How can I tell if it's axle wrap vs something else

First a little history: My truck was T-boned hard ($11,000) damage last year. I felt the repair was pretty good but in the process the right leaf spring and whole axle needed replacement. I was bothered that they didn't replace the leafs as a pair. Both are TSB 4 spring models.

Now a year later I've been getting a clunk sound when starting from a dead stop and just as the truck stops. Other than that it stifts the same as it has for it's entire 98K miles. The propeller/drive shafts don't have any play in them. This week I had the ATF changed at the dealer. My '97 4runner has a similar issue when the ATF gets older than about 30K miles and I thought it might be the same with the Tacoma. No improvement at all.

While at the dealer they inspected and ordered my recall leaf springs. They are putting in 2 even though the right one is less than a year old. Could this clunking sound at start and stop be axle wrap instead of any transmission/driveline issue? How can I tell if it's axle wrap? What signs should I look for? Should I wait until new leafs are put in to worry?

Edit: Should I also hold off on getting an alignment until the new springs are installed?

 

Sounds like universal joints in the driveshaft to me.

 

Howdy,
I have had that problem in the past. For me it was the yoke that goes into the tranny that needed greasing. It was dry on the output shaft and would pop upon starting and stopping. Hope it works for you too. Have a goodun!!!!

 

Could be:

Slip yolk needs grease

Loose u bolts

Loose UCA bolt

or it could even be the brake pads shifting when applying/ releasing them

There's a few ideas to check on, all pretty easy to check and remedy. Axle wrap shouldn't make noise if the u bolts are tight, instead it's something you'll feel. It feels like a slipping clutch, or as if the rear tires are slipping and grabbing - kind of a lurching feeling while accelerating. Also, you shouldn't experience axle wrap on slow starts. Ever.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

U Bolts were tightened to specs.

I'll check the UCA bolts but the clunk is coming from the rear.

I know the sound of the brake pads shifting and I don't think it's that. I can have it hold steady on a slope with no brakes and it will clunk when starting. It doesn't have any slip at all. All wheels rotate just fine when jacked up and in neutral (this is an AT and not a MT).

How do you lube the yolk. I regularly lube all 5 zerks and the drive shafts. Does that get it done?

 

No, you have to pull the drive shaft and actually extend the yolk and slop grease on it. I haven't done mine yet - honestly, I'm tired of doing shit to my truck right now...mod fever has abated. I'm sure you know, but make sure to mark one bolt front and rear so the DS goes back on where it came from. In theory it shouldn't make a difference, but it's not a chance I'd take. You could fix one problem and create another...and down the rabbit hole we go!

 

I got home from work and climbed under the truck again and tightened down the driveshaft bolts to 65lbs as specified. When checking the torque on the center bearing (27lbs) I noticed that the shaft floats kind of sloppy in the center bearing. How much lateral play should be allowed in the center driveshaft bearing? I can easily push the rear driveshaft 1/4 inch up, down, left, right. The black rubber bushing within the metal shroud moves a little also. The metal housing does not move. Should there be that much lateral play in then center bearing? Nothing is mentioned about lateral movement specifications in the manual, just smooth turning and catching. I have no vibration even doing 85+MPH. Could this be a possible cause?

I appreciate your opinions.

Made my first youtube video.

 

Normal

 

65 ft lbs is too light, torque to 90 ft-lbs at least. If your truck has 90k on it, i'd honestly just replace all the u-joints and carrier bearing anyway. Easy enough to do in an afternoon and you'll be good to go for another 100k. For the clunk also check the LCA mounts to the subframe, there is a chance they are a little loose which allows the LCA to shift around and clunk a bit.

 

The LCA where it mounts to the subframe is at the cam bolts? 100 ft/lbs?

 

"Spec" for the leaf spring U-bolts is only 37 ft-lb, too light. Be sure to torque them to at least 75 ft-lb.

If you regularly grease the U-joints, they should be OK.

The slip joint is a likely suspect. No way to grease it unless you remove the back half of the driveshaft. Any clunk from axle wrap would manifest itself here, since the driveshaft would telescope if the axle rotates.

Best way to confirm is to stick a GoPro and point it at the slip joint and at the carrier bearing, and see which one is actually making the noise.

 

Solved:

Today I got my recalled springs (4-pack) installed and no more clunk/chunk/pop when stopping or starting. Whatever it was was fixed during the leaf spring replacement. The carrier bearing wasn't the cause, yet I'm going to keep my eye on the amount of play. I'm happy.

I'm going to get out the torque wrench tonight and make sure the U-bolts are tightened to specs (37 ft/lbs).

 

Congrats on the fix!

You may want to research the U-bolt torque value though. I think the general consensus around TW is that 37 is far too low for U-bolts. To my knowledge there isn't a published 'correct' value but I think most go with 73 instead.

 

How did you fix this?