Rear yoke into diff loose?

You mean, inability to compress?

 

Although im sure it's not good, the grease has a place to escape if the pressure is too great. Hence the grease coming from the yoke when i was filling it

 

It’s pretty straightforward but thats me. After looking at what others posted of the driveshaft, shitcan that bad one and have a one piece made w/a double cardian joint like I did and it will solve 90% of this. Shoutout to driveshaft specialties in texas!, 700.00 later and its the icing on the cake, to be prob free, now I can run spicer u-joints, pretty bulletproof. They don’t need greasing. If you still have probs I would dive in to the diff, but it looks as the pinion is leaking from the front seal, so check the fluif level in the diff and if its low you may as well do the rearend while youre in there.

 

The grease is a bandade, if it stops thunking when loaded with grease then use the airbags and see if that stops it, if it does you may have given your current leafs a bit of a workout. Even new leafs lose arch.

 

pinion isnt leaking he said he just sprayed some penetrating lube on there. replacing the entire shaft seems unreasonable if undamaged imo.

the factory u joints are made by spicer btw

 

Replacing that pos factory shaft isn’t overkill in my book I make my truck work right period. The factory ones only have probs with lifts, and its been beat to freakin death the driveshaft topic. Common knowledge 2or4wd the one piece solves all kinds of shit. He should keep that shaft if he wants to stay stock height only, imho.

 

@mxjagracer

Can you post a quick video of the pinion play?
Is it in-&-out play? Or lateral?
You should have no noticable lateral play. If you do, the primary cause is a warn pinion bearing. This will cause vibration on deacceleration & or coasting also.

Greensystemsgo has it right. Have a shop that'll let you pull the diff and bring it to them. And save yourself some money. Have them throw in a solid spacer while they're at it...

Shouldn't cost more than a $150. Vs $1000 bucks for a rebuilt 3rd.

 

@License2Ill beat me to it.
That much movement combined with at least 1/8" up and down play seen in the 2 comparison pics indicates bad pinion bearings. Just like the fellow said in post #3, you are looking at pretty much an overhaul of the diff and the gears themselves may be beyond saving . There should be zero slop in/out and up/down. The only play should be a bit of rotational play known as gear backlash.

Couple more things.
There is a "catch 22" deal when greasing the slip joint. It is impossible to get grease to the splines without first filling the cavity in the joint. The "flow" of grease goes from the fitting, thru a cavity, along the splines, then a u-turn to potentially exit at the seal. Now, filling that cavity can force the "plug" (see pic) out of the rear end of the joint when the suspension cycles. So what to do about it, cycle the suspension gently/slowly after the lubing. If there is sufficient wear in the joint/seal it will be less likely to cause problems.


There is nothing inherently wrong with 1st gen driveshafts. There are however, lots of folks that do not understand proper drive line set up/angles along with the cause and effect that goes with it. On 1st gens, one piece shafts are a down grade from stock, usually done by folks that can't figure out an issue with the OE. All parts of the 1st gen shafts can be replaced. All 1st gen u-joints are Koyo from the factory.

 

Thanks guys! I don't believe i have any vertical or lateral play. Just the rotational play, too the extent of the pictures that i posted. Is that normal?

 

Yes. Completely normal.

 

Well fine then, carry on.

 

Do you work on yota driveshafts alot, because at my local machinist he’s got a huge pile and Im not exaggerating it!, of prerunner and 4runner drivesfts. Do some research before spouting off that you know all about yota driveshafts, I have absolutely perfect driveshaft angles with a one piece so until you own one stop getting so damn jealous!, its just money and people are here to find the fix to a previous mod, usually leading to other mods until fully rectified. It’s just like adding a supercharger, thats not the end you’ve just started modding, you’ll need fuel upgrades too but toyota doesn’t tell you that until you bought it and have issues, but you don’t get it. I’ll give op my fully rebuilt d.s. It’s a pos unless you’re at stock height. Also why would tom woods sell a one piece?, I don’t know hmm, maybe you should call and ask. One piece gets rid of the pesky carrier bearing and gives better results of final driveline #’s.

 

Yes I do and have been for decades including the DC joints that supposedly "can't be replaced". Done lots of research on 1st gens since 1st gen day one. Plenty of folks running around with ride heights of all sizes including SAS rigs with 6" plus running OE shafts. Just how many of the bazillion lifted 1st gens have 1 piece shafts, very few.
Do a little research yourself on Tom woods and their 1 piece shaft disclaimer, also his driveline 101 should be a good read. The last thread/fellow on here with DS issues went with a TW one piece and his probs got worse.

You have your story, I have mine.

 

My driveshaft at 570,000 gave out on me two weeks ago,
Slip yoke was making all types of ping noises and ujoints were having 1/8” play and Cardan
joint was not looking good either. From all I could research for repairs it looked cheaper to just get
a new driveshaft with all spicer components, Cardan joint, ujoints, shafts all made by Spicer and balanced for 480.00 shipped.
Toyota said the OEM Cardan joint was not replaceable and no part number for that joint.
So far all is good
https://www.wholesaleimportparts.com/Toyota_Tacoma_Driveshaft_1997.php

 

maybe its the 2nd gens that come with spicers. what ive seen on here anyways

 

Lol, I must be a genius because nobody ever taught me to tear down double cadian joints but I taught myself, and had many driveshaft shops tell me it’s a hard job for them. I give you your respect and I do more than just driveshaft 101. I’ve built many toyota showtrucks and am a Orange level certified KTM tech and worked with Kurt Casselli, and Dave Pearson so just let respect meet respect. We truly all have different ways to the finish line I like mine better personally thats all. But I am a 40 year old stubborn mechanic that has it in blood, since I was ten fixing the neighborhood’s bicycles till now. BTW my driveshaft was custom made by Driveshaft Specialties and is pretty rare because for 2wd they are harder to balance a 70” plus shaft, which you probably know, and hardly anyone wanted to make it because they lacked the equipment to balance it. This was the perfect fix for all my vibes being lifted after exhausting all resources to not replace it, I tried every stupid trick and smart one in the book, lol. Woods won’t touch a one piece for 2wd btw.

 

What RPM are the driveshafts balanced at? Woods did not have any specifics RPM on his site?

 

C a r d a n joint. No one seems to know how to spell it.

 

I don’t recall exacts I’ll look it up, truck will do 110 mph closed coarse, no vibes.

 

Fair enough.
Stubborn 40 year old? Wait till you get to the 70 year+ club.

I hear ya, "cadian", "cardin", "cardon" a while back there was even a "cardigan".