Long time listener, first time poster. I have solved a number of issues over the past four years searching through this site, but can't find a definitive answer on this (although not able to get one always I know). Some here have had similar issues, but not exactly. I have a 93 T100 4x4 3vze with 169k.


For a while now, I have been hearing a rotational grinding noise coming from the rear end. Reminds me of a rusty rotor after sitting for awhile. I have been thinking that was what it was, something to do with the brakes, as they have pulsed some ever since I have owned it (it is a weekend vehicle for me and I don't put a lot of miles on it). Seems like the grinding noise has gotten a little worse recently (not turn the radio up worse, but a little bit) and you can only really hear it at slower speeds with the window down. I drove into town recently (10 miles) and as I was starting to come back (turned onto the main road and had driven straight down the road for a couple hundred yards) and heard a very loud clank , the kind that you say holy crap and look in your rear view mirror to see what the heck you just ran over or hit, expecting to see a huge piece of metal that ran out into the middle of the road outta nowhere when I wasn't looking. Nothing back there but the road. My rear started feeling a little more squirrely so I pulled over and looked, but could see nothing (yeah, I was that guy for the day). Didn't feel right all the way home and was thinking something's wrong with the rear diff or something. Later I filled up the rear diff with some gear oil, but had to do it through the breather since I couldn't get the filler bolt off as it is rusted on there pretty good (even after a week or so of multiple shots of pb blaster). Still more grinding noise, rear still didn't feel right after a quarter mile so parked it.


It only made that very loud clank once, but not a noise to blow off. Seems like that grinding noise is coming from the driver's side rear, but sometimes the location of those sounds are misleading.


Thoughts?

 

I can only say Jack the back end off the ground inspect real careful .

rotate things feel and listen for any grinding or roughness.

Leaking any gear oil at all??

Bearings start to fail things tend to leak most times.

Something rubbing where it should not be.

Sometimes as you said noise heard in the cab can be hard to figure out just where so It does not hurt to check the front as well.

 

Thank you for the feedback. I didn't see any significant leakage.

 

Yeah, your going to have to narrow it down, could be bad axle bearings which will be at the ends of the axle tube or could be something in the diff or might not even be in the rear at all.

 

Any updates on your post? I would say check all your u-joints. Starting with the one at the rear diff first.

 

It ended up being an axle bearing.

 

Good stuff. I have similar problem coming from front drivers side.

 

I have a similar problem, after Installed a 4" rough country lift I have a grinding noise coming from the rear end. It only happens when I am accelerating from a stop uphill. Im not sure what it is, any ideas?

 

Rear axle or diff could be getting stress from the angle of the drive shaft going into the diff. Or I had one mechanic tell me it was an axle seal. We replaced it and the spinning grinding noise remained. SO i got a 94 Four Runner rear axle assembly put in. THe noise is much less frequent and seems to be coming from up front on the drivers side. Where is the trans is my question, closer to passenger or driver side?

 

My truck is with a foreign car mechanic. Should hear from the mechanic by Friday. I'll let you know what he tells me.

 

Hey! The Foreign Car mechanic I brought my truck to diagnose the problem told me after driving my truck and hearing the noise that it sounds like the truck is stuck in Four Wheel Drive... He told me he's gonna put it up on a lift and check it out sometime this week. I'll keep you posted!

 

I found out what was causing the noise. Front Driver's side Wheel Bearing was bad. Cost me $350 to replace it. Mechanic tried to get me to do both up front but I think I'll wait on that.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks for letting us your know what the fix was. Wheel bearings can make noise seem like it is coming from several areas.

 

No problem!

Now I'm trying to figure out why the bearing wore out and what I can do to prevent it from happening again. I suspect the 5" Lift Kit and 33" tires have something to do with it... I've heard of Diff Drop Spacers but for some reason I can't find any for 1991 Toyota DLX Pickup. Every other year Toyota Pickup has Diff Drop Spacers except 1991. Any idea if the '91 has the space available to install Diff Drop Spacers up front?

 

I am a stock guy so really don't know about a diff drop for the second gen trucks. If the truck was run in water and the bearings were not repacked full of grease could cause bearing failure.

I too had to replace a bearing on my drivers side recently as it failed. I am easy on my trucks and not abusive and it still failed. Probably just one of those things that just happens.

 

Thanks! My truck's previous owner did run it in water once or twice. Plus, its has 150k miles so like you said, these kinda things are gonna happen!

 

more than likely the 91 Toyota sr5 diff drop will work fine. The only difference between the dlx and the sr5 is the name and the interior trim. I have a 94 dlx pick up extra cab v6 5 Speed and most parts I get are from the sr5 model unless specifically stated Toyota pickup dlx model

 

So much on here sounds like what I am hearing from mine but mine comes and goes....
it started with what sounded like a stone in the tread ticking every so often when cornering but now its a real crunching noise...
As I accelerate it will all of a sudden go crunch and feel weird and then go back to normal then crunch every few hundred meters

 

Not sure what you shop charges per hour but $350 for 1 wheel bearing seems a bit steep.

 

Shop around $350 is way to much for a wheel bearing repair. There is a mechanic search thread on here that might have someone in your area that could help.