wished i had done axles later to rule that out but since tightening the mount helped i lean towards something around the shaft . I do notice some play around bearing in middle but i assume normal since i got bearing replaced 10-15k ago

 

Could you pull out the shaft and drive it in front wheel drive? That might tell you if the shaft was the cause or not.

 

Is that safe on the truck to do that? I didn’t know one could

 

I’ve never done it, but others certainly have.

 

Yes it is perfectly fine to do it.

 

Yes its fine

if you are feeling it in your steering wheel, then it has to do with your front suspension or wheels.

Try this:
Sit in your driver seat, shoulders back, normal driving position. Place your hands at 10 and 2 (like on a clock), and go for a drive. No radio. If you are feeling the vibration in your steering wheel, then its related to the front of your truck. If you feel it in your butt, then its related to the rear.

report back

 

Ok so I drove it without rear drive shaft and vibe is gone. I see a little play in the carrier bearing which I got replaced a year or so ago. Now this happened after a tranny swap so my concerns are around things that could have gone wrong such as transfer case (I have original one I put on new tranny with a new seal). My U joints look good, I didn't separate or drop the drive shaft, etc. A bit baffled. Here's a vid of the movement in bearing https://enradia.com/tacoma/bearing.mov - I suppose I could have bent it excessively when taking in/out? not sure if thats too much play. On the same note - I thought the rear drive shaft would not turn when in neutral at speed but vibration is exactly the same if I go from neutral to D/4.

What should I look at next?

 

When it is in neutral the drive shaft will spin as it is connected to the rear wheels via the differential....

You obviously have an issue either with the universal joint(s), the center bearing or the drive shaft(s) halves. You could take it to a local drive line repair shop and have them check the joints and run-out / balance it.

 

Oh I didnt even think the wheels would move the shaft - was thinking bicycle freewheel . Bearing and u joints look good - gonna look to see if I can see if there is a trace of a missing weight that maybe I knocked off banging on things when loosening the shaft. Else taking it to the big city to get balanced.

 

So had a driveshaft guy look at drive shaft and its fine. A couple of mechanic think that because the vibration comes in through steering wheel and gas pedal that its a front thing. Happens at any speed so thoughts towards driveshaft or axle vibration possibly unlikely. Everyone stumped. Removing drive shaft seems to make grind go away (limited ability to test as it is sometimes stronger - maybe based on temp - not sure) but could be that having shaft in pushes engine in a way that accentuates the front vibration/grind.

Again to summarize - happens at all speed 2mph-90mph but more pronounced at mid speed. Feels rotational like a light grind - almost like riding a bike with bad wheel bearings. What gear I am in (D, N, 3rd etc) makes no change. Most likely caused during the switching trans process (trans is replaced, torque conv is replaced, transfer case is original). Axles were replaced at same time but the 2mph vibration makes that perhaps unlikely.

Baffled

 

I wonder if it’s only indirectly related, meaning something occurred during the repairs but not connected to them. Maybe something connected to the serpentine belt is wearing out.

 

open to the idea but hard to believe. Truck was soooo smooth before and now I hate driving it. And its not engine speed related - motion related. Some guy thought tires (again something that I find hard to believe would change during swap) and had a tire shop rotate and balance and they said they are perfectly balanced. Another shop said wheel bearing, replaced it, nothing. I can't think of a single thing that is motion related to look at that would have been affected during swap. Granted a lot of stuff got moved around (had the upper oil pan and axles replaced at same time unfortunately so more to diagnose that could have gone wrong).