Row1

First post here, and let me start by letting you know that I am not much with a wrench in my hands like most of you guys, but here goes. Have a 1990 Xtra-cab 4WD pickup. A few weeks ago it developed a really bad vibration on my way home from work. The problem was, there was only one bolt left attaching the driveshaft (truck has a 2 piece drive shaft) to the flange coming out of the transfer case. The remaing nut on the remaining bolt was barely attached. No idea if the other bolts vibrated loose or broke/sheared off. I marked the driveshaft/flange and was able to match the nut/bolt/lock washer at a nearby hardware store, re-attached everything and went on my way. Now I am feeling a vibration again. I checked to make sure everything was still tight and it was.

I am assuming the problem is either with the bearing in the transfer case or possibly in the rear end, but I also read that there is a driveshaft center support bearing that might cause vibration problems. So my question is, does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Am I on the right track, or way off base with my assesment (wouldn't surprise me it that is the case)? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

BMcEL

I had 1" of vertical slop in my center support and no vibration. Look for play in the pinion and transfer case.

Row1

So far this problem has the experts stumped. Pinion bearing and transfer case both check out. Found the front wheel bearings were shot and replaced those, but that is not the source of the vibration. When the drive shaft came loose (all but one bolt was gone) from the transfer case a few weeks ago it made several rotations before I came to a complete stop and smacked the underside of the truck pretty hard as it went around. Could that have possibly bent or made the thing unbalanced? Any other ideas as to where to look?

Thanks

BMcEL

Absolutely could have tweaked it. If that's what happened I would get it balanced. I had Napa do mine a while back and it wasn't expensive. They handed it back to me in about 10 minutes too.

Also, if your center support is shot check out this one from Driveshaftparts. It could be cheap Chinese crap but mine is holding up great and I've heard the same from a few others on here as well. The next cheapest unit I found was $130 at a local auto parts store. Top of the line would be new from Toyota...about $300.

JBurt

You might want to make sure that you used good bolts in the driveshafts. They should be heavy grade 8 bolts. You wouldn't want them to shear off while you were somewhere that you couldn't get more bolts, or doing 70 down the freeway.

Row1

Thanks. If the drive shaft passes the eyeball test, what is the best way to test it w/o taking to NAPA or someplace that can balance it...drop the shaft and drive it w/ 4WD engaged to see if the vibration goes away? Or is there a better way? Reason I ask is that the truck is at a friend's garage and he is a good 40 miles from the closest place that I know of that can do that (check and balance the shaft).

As far as the bolts, I was able to find a pretty close match at a hardware store. They were labeled as Grade 8 (and expensive as hell) and had the same fine thread as the OEM bolt.

john4wd

X2 on jburt great point, those bolts you don't want to go cheap on, I replaced a deteriorated center carrier bearing because heard clunking when I first got a 84 xtra cab 4x4 so I bought a new CCB from auto zone and got a vibration and tried 2 more and still had vibration and went and paid for a oem one and waalaa vib gone, after you get the drive shafts checked and if they got tweaked and fix if it is tweaked, go for the oem center CCB a lot better quality and worth the extra money!!!!

At the same time get new oem bolts to attach drive shaft flanges to diff and transfer case and then you'll know there great quality and wont shear off!!!! Good luck and have fun!!!!

Ps. The CCB is surrounded by rubber to isolate it and there is different quality of rubber used and the cheap ones are cheaply made...After a while the rubber deteriorates over time so the bearing is loosely sitting in it, when I got the 84 the rubber was gone and the bearing was just laying there on the bottom against the metal surround!!!!

BMcEL

For that much money you could buy a one-piece drive line and be done with center support issues for good! That's the only reason I opted for the cheap one (fortunately no drive line vibration issues).

I dropped the rear shafts and drove FWD to go get mine balanced. 4crawler's new gear break-in procedure includes dropping the rear shaft and driving in FWD...so I doubt it's bad for it.

Row1

Anyone have a good source for the OEM fasteners? No place has them locally. Found a place online that does, but they want almost $19.00 x 4 for the nut/bolt/lock washer. Ouch!

yotarover

when mine was doing it. the u joints broke and left me driving all over SC looking for a shop open on sunday that would press the new ones in. i replaced all the joints except the CC ( expensive)... not saying ur issue is the UJ's like mine was

4x4climber

have someone check it out and make sure its all good em get it balanced. all the u-joints rotate freely with no noise or slop right? i would grease up your u-joints..
-Row1

marlincrawler.com

$25. plus shipping. GENUINE toyota parts.

yotarover

i have mc's in my 1pc 86

BMcEL

Where does it say they're genuine Toyota u-joints? I just saw 'made in Japan'.

4x4climber

^^^^
To Row1:

Bolts.... Bolts....

Anyone have a good source for the OEM fasteners? No place has them locally. Found a place online that does, but they want almost $19.00 x 4 for the nut/bolt/lock washer. Ouch!

BMcEL

Ah...you were talking about u-joints for a second and they're $25 at Marlin also. My misunderstanding.

4x4climber

Figured that after i read my post. LoL But hey... those are some good U-Joints too.. haha

Row1

OK, looks like the rear driveshaft is coming out tonight. Hopefully that will be the be the answer. Thanks for the info and thanks for the tip on Marlin Crawler for the flange nuts/bolts. Will order those and replace the over the counter hardware store fasters when they come in.

Row1

Thanks to all who chimed in w/ advice. When the driveshaft came out, it turns out the problem was the U-joint at the rear end. I'm actually lucky the thing didn't come completely apart while I was driving. Funny how you think you can feel where a vibration is coming from and it turns out to be elsewhere. Anyway, I'm enjoying my smooth roll down the road again. Thanks!

pineapple

I'm posting here because this is one of several posts that came up when I "searched" transfer case bearing. My truck ('89 p.u. ext cab-22re w/AT and 361K) has developed a vibration.Last night I removed the driveshaft (the portion w/ the center carrier bearing) after feeling a very slight bit of play at the u-joint/transfer case. Layed the d-shaft in the bed of my truck and I couldn't feel any play in u-joint. I crawled back under and grabbed the flange at the t-case and couldn't feel any play though this is the area I originally felt slight looseness. I'm going to go ahead and replace u-joint (the c-bearing seems to spin freely w/ no roughness) but am wondering about the bearing at the t-case. My Haynes just show a pic of a "bearing retainer" w/ no more explanation about servicing/replacing. If I replace this bearing, am I purchasing the retainer w/ the bearing or can I purchase the bearing separately? Sorry for a long, dragging post. Thanks for any and all info, comments, suggestions.