Jackhammer noise?

[YarisSedan]

First things first double check the wheel bearings. With the car up in the air or on jack stands grab the top and bottom of the wheel and wiggle it up and down there should be no play. And spin the wheel it should turn freely. If everything checks out okay more than likely you have a blown cv joint.

A blown cv joint will sound like a very loud cliking sound which could be interpereted as a jackhammer. Best way to check it is to drive it on a rack while someone is under the car listening and looking. Easiest way is to hold a long prybar against the chassy and against your ear on each side and find the one that the sound is coming from. Then check for play where the axle goes into the transmission. If there is no play, its safe to say just a bad cv joint.

Another easy way to check if its extremly worn is to take sharp left and right turns. Usually it will make sound very prominent on the side thats failing under load.