ok the noise its making sounds like truck tires road noise, loud consistent with vehicle movement, low pitch at slow speeds higher pitch at higher speeds. it does not however vary with engine or transmission rpms or steering directions left or right much like tire noise. the noise appeared indiscriminately one second quiet next second noisy while driving. the noise appears to be coming from the passenger side or center of the vehicle cant pinpoint while driving

here's what i have checked so far
changed tires and the noise remains

here's vehicle history regarding driveline
11/12 drivers side wheel bearing replaced
11/12 front rotors and pads placed
8/12 front end alignment
8/12 front tires replaced
7/12 passenger side wheel bearing replaced
12/11 cv axles replaced

friend of mine suggested its the bearing that supports the passenger side cv axle extension to the transmission but for the life of me i cant find what that bearing is called to price out a replacement
any thoughts or if you know this noise please reply

I think you are looking for the axle carrier bearing.

problem figured out.... metal shavings in the gear oil time for a new transmission

I find it odd that it'd make noise in all gears though. Just drive it until you notice a lack in performance or it completely ****s the bed.

A small amount of metal can be expected from normal wear. Drain it and put new fluid in.

I would suspect the carrier bearing(on the pass. cv axle) or wheel bearing. Replacement parts are 100x more likely to fail than factory parts in my experience, so its always best to suspect repair work first and Toyota's work second.

You could place the front wheels on jackstands and rotate the wheels by hand to see if you can hear or feel the problem. You can also very carefully place the vehicle in drive/gear with the engine running while it is still on the jackstands in order to replicate the noise. But I cant in good faith suggest crawling under the vehicle with the engine while its in gear.

Good luck and be safe.

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Jan 7, 2013 - 10:39 PM

replaced the carrier bearing and the noise persisted, took it to a shop and they put it on the lift and ran it with the wheels free, the noise is coming from around the differential. it was more then a small amount of metal shavings that you would get from the occasional missed shift. mechanic thinks the metal shavings may have damaged the output shaft bearings and causing the noise however he was uncertain of the condition of the rest of the transmission with the amount of metal shavings in the oil he believes the root of the problem isn't the output shaft bearings but rather something internal that caused them to go bad. I found a transmission cheap enough so i'm just gonna replace the whole thing and be done with the problem.

transmission and new clutch are in all is good again no more noises