so this evening I started hearing a clicking sound that has progressively become louder throughout the evening. It is coming from the passenger rear wheel and has the rhythm of a rock in the tire but sounds more mechanical. I put my foot on the wheel and pushed and it seems I could feel a little play. also it almost sounded like the noise would become louder if I was turning left and quieter if turning right but can't say if that's actually the case or not.

 

Get that wheel off the ground and spin it by hand, is the noise still there?

 

ok I jacked the back wheel up chocked the other side, shifted the tranny in neutral and started spinning. I heard no noise (well maybe a very slight rubbing sound of the rotor and pads but nothing like the clicking sound I heard while driving)

I also grabbed the wheel and tried to shake it but it felt tight with no play

 

Now do the other side too.
Sound can telescope from one side to the other.

 

OK I will have to do it in the morning, do you have a few ideas of what could cause this sound?

 

sounds like a cv joint, I assume that since our trucks have a cv inside the swivel ball that the sound of a bad one would sound like any other front wheel drive with bad cvs.

 

ok a quick update (don't know if it will help but will add it anyways) I just drove my wife to work and tried to differentiate what if anything made the sound change, I thought I would try to apply the brakes to see if the sound would stop but I couldn't try that because I didn't notice the sound happen while my foot was off the gas pedal. I can only here the sound at slow speed, not sure if this is because it is a clicking with the speed of the truck so anything more than say 10 or 15 MPH the clicking is so fast that it just becomes ambient noise or if it is actually going away. It only seems to happen under acceleration, and definitely is the loudest during left turns from a stop, then gradually gets quieter as I speed up and straighten out until it is gone, turning right from a stop I didn't notice it much at all.

now here is a weird thing, earlier when I was at the store and I pushed the tire with my foot and hands (tire was on the ground), I am almost 100% sure I could feel,hear and even see a slight play in the wheel, but when I jacked the wheel up there was nothing.

I guess I will get under there tomorrow when I have light, just hoping I could get some ideas of where to start looking.

 

it is definitely coming from the back, but oddly enough yes it almost does sound like that clicking plastic sound that a worn CV joint often makes.

 

For the obvious first? In other words, there are no foreign objects in the tire, you know, nails, screws or squirrels.

And - even though it sounds odd, no zip tie hanging from the drive shaft or from the axle itself?

I had a similar sound that I chased for 10 days, extremely similar symptoms, and it turned out to be a zip tie the PO had tied into the under carriage and every time it flipped around, "Click". I only heard it at low speeds because in my case, road noise (wind, tire hum, PTO/Diff Roar from the wrong oil ) would cover the noise up at any speed over 15MPH.

Good luck!

 

OK it definitely happens only while accelerating, and it is definitely louder when turning left and then quiets down when straightening out then fades away as I get up to speed, turning right I hear nothing.

no sound when spinning both rear wheels by hand, checked the rear U joint for play and didn't see any (turned it and looked for jerking). shook the hell out of the whole back end of the truck and all I could hear was the gas in the tank sloshing around.

could low fluid in the rear diff cause this type of noise?