Shimmy when accelerating

Lately, I have had a shimmy/shaking when reaching about 20-40 MPH. I tried the obvious/cheapest option and had the wheels balanced. After they were balanced, I brought it back because I still felt shaking. The shaking I notice happens about 20-40 MPH and when accelerating. The tech thought it was odd and noted he balanced them himself. He drove it around noticing the shake was only there when accelerating. He took a look under it and said there was a bushing that was bad in the drive line. When I got home I checked it and used the same method he said he used (moved the driveline side to side and said it had wiggle room). I noticed very little play in the driveline. Is there any specific spot I should look for this bushing or any other problem areas on the truck?

 

Check the carrier bearing, that’s about the only “bushing” in the drivelshaft.
Next check the u-joints.

This is the carrier bearing. There is a big rubber bushing inside. You’ll see it once you are under there.

 

How will I know it's bad? There aren't any visible signs of it being bad. When I move the drive shaft after the carrier bearing, it wiggles a little; before the bearing, it does not.

 

You grab the drive shaft in front of the carrier, and push up on it.
The hard part is explaining what “bad”, as there is some movement in even “good” ones.
But it should not have a lot of play.

 

I am thinking that is what it is. I looked up a couple videos on what a bad one looks like and how much play is in it. It is about the same as mine.
https://imgur.com/a/MwJEghn
Ignore the bad camera work.

 

more then likely one of your u-joints is the culprit. Can't always look at the u-joints and see a bad one as was the case with one of mine recently. I thought my carrier was probably shot, as I have 245,000+ miles and it was original. But since I have to take the center u-joint apart to change the carrier I went ahead and planned to replace the center u-joint too. When I pulled the first two caps off of the center u-joint I found the culprit to my vibration. I went ahead and changed the carrier and center u-joint and my bad vibes were cured.

 

Sometimes you have to take driveshaft out and feel ujoints by hand. Just because they dont have play doesnt mean its not locking up or chunky when moved.

 

The driveshaft has to come out to do the carrier.
No better time to check/replace the u-joints.

 

Looked at one of your other posts and saw "I have a 2015 TRS Sport Tacoma. I bought it with about 125k miles on it and I've put some miles on it".
Usually by 100k that center carrier is junk. Add your Tacoma info so we know and add any stuff that is altered/upgraded or recently worked on.

My 09 was junk by 85k in under 5 years. Went to a 1-piece TW then instead of going stock and 100k later never a shake/shutter again. Just another option. Lots of posts on drivetrains issues.

 

Will do thanks for the suggestion.
I might get someone to do the carrier barrings/u joint since I may not have everything to do it.

 

I'm thinking this might be the case on mine with 214,000+ miles on it. Is there a good youtube video that documents the process? What tools/parts are needed?

 

Here's a link to the video that I checked out before I did the work.
How-to: Tacoma Carrier Bearing Replacement **DETAILED** - Bing video

It's not a hard job if ya got the tools including the vise.

 

I'm at 105k and my stock one is still solid. Also have the rear lifted an inch.

 

You'll need a replacement staked nut that is a dealer part, but it's cheap. While you "can" re-use the original, it's not recommended.

 

Your carrier video does not look bad to me...? I'm with TRnCo, I suspect a bad U joint. Super easy to drop the drive shaft and pull U joint caps to see if any are dry. Carrier job can be a PITA.

 

Subd for a future project great video!

 

This is probably a dumb question but what is a 1-piece TW?

 

https://4xshaft.com/collections/tacoma

 

Reviving this thread.

I've been looking around and a lot are suggesting a Tom Wooda single piece drive shaft. I don't think they make one long enough though. I have a double cab 6' bed. It say max length the do is 72". I measured under the truck and its longer. Did I measure wrong? Also, if that doesn't fit, what's a good replacement bearing option? I saw a couple old group buying listings on here but they are gone

 

I got a replacement bearing from O'Reilly Auto Parts. https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...-tacoma?q=dorman+center+support+bearing&pos=2