LOUD Scraping/Clicking Near Transmission

Hi everyone, long time lurker first time poster, and sadly a bad post.

Below is a video from this morning, where I got in the truck, turned it on, let it sit (it was in the 50s), and then started to drive off. When I started driving I could hear this very loud tick over my music, it's even loud from the outside. This isn't the normal Tacoma tick, this is a lot louder and sounds like a screw passing by a thin metal piece over and over again.

When the vehicle is in motion, it makes this sound and speeds up at higher speed. When it's in neutral or park, it doesn't make this sound. Even revving it in neutral does not reproduce this sound. This is the first time it's ever made this noise.

2014 Tacoma TRD Sport V6 Auto 103k miles. Changed spark plugs and fluids (excluding transmission) at 100k.

Any help would be appreciated and if I missed anything please ask. Thank you!

https://youtube.com/shorts/huNcrKf-jLI?feature=share

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld. Did you crawl under the truck and visually check for anything wrong yet? I would start there. With truck off take a look at the driveshaft, U joints, and carrier bearing to see if there is play. Since these only move when the truck is moving that matches your description of the problem. Could even be a loose heat shield so look for that too and don't touch them if truck is hot.

 

I did crawl under and I didn't see any leaks or a transmission with new windows (thank God). I tried looking for something loose or rubbing on something but I couldn't see anything. I shook the driveshaft to see if it was loose/broken and it was tight. I haven't checked the wheel bearings to see if there's play since I didn't have time this morning. If it's the heat shield I feel like it would be more rattly rather than it having a consistent tick.

Thank you for your help, I am starting to think it's more suspension/wheel/axle related.

 

Does the sound speed up as you go faster? Jack up the rear of the truck and place on jackstands. With key on engine off and in neutral turn the back tires and see if you still hear the noise. Crawl under the truck and look at the center support bearing while turning the wheels.

 

It does speed up as I go faster. I looked up videos of the center support bearing going bad and it made more of a squealing noise. Strangely enough I found a video of some guy in a Cadillac with the exact same noise and he said (despite the title) it ended up being a stuck brake caliper??

https://youtu.be/xjLC27XelwA

 

Have you change the brakes recently? When you jack up the truck and turn the wheels and if you dont hear the noise then you can narrow it down to your front end. Check caliper bolts and make sure they didnt loosen up.

 

It's hard to tell from the video but if I were you I would put the truck on jack stands and wiggle the wheels to confirm the wheel bearings are still good and then inspect your u-joints and tie rods. These are the usual culprits for weird noises on tacos.

Double check all your bolts are tight -- there are torque spec sheets here on the forum somewhere.