Hello all this is my first post on this great site. Everyone seems to know their stuff around here and are not afraid to share. I bought a 95 extended cab pickup with the v6 5spd on Friday. I have a bad vibration at highway speeds. The u-joints have no play in them at all. I did an oil change yesterday and greased all of the zerks on the drivelines. The rear slip yoke behind carrier bearing does not move at all when filled with grease. The grease just spooges out around the zerk, the little ball can be pressed in and moved around. I think the slip thing is froze up and that is what is causing the vibrations. Could I get a slip shaft from a Tacoma or is this part easily replaceable. My carrier bearing also is torn to hell. That may be contributing to the vibrations. Glad to own a Yota again. Jason

 

No one has had this problem or has any ideas??

 

Vibration is most likely the carrier bearing.
Try replacing the grease zerk before condemning the whole shaft.

 

If the driveshaft bearing is bad, that's where you should start as far as replacing parts.

I geuss the slip yoke could be stuck, a little rare. I've never heard of any doin' that. Your zerk is toast if it leaks out around the threads, it shouldn't do that even if you try. They should be air/water tight.

About a Tacoma part fitting your rig. Good question, I doubt it personally. But, you might get lucky.

Toyota driveshafts are pretty easy to come by in just about any junkyard. I've bought 2 entire rear driveshafts used off of http://car-part.com for my truck. I've seen just the slip yoke available from some. Or you could ask them if they'll sell it to you seperate. Shoot, I had a couple lyin' around. They got tossed in the scrap metal pile and taken in for the few pennies they're worth as scrap. I'd of gave one to ya for free, sorry.

Anywho, they're all the same from a 86-95 as far as I know. So you should be able to find one that will work without too much trouble, if you have to.

 

You should be able to check for slip by unbolting the DS at the diff and simply trying to extend the DS towards the rear. Keep in mind that the whole thing will easily pull apart if not seized... so mark each piece in relation to each other first so you can put it back together the same way. You will get other bad vibrations if you don't.

One option is you decide it is a bad carrier bearing is to get a one piece rear driveshaft custom made. That will eliminate the bearing from future maintenance. Although the new DS will cost some, I think that carrier bearing isn't cheap... so might be close to a wash.

 

How much play do you have (backlash) in the rear driveline?. Put the truck in park, in neutral and move the driveline (try to move it like you'd make the tires spin)...

I dunno, i guess this might not mean anything to you if you dont know what the right backlash "feels" like.. If it moves A LOT, could be related to vibrations back there.

The differential case could be worn out (loose bearings) which causes vibrations. To check that without tearing the 3rd off is to get the rear on jackstands.. tires off the ground.. put one hand ontop of the tire, other on the bottom and try to rock it back in forth. If theres ANY movement then something isn't right. = vibrations

 

Thanks for the replies. I had a Frontier that I eliminated the carrier bearing on from a fella that builds funny car driveshafts for under $100. Maybe I'll go that route. I just got the truck last week so I'll dive into it more this weekend. Great site you all have here