A customer at my shop in Phoenix brought in a 1992 Toyota pickup with a weird noise. He said, "It sounds like a squirrel is tap dancing on a tin roof when I go over 50." We spent an afternoon chasing it down.

4 comments

4 Comments

That's a great description, but a tap dancing squirrel would be more of a rapid clicking. A single, loud tap at highway speed is classic for a failing U-joint on the driveshaft. The carrier bearing going bad can make a similar racket.

iris9271mo ago

Check the U-joint first then. @the_lisa, would a bad carrier bearing make more noise during acceleration or just coasting? That detail could help narrow it down.

abbynelson1mo ago

My old F-150 had a carrier bearing fail, and @iris927 is right, it roared under load.

the_thea3d ago

Man, my buddy's truck made that same racket, and @abbynelson nailed it, his carrier bearing was totally shot.

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