"Aftermarket" driveline on Tacoma with 30,000 miles??

2006 2.7 Tacoma with 200,000 MI.
I originally purchased it from a Toyota dealer, with 30,000 mi .
Heard the u-joint squeaking so I brought it in for replacement. The shop tells me that the driveline is aftermarket, and requires balancing (see picture). They, (and according to them, Toyota) don't want to replace the u-joint without replacing the entire driveline (over $1,000). They said doing so could result in vibrations, and a liability issue.
I am absolutely certain this shop is not trying to rip me off. They spent a lot of time trying to figure this out, and didn't charge me a dime!
As I recall, when I bought the truck, the dealer produced a Carfax that didn't indicate any accidents.
Why would a Tacoma with 30,000 miles on it have an aftermarket drive shaft? Wouldn't it still have been under warranty?
What would you do in my situation?
Thoughts?

 

Take it to a different shop that will change your ujoints. I think it's recommended that it get rebalanced, but most people dont.

 

Just did my u joints for the 2nd time today at 183k

 

Good answer!
It's still odd that it would have an aftermarket driveline. Apparently Toyota thought it was aftermarket as well. It's a big shop that specializes in Japanese vehicles. Strange that they wouldn't have encountered this before! Anyway, it's about $400 compared to over a grand.... Hope you're right!
Just spent $6,500 rebuilding the top end!☹️

 

Well, I guess the good news is I got 200k out of mine!
Does your driveline have any advisory post its about balancing?

 

They are wrong about it being aftermarket.
I bought my 2018 new, it has that exact same sticker on the driveshaft.

And ×2, you can replace the u-joints no problem and not have to rebalance the whole thing (that sticker says if one side of the shaft is replaced, the other side needs to be rebalanced with it).

Also FYI, you're in the 3rd-gen section (2006 is 2nd-gen).

 

Not that I know of.

 

Go to a local driveshaft shop and have a custom one piece driveshaft made and be done with it for good.

 

You're absolutely right! It doesn't apply to this situation, or have anything to do with the U-joint! I was so overwhelmed with what I thought was going to be a simple job, that turned into a major project, I never REALLY read the sticker! I thought "well if they consulted Toyota, surely THEY would know if it was an aftermarket shaft" ( barcodes and all)!
Thanks for your response. Made my day!
As far as not being third generation....what's a decade amongst friends? Actually, it's kind of lucky because now I know that they were still doing the same thing 12 years later! I'll see what Toyota has to say today!

 

Showed the pictures to two separate Toyota parts departments today. They both claim that's not a Toyota drive shaft. They both say the numbers are wrong, and one said that he thought the shaft was thinner than the Toyota shaft. Apparently, when I bought the truck from Toyota, I got the shaft!

Just for fun, I stopped by the sales department of the dealership where I bought it (which has since change ownership) and asked for clarification on what Used Toyota "certified" means. He talked glowingly about 64 separate checkpoints, and 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty, etc, etc.. When I explained my issue with the aftermarket driveline, he started spewing disclaimers as fast as he had been touting the advantages of "certification"! He also said they should have had me sign a Carfax. I asked to see it, and of course, they don't have the records from the previous dealership, including service records! Apparently, certified means that they certify the vehicles is used! : )

 

Absolutely 0 reason to do that if the truck is stock.

 

I guess I'm going to take it back to the shop that did the head gasket. I wasn't crazy about them (disorganized), but they specialize in toyotas, saw the u-joint and didn't seem to have a problem replacing it. Hopefully, they're not going to get it apart and go ""oh, oh ... this doesn't fit, you need to replace the drive shaft!"

 

Anyway a moderator can move this thread to 2nd gen?

 

@Daria can

 

That shaft looks like the one on my truck. It uses very common spicer joints.

Look at the lot number, it start with 2005. probably the year your '06 truck was made.

Take that driveline out and take it to a driveline shop. ~$250 and you will have new joints.

 

Thanks! Interesting point regarding the lot number. So you think that indicates it is a factory driveline? When I asked the parts department if maybe the number is so old they don't recognize it, they took it to their OG parts guy, and he said it wasn't Toyota. The funny thing, is it's not like I'm claiming it failed, I just want to mate it up with a u-joint! Toyota also looks better if it's factory, cuz it means they didn't sell me a truck that had been in a major crunch!
I'm not set up to do the work myself. All I want is to pay someone to do it and it's turning into a major hassle!

 

the part number is probably a spicer internal number, but it's very very close to the actual part number 37100-43000
https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/toyota~shaft~assy~propeller~w~center~bearing~37100-04300.html

Thats a factory shaft.

First gen Tacos had japanese shafts, but you could not rebuild the double cardan joint. So there are a lot of spicer aftermarket shafts in those trucks. Since our 2nd gen trucks were built in Texas and across the border in Mexico they sourced the shafts locally, which ended up being spicer.