Bad Vibration

[boceiphis73]

I have a 2000 Tacoma sr5 V6 TRD Automatic. I have had new frount brakes and roters put on the frount and the tires balanced and I still ahve a vibration.I can be goin about 40 and feel a little vibration but when I slow the truck with the brakes it is just shakni the dash at times now it really dosent do it all the time but I can seem to feel it a slight bit all the time. Do you think it could be the Trany or maybe a drive shaft bearing. Mentionung that the center driveshaft bearing should it be able to move around alot I have about 3/4 inh play in mine is that normal. I just dont no where to turn and dont want to spend alot of mony throwing parts at it. i chacked the drum brakes and they have alot of pad left also. Any help please.

[03TRDTacoma]

how many miles? you should check suspension parts more than anything. ball joints, steering components, etc

[gomez4x4]

Had taken my 2002 4 cyl to the dealer, similar issue. After replacing the front brakes / rotor and supposedly going through the whole front suspension, they said that the rear drums were warped (had pad left, but were out of round), due to one side of the emergency brake sticking. Said that the sticking led to overheating, and when you slowed back down, the brakes would cool (or wear) off. They did the back brakes, picked up the truck yesterday and don't have a vibration -- yet. Might be something to look at.

[Flash75]

To determine the location of a vibration it helps if you consider what is happening in detail. This is the second recent thread on vibration. boceiphis73, can you feel the vibrating at the steering wheel? If you can the problem is probably in the front. Rear vibration would normally be felt through the seat.

Your drive shaft center bear seems to have too much play. My 14k mile 2004 truck has no play in the bearing. The shop manual only mentions that it should be inspected and replaced if bad. The bearing support encases the bearing in a rubber insert so it is able to move around a little while driving. The next time you get the vibration try placing the shifter in neutral and then brake to slow the truck. With the transmission in neutral the drive shaft is free wheeling and should have less tendency to vibrate. You can also put the shifter in low range and quickly accelerate and let off the gas, a badly worn bearing should cause the drive shaft to clunk. Be sure to turn your sound off while trying to locate a noise.

You mention the tires were balanced, were they checked for run out and flat spotting or cupping? Those conditions can cause vibrations. Bad rotors or brake drums will not normally cause vibration while running. They can be felt when you brake. Consider that the outer edge of a rotor or brake drum is only 5"-6" from the center of the hub. The outer edge of a 30" is about 15" away from the hub center. A small out of tolerance condition on a tire has a much greater effect than an out of tolerance brake drum or rotor. Since you didn't have the tires rotated, you didn't mention that you did, I would switch the front and back tires and see what happens. While switching run the palm of you hand around the thread and checks for cupping.

Many shops install wheels with an impact wrench. That is the cause of many brake rotor problems. The wheel lug nuts should be torqued by hand. They cannot be consistently tightened with an impact wrench.

In over 60 years of driving about 90% of the vibration problems I have experienced were caused by the tires or bad wheels. A bad wheel or tire can show up intermittently because the shocks and springs are also moving and the frequency of the suspension and wheels may not be the same because of speed and road conditions.

gomez4x4 said the dealer changed the brake drums and so far has stopped his vibration. I'm surprised that it corrected the problem. I asked about tire rotation and he said the tires were rotated when the dealer worked on the front end of the truck. Let us know if the trouble shows up again. In his case the truck has low miles, the tires may be original and his truck went in for a ball joint recall and he left with a new vibration, he didn't mention a previous problem. I don't understand a problem with brake drums that didn't show up until the tires were rotated unless they went wild with an impact wrench.

BTW, I have a good friend in the wheel alignment business, he has many years of experience, over 30 years. He always torques lug nuts by hand.

Clifton

[boceiphis73]

Originally Posted by Flash75

To determine the location of a vibration it helps if you consider what is happening in detail. This is the second recent thread on vibration. boceiphis73, can you feel the vibrating at the steering wheel? If you can the problem is probably in the front. Rear vibration would normally be felt through the seat.

