Notices
86-95 Trucks & 4Runners 2nd/3rd gen pickups, and 1st/2nd gen 4Runners with IFS

Bad front diff bearings or ball joints?

Old 01-11-2014, 06:17 PM
  #1  
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
2000taco's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Burlington, WA
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Bad front diff bearings or ball joints?

Here's the deal I have a 89 pickup extra cab. 216k
The idler arm is new along with both cv axles and both upper ball joints

The truck has auto hubs and in the last 1000-1500 miles it's started this awful humming. Vibration thing. The faster I go the worse it gets does this in all gears including neutral. It is so bad if I have a empty bottle in my hand will on i5 it makes the bottle hum. You feel it every where seat floor bored (tickles your foot driving me insane) steering wheel ect. I noticed the flanges have a slight bit of movement (where the cv bolts to the diff, right at that flange) I'm also wondering if it could be a lower BJ? The wheel bearings are good tires are balanced haven't hit any thing with it to knock it out of alignment tie rods are good. Sway bar is in good shape bushing wise.
My reasoning for believing its a lower BJ is I feel a clunckin in the front end when hitting bumps.
Any one got some thoughts or related problems with a solution??
Thanks
Old 01-11-2014, 08:35 PM
  #2  
RJR
Registered User
 
RJR's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Northern Colorado
Posts: 1,776
Likes: 0
Received 109 Likes on 81 Posts
Sounds like a drive shaft universal joint to me. I'd get that looked at right away. You don't want one of those to let go at freeway speeds.
Old 01-11-2014, 08:43 PM
  #3  
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
2000taco's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Burlington, WA
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sorry forgot to mention the u joints are new front and rear with a new carrier bearing also. The hum/vibration does not change from 2x4 to 4x4 it remains the same
Old 01-11-2014, 09:03 PM
  #4  
RJR
Registered User
 
RJR's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Northern Colorado
Posts: 1,776
Likes: 0
Received 109 Likes on 81 Posts
At 60 mph, the wheels only turn about 15 revolutions per second. That's not fast enough to generate a vibration that would normally be described as a "hum". The drive shaft turns about 4-5 times faster, or about 60-70 revolutions per second. Most people would describe that frequency as a hum, similar to what you would hear if you had a bad connection in your home stereo wiring. That's why I'm guessing it's not in the wheels or axles but rather in the drive shaft or transmission/transfer case output shaft. Could be a bad bearing in one of those.

Last edited by RJR; 01-11-2014 at 09:06 PM.
Old 01-11-2014, 09:07 PM
  #5  
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
2000taco's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Burlington, WA
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'll try pulling the front shaft tomorrow and vise versa with the rear and see what happens you make a good point the hum/vib was there with the previous trans transfer case (just installed a rebuilt tran with transfer)
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
bigjstang
86-95 Trucks & 4Runners
20
08-25-2021 12:41 AM
jerusry
Axles - Suspensions - Tires - Wheels
1
10-19-2015 05:28 PM
GreatLakesGuy
The Classifieds GraveYard
8
09-04-2015 09:27 AM
Daneums
95.5-2004 Tacomas & 96-2002 4Runners
3
08-20-2015 05:36 AM
TokyoD23
95.5-2004 Tacomas & 96-2002 4Runners
4
07-12-2015 06:01 AM


Thread Tools
Search this Thread
Quick Reply: Bad front diff bearings or ball joints?



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:46 PM.