yep, that was it, bad u joint at the rear diff. only problem now is that the grease fitting is in the corner of the plus sign on the cheapo ones i thought it was a good idea to get, and i cant get a grease gun on them. they have the grease they came with plus i packed the caps before installation, hopefully that is enough for now until i can come up with some way to grease them. tried the needle thing, just squirts out around the tip, same thing with rubber plug type attachment for gun.

 

From what I understand detroits are loud as hell. I had a buddy tell me about them once. He said when you turn a corner it's gonna be loud.. like crap's breakin'. It's normal. Get used to it or take it out.

 

the whole time i was reading this thread, i was thinking in my head....sounds just like a normal detroit locker?

 

Are detroit lockers stock on toyotas?

 

Nope.

 

NO.

Every locker I have had, especially the drop in lunch box type have made noise.

A loud cracking when turning and the teeth getting just enough out of alignment so that when you roll forward under load it just "BANGS!".

Pretty normal. Detroit ring carrier type lockers have always pinged, or clanged when they are turning. Nature of the beast, although a 75-140W gear oil did help some they still did it.

 

So if it doesn't have detroit locker as stock does it have any locker at all and if so what kind?

 

Tacoma's came optionally with an lsd or e-locker first, prior to that there really wasn't a factory installed traction device offered. All aftermarket.

 

So in other words unless the previous owner of my truck installed a locker on my truck the pinging sound can't be coming from the gearbox in the back... Because mine's an 87 p/u sr5 4x4... Is there anyway to check if it's a locker or not?

 

Easiest way would be to jack up the rear end and spin a tire. If both spin the same direction then most likely you have a locker (or equivilent), if they spin opposite one another then it's an open differential.

 

'93-'97 FZJ-80 Land Cruisers had the option of front and rear E-locker and Some old LCs had a cable locker. I think they could be on f/bj-40/45/55...something like that. Dont know exactly.

 

Ok that helps a lot, so it's an open differential... But that still doesn't explain the noise... I had thought that it was my u-joints but when I took the drive shaft off and inspected them they didn't appear to have any play at all... My buddy said I had a lot of play in my rear differential but that's about it... Also when I drained my transmission there were a few really tiny pieces of metal. So does anyone think any of these things are linked?

 

I just thought of something... Is it possible that I have a limited slip differential?

 

Open it up and see....