Your drive shaft center bear seems to have too much play. My 14k mile 2004 truck has no play in the bearing. The shop manual only mentions that it should be inspected and replaced if bad. The bearing support encases the bearing in a rubber insert so it is able to move around a little while driving. The next time you get the vibration try placing the shifter in neutral and then brake to slow the truck. With the transmission in neutral the drive shaft is free wheeling and should have less tendency to vibrate. You can also put the shifter in low range and quickly accelerate and let off the gas, a badly worn bearing should cause the drive shaft to clunk. Be sure to turn your sound off while trying to locate a noise.

You mention the tires were balanced, were they checked for run out and flat spotting or cupping? Those conditions can cause vibrations. Bad rotors or brake drums will not normally cause vibration while running. They can be felt when you brake. Consider that the outer edge of a rotor or brake drum is only 5"-6" from the center of the hub. The outer edge of a 30" is about 15" away from the hub center. A small out of tolerance condition on a tire has a much greater effect than an out of tolerance brake drum or rotor. Since you didn't have the tires rotated, you didn't mention that you did, I would switch the front and back tires and see what happens. While switching run the palm of you hand around the thread and checks for cupping.

Many shops install wheels with an impact wrench. That is the cause of many brake rotor problems. The wheel lug nuts should be torqued by hand. They cannot be consistently tightened with an impact wrench.

In over 60 years of driving about 90% of the vibration problems I have experienced were caused by the tires or bad wheels. A bad wheel or tire can show up intermittently because the shocks and springs are also moving and the frequency of the suspension and wheels may not be the same because of speed and road conditions.

gomez4x4 said the dealer changed the brake drums and so far has stopped his vibration. I'm surprised that it corrected the problem. I asked about tire rotation and he said the tires were rotated when the dealer worked on the front end of the truck. Let us know if the trouble shows up again. In his case the truck has low miles, the tires may be original and his truck went in for a ball joint recall and he left with a new vibration, he didn't mention a previous problem. I don't understand a problem with brake drums that didn't show up until the tires were rotated unless they went wild with an impact wrench.

BTW, I have a good friend in the wheel alignment business, he has many years of experience, over 30 years. He always torques lug nuts by hand.

Clifton

thanks Clifton for the info. The Vibration is coming from the seat aera. It does it at about 45mph I will try the things you mentioned to see if that fixes the problem. No I hvent rotated the tires yet so that would be an easy place to start would you cris cross the tires or just frount to back? i will try th acceclerate thing in low gear to see if I get a clunck out of it and let you know the results. I really do aperacate the help. I still think I need to replace the center support bearing. Is it hard to do yourself? Does it make a bad vib when its gone bad?

[Flash75]

Front to back will be OK for what you are trying to check. You probably are right about the center bearing being bad. To do it yourself you will need a good vise and a suitable puller to remove the flange from the shaft at the bearing. You can probably drive the flange on with a long socket. If you don't have the tools to do the job and you live near a city you should be able to find a shop that replaces U joints and does drive shaft repairs. Remove the drive shaft and take it to them for repair. Check before going to make sure they will do the job. It should be easy for them.

[boceiphis73]

Originally Posted by Flash75

Front to back will be OK for what you are trying to check. You probably are right about the center bearing being bad. To do it yourself you will need a good vise and a suitable puller to remove the flange from the shaft at the bearing. You can probably drive the flange on with a long socket. If you don't have the tools to do the job and you live near a city you should be able to find a shop that replaces U joints and does drive shaft repairs. Remove the drive shaft and take it to them for repair. Check before going to make sure they will do the job. It should be easy for them.

Yea I think I will try to tackle it this weekend. I rotated the tires and put correct air pressue in each one. It seemed to help very little with the vibration. I will try to find a bearing I went to autozone and they had a price of 75 dollars but the wharhouse was empty of the part. Does that price sound right. I will look around town tomarrow I havent checked the price at the dealer yet so If I cant find it elsewhare thats where I will have to go. So what i probaly do is take the Drive shaft off and take it to a shop and get them to put the bearing on. So when I take it off is it hard to do and which peices do I take off and should I paint the aera I move the shaft from. But thatnks agian for all your help. Michael

[Flash75]

I don't have a clue on a fair price for the center bearing. If you have a NAPA or Checkers near you give them a try. Toyota will probably be at least two time the Advance price. It will probably be a better bearing though.

