Ok everyone; I am not the most computer savy guy so if I am posting in the wrong place please let me know... Thanks

Now the issue. This morning I was driving to Orlando Florida and cruising around 70 mph. Suddenly I hear a loud noise like running over some kind of metal) from rearend. Looked back, didn' see anything. I continued on for another 5 miles and started a small down hill slope. At this time I heard a continuous clatter from the rear of the truck. After pulling over and checking things out (everything looked good), I started back down the road. I immediately noticed the sound again as soon as I took my foot off the gas... Too make long story short, this is still the case.
Now at my hotel room, I checked driveshafts for play, or bad u-joints; nothing wrong there. Well, I removed the rear drive shaft (both sections and center support), put it in 4 wd and went down the road... Still have same problem from rear of truck.
So now, I jack truck up and check for bad wheel bearings; everything checks out. Any thoughts; sure could use the help. Thank you

 

sounds like a bearing on the rear 3rd member has gone bad, have u pulled the top fill bolt to check and see if it has oil in the housing? i would not drive it tell u can have someone look into the rear end. or look at it your self. but it sounds like u are out and away from ur home.

 

Yeah am worried that I may loose the whole 3rd member... Checked oil and its good... Hoping the pin/set screw did'nt fall

 

Maybe I am way off on this... but is the exhaust pipe loose?

 

I was hoping for something simple like that; I have checked everything and all is tight. I appreciate the thought though...

I know I should'nt but I am going to try to cripple it home tommorrow... Guess I will be tearing into it afterwards. 180 miles of oh shooooot...

 

By the way, does anybody have a good breakdown/illustration of the tundra rear end... Looks easy to pull apart; but not sure.

 

I had this happen on my 4Runner just a few weeks ago. Check the rear pinion nut on the flange. Mine came un-staked and backed off almost all the way.

 

Great thought, that is the one thing that I havent checked... So obvious, I am going to go out and check.

Thanks

 

hope it is just the nut, i would see if u can keep it at speeds lower then 35, i had a ford that froze up the rear end and i ended up locking up the tires, good thing i was going slow, or it could of been worse. a friend of mine ended up having the rear lock up at 70 and it wrapped it self up and almost caused him to flip, so i would find out what is going on before u try and drive it home, jack up the rear end and just put it in gear and get under and listen and pin point where the issue is before u kill u or some one else on the road.

 

If the noise quiets down when cruising and gets louder when accelerating or decelerating i would have to say its the pinion bearings. Unfortunatly would have to tear down and check bearings. Could drain the gear oil and check for excessive metal in the oil. Especially the last to come out.