Vibrating Tacoma

I have a close friend that bought a new from the dealer Tacoma, a '92 if I recall.. His had a humming / drumming vibration somewhere around 90-100km much like an unbalanced tire, and because I hunt with the local toyota service manager, he did some 'extra' investigation. It turned out to be a sloppy weld drip on the rear drive shaft. After grinding it off, it was ok. But they didn't want to do anything about it until I went to see my service manager friend on behalf of my Tacoma friend.. Then they looked closer at it, and found the problem.. Prior to that, it was 'normal'.

My 03 4Runner V8 4X4 has the same problem. The dealer balanced the wheels several times with no help. 17k miles later it's still the same. Good Luck, Rob

If it changes noise volume when you put a full load on the vehivle , like a full gas tank and some extra heavy stuff in the back, then it is likely that the drive shaft angle meeting the differential is marginal and you should put some wedges in between the springs and axle at the front to 'tip' the front of the differential angle upward slightly. The universal joint at the rear of the driveshaft has too large of an angle to 'universal' properly. But I still think the driveshaft needs to be balanced properly. Look for extra weld splashes at the rear of the driveshaft tube and grind them off. It only takes an ounce to un-balance the shaft.

Could be shaft angles or balance. Any good driveshaft shop can throw the shaft onto one of their balancing machines and fix it up for you for about $60:

If any Toyota Tacoma owners are having a driveline vibration in their

2001-2004 Toyota Tacoma, and it has been to the dealership more than once for this problem, please email and I will put your name on a list of owners to present to the Better Business Bureau and Toyota. When I get 20 names together, we will present a complaint to toyota and see if we can get them to look into it and provide a solution to this problem. See below for a description of the vibration and the vehicle configuration. When you email, be sure to include year, model, mileage, # of times in for service and your name for our list.

DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM: Vibration thru seat or steering wheel when slowing down from 25mph to

15mph, or when driving at 15 to 25mph. Vehicle has been to dealership more than once and you were told this is a normal condition for these trucks.

TRUCK CONFIGURATION:

2001-2004 TOYOTA TACOMA XTRA CAB 3.4L V6 ENGINE MANUAL 5 SPEED TRANSMISSION FOUR WHEEL DRIVE STILL UNDER FACTORY WARRANTY

PS. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have, thanks, dan.

Gee, what to check, what to check...

Driveshaft U-joints assembled out of phase? Driveshaft not balanced properly from the factory? Someone knocked a balance weight off the driveshaft or bent it? Excessive wear of, or defective U-joint or slip joint? Driveline angles beyond factory specs because of loading or lift kit? Driveline slip joint extended or compressed too far because of lift kit?

This stuff isn't rocket science, you need to get them to put an experienced technician on the job to find and solve the problem. Might be a factory defect, might be something you did yourself - in which case prepare to pay for the diagnosis time.

There are going to be some squeaks and shakes that are normal, but a heavy vibration from the driveline at a certain repeatable speed should be checked out...

Unless you want to try your hand at 'vehicle pole vaulting' when the front U-joint breaks and drops on the freeway at speed, which is never fun. That can wreck the truck.

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Toyota supposedly checked the balance, phase, pinion angle, slip joints, etc, and said they were all in specification. The truck only had 200 miles on it when this became an issue. The truck is still stock, and no modifications have been made. The automotive shop I own has also looked at this and condemed the rear driveshaft, but toyota will not replace it or repair, and im not in a hurry to spend my own money on a brand new vehicle to repair it myself. The truck vibrates bad enough to rattle my keys against the dash and you can see the dash vibrating and feel it in the seat when slowing down.

If it's as bad as you say, make an appointment to see the Toyota Regional Manager or Zone Manager, whoever authorizes the warranty work on difficult cases around there. Take him out for a test drive and make the truck shake as much as you can - slight uphill or downhill road, light or heavy load in the back, perfect your technique to make it shake so bad on cue that it'll rattle your fillings loose.

(Putting a Bobblehead or Hula Girl doll on the dash would earn bonus points - visual cue of what's happening. ;-)

As he's sitting in the passenger seat getting a "Magic Fingers" massage treatment better than any 25-cent motel bed, ask him if this is a "normal" thing for the truck to be doing... ;-0

I'll bet he'll authorize buying you a new driveshaft in 10 seconds. Either that, or he's a loser who has already been fired and just doesn't know about it yet - go over his head, and keep climbing the corporate ladder till you reach someone who actually gives a shit.

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I have a 95 tacoma and have the same problem, though I was under the impression it was a brake problem, if not, it would make sense that my rear end locks up on me and that I have some serious headache brewing downthere, If you find any sollutions, please let me know.

So, driving down the road yesterday, and the rear U-joint on my drive shaft blew. Some car behind me must've gotten a face full of metal. But I got over to the side of the road, and in the waning minutes of usable sunlight (and the start of a nasty snowstorm here in Denver) I dropped the rear shaft, threw it into 4 wheel high to drive home in front wheel drive. Aside from some weirdness in handling from the front wheel drive on a rear wheel drive vehicle, it was the smoothest my truck has ever driven. Making me realize that the rear drive shaft is most likely a lot of our problems with vibration.

Tomorrow I am going to have to try to get something up there... Have a friend who has an extra tacoma drive shaft.. but might try to do something custom that will be stronger and more reliable than the stock one. I'll let you all know what I do and how it drives afterwards.

-Erik

In case anyone is paying attention to this anymore,

so I finally got my driveshaft bolted back up under the truck last night. Must say, that is 99% of our problems. My truck is nice and smooth and everything is tight with a newly rebuilt and completely balanced shaft.

At the very least, go have your shafts balanced.

-Erik