New drive shaft

96 Tacoma 3.4L V6 RWD automatic, 300k miles

Vibration issue. A mechanic friend poked under my truck and said my carrier bearing and U joints all badly need replacing. Probably all original.

I imagine this is common where the labor and parts cost make it cost efficient to replace the whole drive shaft with all those parts preinstalled. A good 1996 salvage drive shaft is pretty much impossible now with the mileage put on them. My friend made installation sound pretty easy, so I plan on buying an aftermarket, installing at his place, and having him check my work.

Would a Dorman make sense? I gather their longevity isn't highly regarded, but at least good until they wear out? Around $500.

 

Those are wear parts, if it were me I'd just replace what's worn, not the whole shaft

 

What he said. ^^^

 

If you plan on doing the u-joints yourself, be away that Toyota yokes are not square- they have a taper to them, making conventional u joint c clamp replacement a huge pain in the ass / you will mess up the cups or yokes. See Timmy's video for a more detailed explanation and solution.

 

Maybe I'll have to check with my friend again. He was saying I should find a $150 salvage drive shaft with low miles, slip it in, bing bang boom, but I think he didn't realize a good salvage isn't feasible with this model.

I'm trying to get my regular mechanic on the phone. He's swamped right now probably. I figure $140 for the 3 U-joints and carrier bearing, and 2 hours labor?

 

I don't think I'll attempt that. A shop would be able to do that without a problem, right?

 

I'm certainly not going to put words in your mechanic's mouth and give an estimate for him.

Ask him something along the lines of "I've heard the Tacoma drive shafts have tapered yokes, is that going to be an issue?". It's not accusing him of not knowing, shows him that you've done some digging, and if he didn't know that before, he might spend more time looking that up on here to find out.

 

The reason I'm asking is 100% of mechanics here in the bay area overcharge by a lot and upsell parts like mad. Their overhead costs here are impossible to meet otherwise. For example the front brake pads were $500. I trust them relatively speaking, but I'm trying to gauge how much of a premium I'm paying and if it's venturing into dishonest territory.

Edit: I plan on still going to them regardless because I want this fixed right, they've helped me identify and fix issues before, and I don't care about the cost so much. I just like to at least be aware of it if I'm paying double what should be normal, in case any other red flags pop up.

 

Ok just talked to my mechanic and it's looking good! Gave me a good feeling they can handle it no problem.

My friend was trying to save me $$$ but he also enjoys doing all this stuff, and he was a big help last weekend peeking at it for me and telling me what's up. With something like this I'd feel better giving it to a shop and directing my time and stressing elsewhere. I'm only semi competent with small things and I have felt good about learning and doing things like oil, coolant, and small parts myself, but this is too much.

 

easy..peasy......even I can do it....

 

Of course if your by yourself.....an old scissor jack comes in handy.....



the u-tube videos have changed everything......they come up with tricks I'd never think of......like marker pen....and taking lots and lots of before pics......so humpy goes back together....
and these people here....way smarter than me....

 

Without a combination of youtube and this forum, there's no way I'd do the several jobs so far. It's nice to have a friend every once in a while peek at my truck too, because I'm only good enough to be dangerous.

I just got back from taking it out for a spin at redline after doing the oil and coolant. Nothing broke, no new trouble code, so that's nice.

 

If several U-joints AND the carrier bearing need replacing then you may as well price out a new one-piece driveshaft just to compare.

The one-piece from Tom Woods was right around $600 for me (pre-COVID pricing in late 2019). It installs with 4 bolts at the transfer case and 4 at the rear dif; couldn't be easier! I'm happy that I have all new U-joints (1310-style) and no more carrier bearing to worry about.

I'm not saying that this is the best way to fix your driveline vibration issue, but it might be worth it with labor factored into refreshing your current driveshaft. Either way though I wouldn't go with an aftermarket 2-piece unit.

 

I was quoted close to 2k by a bay area shop to make a new driveshaft for me. I decided to buy a new one instead for around $500 and installed it in an hour. Drives better than new and made in the USA.

 

I read elsewhere that 1-piece shafts could cause an issue because of the output angle from the transmission to the rear axle not being a straight line, forcing something to be modified or tweaked?

It sounds like a 2 piece aftermarket is worse than a 1 piece aftermarket for some reason?

 

They both have their pros and cons. I went with a good quality two piece over a one piece but that's just me.

 

What brand of two piece did you end up getting?

 

I bought mine from here.

https://www.wholesaleimportparts.com/

That said, I believe they are just a middle man and don't actually make their own. The reason why I say this is because I had to ship back the first driveshaft and I noticed that it came from Nevada. When they shipped the replacement, it came from socal. Now that isn't indicative of anything except for the fact that there was a receipt from a driveshaft shop in socal inside the box and that both driveshaft looked a bit different. It's my guess that they are a middleman.

 

Well, who was the driveshaft shop in socal? screw the middle man.

 

https://www.driveshaftpro.com/