Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 22:06
Same model, 100,000 kays. Had a growling noise on a trailing throttle, much banging and bleep ching, took it to the mechanic he said start with the drive shafts. Got Metropolitan Drive Shafts in Granville (
Sydney) to do the job - expected a recon, but they said some very unkind words that rhymed with "truck" and threw them into the bin. Amongst other things, they were starting to twist - 240+ kw don't help the cause..
$2,600+ later, bran new customs shafts - drive train feels like new - no snatch, no banging and more important, no growl. Ted, the manager of MDS, was very specific on the the quality of Toyota's slip joints and their manufacturing process - again blunt and to the point (and with 35 years experience I tend to listen), though he conceded the Toyota universal joints are good and rarely cause trouble.
So - what did you replace - the lot? Or just the universal bearings? Be aware that Toyota manufactures the shafts the cheap way - butt welding the universal onto the shaft - causes all sorts of off-centre and balance issues. Did you replace with genuine? Your symptoms sound so much like
mine did - surprised that a new shaft did not fix the problem, but if the new were genuine rather than top quality after-market you may be re-introducing the problem.
Re-reading your post: you will need most definitely to have a close look at the rear shaft - ALWAYS - when you do one you have to do both in an AWD vehicle, no exceptions (15 years of Range Rover experience before the Cruiser).
After that next stop is the front diff pinion bearings - they are the next weakest link, though with that you also generally get a growling noise - have the oil drained and checked for funny metallic stuff.
From there I shudder to think what might be the problem - some serious $$$ to sort, though you say that the auto checked out, that leaves the tranny - not good. However from what you say I think you really gotta
check that rear shaft.
Be interesting to see what the result will be. And to make sure that we are speaking the same language - by driveshaft I mean the shaft between the transfer case and diff.
Good luck!
viz
PS - one major contributing factor to drive train bangin and snatchin, and which I think contributed to the demise of the driveshafts so early (the are designed to respond to shock loads by flexing) - I initially insisted on using Dextron II ATF in the auto. Yes I got very solid gear changes, but very snatchy downchanges especially on the kick down. In trying to sort that I was persuaded to use the latest and greatest synthetic ATF - made a HUGE difference in the smoothness of the gear changes. Not going back to Dextron - sorry!
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