You should be able to leave the rear shaft connected at the differential. Make some marks that you can identify when you separate the center flanges, alignment is very important. If the front yoke slides into the transmission put a drip pan under the area, some oil will probably run out. If the front has a flange it's less messy, mark the flanges so you get it together correctly.

You can find a 2003 Tacoma service manual at
http://fsm.afraid.org/
It should have the same drive shaft your truck has.
Go to volume II and find the propeller shaft in section PR. There are some drawings showing how to assemble the drive shaft for correct alignment.

When you put everything together it's a good idea to torque the drive shaft flange bolts. The torque values are in the shop manual in the PR section.

Hope all goes well.

Clifton

[boceiphis73]

Originally Posted by Flash75

I don't have a clue on a fair price for the center bearing. If you have a NAPA or Checkers near you give them a try. Toyota will probably be at least two time the Advance price. It will probably be a better bearing though.

You should be able to leave the rear shaft connected at the differential. Make some marks that you can identify when you separate the center flanges, alignment is very important. If the front yoke slides into the transmission put a drip pan under the area, some oil will probably run out. If the front has a flange it's less messy, mark the flanges so you get it together correctly.

You can find a 2003 Tacoma service manual at
http://fsm.afraid.org/
It should have the same drive shaft your truck has.
Go to volume II and find the propeller shaft in section PR. There are some drawings showing how to assemble the drive shaft for correct alignment.

When you put everything together it's a good idea to torque the drive shaft flange bolts. The torque values are in the shop manual in the PR section.

Hope all goes well.

Clifton

I got the new bearing it wasnt to bad and the old one was pritty bad shape. It cut down on the vibration some but its still there. I guess its in the tires. Back when I took it to the Toyota place they done a checkover of the vehicle and they said the tire were cuped does that make sence and would that cause a vibration. I f so I cant afford a set of tire right now they have about half tred on them and hate to throw them away so will the cuped tire cause the vibration im gettin now?

[Flash75]

I suppose the tires could be part of the problem. I assume you have big tires, if so the effect would be worse than with smaller tires. Cupping would normally be noticed more on braking. When you replaced the bearing did you check that all the U-joints are in good condition? They shouldn't have any play you can feel in them. I believe your driveshaft has grease fitting or plugs that cover the holes for grease fittings. If it does it may help to lubricate the driveshaft.

Clifton

Clifton

[boceiphis73]

Originally Posted by Flash75

I suppose the tires could be part of the problem. I assume you have big tires, if so the effect would be worse than with smaller tires. Cupping would normally be noticed more on braking. When you replaced the bearing did you check that all the U-joints are in good condition? They shouldn't have any play you can feel in them. I believe your driveshaft has grease fitting or plugs that cover the holes for grease fittings. If it does it may help to lubricate the driveshaft.

Clifton

Clifton

Yea I checked out all the universal Joints and they all seemed tight And you was right it does viberate most when braking. Do you think 265/75 are to big I just bought the truck and I think it fills up the wheel well good but what size would you suggest would be easier on the truck. The small vibratind is drivin me nuts. I guess tomarrow I will check around on some tire prices and maybe get some. Would it be a good Ides to let a mechanic drive it first to see if he thinks it is in the tires cause I dont want to be spendin a lot of cash on the truck since I just bought it. And thatnks once agian for all your help

[Flash75]

I'm not sure about the size for your truck. there should be a label in the door jamb area that states the correct tire size for your truck. What you have may be the correct size. Tires on lots of vehicle seem to cup easily, if yours are badly cupped new tires should help. Also if the wheel tire combination is out of round you may get some vibration. Yes, I would let a mechanic drive the truck and give his opinion. I'm just guessing at this point based on your description of the problem. Just use a mechanic you trust.

Clifton