Itoyota

pac man or fozie bear, the waka waka is prolly not the u joints. I put the car on jack stands and ran the rear wheels with no waka waka waka?:!!!

rdharper

This is why the test must be done under load. In the cases of my own experience, I could not duplicate the noise on jack-stands. But it was the difference under load forward and backwards that was the clue.

You've stated you had signficant slop in the u-joint bearings. Couple that with the fact that u-joints are the most vulnerable to wear, I'd replace them or have them replaced... have the drive-line rebalanced at the same time. There is a good chance you will have no noise at that point. If you do, you haven't wasted your time or money anyway.

Itoyota

well guys, i replaced the U joints ... and its still there. so now what?
I suppose i can pull the driveshaft and roll about on front wheel drive. But what am i supposed to look or listen for?

rdharper

No change..... hmmm. I'd be thinking differential. Which, if memory serves, was what you thought to begin with. But the fact that you can't duplicate it on jackstand puzzles me. You'd think that load wouldn't matter for the differential, unlike the u-joints.

Really, no change at ALL? Egads. No fun. At least they had to be changed anyway.

aviator

since you replaced the u-joints next thing to check is the balance of the driveshaft...
I don't remember did you say you had a center double cardan joint? if you do check this one too...

Itoyota

I have a standard DS with one u joint at the diff and one at the tranny. Thats it. Maybe i should be thinking wheel bearings?

rdharper

I'd think a wheel bearing could be detected on jack stands. The single time I had a car wheel bearing problem it was more of a whistle. And I could hear it with the wheel off the ground. But I have had bearings on the hydro go out badly enough to be more of a mettle grinding noise. Not wacka wacka.

Itoyota

damn, im stumped ... what can it be.
Im about to just tear both rear axle hubs off and spin her w/out anything attached.

Itoyota

hey guys!!!!!!!! this isn't normal right.

I got under the truck and tried to apply resistance to running tires on jackstands. worked ... heard the waka waka but it was from the opposite side which i thought it was originally coming from. so i went to the DRIVERS SIDE TIRE, grabbed the rim and spun it. No noise.
grabbed the tire again, and rocked it perpendicular to direction of travel (towards the diff, away from the diff)
AND IT MOVED! i got a waka waka waka sound.
Bent axle shaft? , bad wheel bearing?
Help me out here.

ewong

sounds like it.

Its a pressed on thingie...

Or you can spend $$$ and go full floater

Itoyota

sounds like it ... or thats it for sure ...
I am sick of replacing piddly crap that is supposed to get beat up then upgraded to a free floater!

see what i mean, if something breaks, i make it better.
IE: Me in a fender bender + bent bumper = Reinforced custom brush gaurd, and winch. :-)

rdharper

Here we go again... sounds like major play in the bearing. If I've followed what you are saying.. you should have been able to detect that play off the jackstand just by rocking the wheel with your foot/hand.

Anyway... another case (like the u-joints), where it needs to be fixed. If there is play on the other side, even if no noise, same thing.

Good luck.

Itoyota

thanks for the luck.
And i know play is not a good thing, i would have singled out the bearing earlier if i wasn't so inclined to check the DS. So i donno what you are going on about "here we go again".

In any case....
This is gonna be an expensive repair. If anyone has done it before, they know.
The bearing = $60 (cheapest with price match)
The work = ? ... The machinist will have it ready by tomorrow and from what he told me ... our year and model bearings are Bad words to do.