Noisy 2.7L 4 banger

I've just recently bought a, new to me, 2007 "Silver Streak" Tacoma.
Question: Is it normal for the motor to make a rattle when under moderate acceleration while in a higher gear? Mine seems to rattle if I give it a bit of throttle while it's in a higher gear. It sounds like a cam thing, and doesn't sound like it's coming from the lower end or crankshaft. Once it does shift down, it makes enough power, and accelerates like normal, but low RPM throttle response is noisy.... As old as this truck is, 2007 w/163k, this probably has been addressed before.
Thanks in advance for any replies...

 

Maybe?
Are you lugging the engine?

I don’t recall mine making any top end noise.
It did have a bit of a chatter in the transmission at low speeds under a load.
But a lot of that was me starting out slow. I’ve never been one to race up to speed.

 

Yea, I'd say lugging the engine a bit, but not enough to get it to shift the A4 transmission down a gear...

 

No. It sounds like like sticky lifters or cam lobes banging on the lifters... I've ran some sea foam through the oil and air intake system, but I still hear the noise/rattle at moderate load...

 

Yes that’s normal and you don’t want to make a habit of it, these engines want to turn some rpms

 

I’ll go out on a limb and guess driveshaft u-joints.

 

Mine 2007 2.7L has what I can best describe as a shudder type sound around 1800-2000 rpm in 3rd gear, and only with a load, such as a slight incline. But mine is a 5 speed manual. It's very brief since it's only in that rpm range, and not as prominent other gears. That's why I tend to shift at kind of high rpm, so the next gear will be engaging no lower than 2,200 rpm. It may not even be the engine, it's hard to pinpoint.

It's been that way since I bought it last year. Now around 156k miles. I noted though, today I put it in 4WD H for about a minute just to use the actuator and related mechanisms, and the typical sound seemed to be much less around 1800 rpm in 3rd gear.