Don't know if someone can help me or not but I was driving my 4runner and made a u-turn and all the sudden I started to hear a slight clunking sound I don't know what I did or what happened but since then I have removed my drive shaft and drove it in 4H and it drove fine with no noises or problems. After I put it back on and removed the front drive shaft and the clunking noise came back. So i put my rear end up on jacks and put it in gear and my drivers rear tire will not freely spin it has a 1/4 turn jerk as it moves forward.
My U-joints have been replaced and the rear differential seal at the yoke has been replaced. I have been told so many different things I just need the best way for me to diagnose what it might be. I'm just a girl and need help or a direction to go I miss my yota and don't know what to do..
HELP....

 

Sounds to me, no pun intended, like either a U Joint in the rear drive shaft, or maybe the gears, or bearings, in the rear diff. I know you said your u joints have been replaced, but you might want to check them anyway. Easy enough to do. Just grab the drive shaft right next to one of them, and try to move it back and forth, and up and down. Any motion might well mean a bad u joint.
Checking the rear diff means taking it apart and doing some measurements. I've never done anything IN a diff, so I can't tell you what to measure, but I know it has to do with how the gear mesh. How they meet one another's faces I'm sure that someone with a lot more experience will chime in with the info on how to do the diff. And/or the bearings involved.

I wish you the best of luck!
Pat☺

 

I think my first move, after checking driveshaft u-joints and rear brakes, would be to remove the drain plug from the rear differential and see if there is any metal on it or in the bottom of the center section.
the plug likely has a magnet on it so it will gather metal chunks if your ring and pinion or bearings are coming apart.