Vibration in drive shaft. Local Toyota shop wants $1400.

Hi All.

TLDR: Need advice on rebuilding driveshaft or scoring a replacement on a high mileage truck.

So, I have a tacoma with 400,000 miles and I don't want to spend a lot of money...
(2001 tacoma 3.4l extended cab 4wd. It has a double cardan joint and carrier bearing)

Last week, I started getting some vibration in the driveshaft, so I started troubleshooting..

1st off, I took it to pep boys and had them do a chassis lubrication. No luck fixing the vibration, but I'm not sure they hit all of the grease zerks either. We are talking pep boys here.

Next off, I took it to a place called "Toy Doctor", an expensive looking toyota mechanic shop. I asked them to diagnose and narrow down the problem (carrier bearing, ujoint etc). They told me that they noticed a significant amount of play in the driveshaft which meant the splines were worn. They wanted $2200 to install a new driveshaft or $1400 for a rebuilt driveshaft. Nope. I've also read that this "play" in the driveshaft is actually normal, so I'm not sure I trust these guys. The diagnosis was $60 which just seems like a waste.

So now, I'm trying to replace the u-joints myself. The double cardan joint, I'm going to skip, because it looks a little beyond my ability. I'm still running into problems though. I've got the rear differential disconnected, but the bolts on the flange next to the tranfer case are proving difficult to take out, so I've yet to get the front driveshaft unbolted. The nuts are off but the bolts are stuck.

The carrier bearing was replaced a couple of years ago, so I don't think that's the problem.

Any thoughts or advice are appreciated.. Where can I get a reasonably priced driveshaft? Non OEM is fine as long as the quality is known to be good. Any tips on getting the bolts off of the front flange? Thanks a bunch.

 

Find a local driveshaft shop and have them rebuild and phase the driveshaft. Unfortunately, driveshaft stuff is expensive, and cheaping out just leads more probs down the road

 

The front are pressed in studs leave them in.

If you knock them out get the correct bolts to replace them.

 

"The front are pressed in studs leave them in." Thanks, very useful information, I kind of suspected this. Still Wondering how to get the driveshaft out though.

Edit: "Elbow Grease" (from below). So, can I just whack on it with a rubber mallet until it comes loose and slips off? Seems pretty frozen right now. I've sprayed with penetrating fluid and *shrug* we'll see where it gets me.

Edit2: Thanks Clay!

 

Elbow grease

 

Try a large flat head screw driver and yeah, you can beat the piss out of it with a mallet. Once it's off check the full range of motion for every joint and shake them around in every direction, hopefully you'll find a u joint to be bad. I've heard the best thing to do for a dc joint is to track down all the parts yourself for a rebuild and take them to a shop. If there is something wrong with the splines it will be obvious. Good luck.

 

Pry the driveshaft from tbe rear differential flange, you can remove tathalf and set it aside, but the first thing i do is mark the relation of that shaft to the other, white paint pen, but others have said tbere is a keyed spline, so you do t have to worry about phasing.
Next remove carrier attaching bolts , and the rest of the drive shaft should come out easily.
From there it is pretty srtaight forward, range of motion should have no restrictions, as in stiff points, also they movement should not be overly sloppy.
I prefer a kind of thick movement.
There needs to be resistance.
While you have the shaft out , get your grease gun , and starting at one end , check the movement of the u-joi t , add grease , and watch the trunion.
That is the cross part.
Inject grease and watch , you should get an evenamount of grease out of all 4 caps.it may take a bit more grease coming from 2 opposite caps before the other 2 show.
Drive shaft maintenance is probably the most overlooked .
U joints run less than 15.00 each, and most everyone can hange them.
The double cardon is more difficult but doable .