I am new owner of 4Runner.. So, I am trying to understand if this is a 'bug' or a 'feature' of the car
So, sometimes when I start driving (say after the traffic light goes green) I feel a little kick at the time I release the brake pedal.. It happens not too often but bothers me a bit.. It feels like the brake pads stick to the rotors
Any ideas?

Mine does the same thing when letting of the brakes, especially if I had to brake hard to stop at a red light.I believe it can be fixed by greasing the drive line slip joint.

Here is another thread about that issue:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/proble...hump-bump.html

I noticed the same thing on my 04. I'm no expert by any means, but my little understanding gives me the impression that you are feeling it drop down into 1st gear. I was experimenting the other day and if I let off the brake just a little, but not enough to roll, it would drop down into 1st. The increased torque (at the same rpm) would then result in me having to depress the brake further to keep it from rolling forward.

I encourage any corrections to that amateur explanation! ^^

Yep, Lube the drive shafts, it will be gone.

thanks guys.. It does look like the lubrication issue.. I will try to get the dealer fix it (last week I did the lubrication of the shafts based on their proposed maintenance ) i actually noticed the issue was gone (maybe the first day or so but then came back). Or maybe just fix it myself (not sure how easy would be to get there without the stands)..

drive shaft lube, fixes that right up.

I know there are other threads covering this topic but I just wanted to let everyone know that the kick completely disappeared after I lubricated the yokes. (I wanted to lubricate all 6 points but the dealer has already lubricated the u-joints) so I only could do the yokes. I put about 17 pumps to each and that was it!!!!!!!!!!
UNBELIEVABLE!
thanks to everybody who shared this information!

My 08 does the same thing. Did it from the day I bought it brand new. I called 3 different dealers at the time and got…well 3 different answers. But they all basically said this was normal and not to worry about it and that there was no fix for it. So I have pretty much just ignored it for the past 2 years until today when I came across this thread. I’ll be heading to the garage this weekend to lube it up!

Exact same issue with my 2003 v8. I'll try the shaft lube...

Holy crap. I've been living with this EXACT problem for more than a year (I've had my '09 since new, with only 56 kms on it). It's a thud from the driveline after releasing the brake, most severe after a hard stop. Well, I pumped the slip joint with lots of grease and so far, it's gone!

I too thought it was just a transmission programming quirk and just accepted it. Looking back, I've had a similar problem with the '94 Pickup back in '96 (I bought it used that year with 50,000 kms on it). When shifting from drive to reverse or vise vera, the drive shaft would "ping" and it drove me nuts. After a while it went away and I now know it was because I'd grease the rear slip-yolk twice a year and eventually filled it sufficiently to lube the splines. The pinging never returned.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm hooked on this site after two days -- I belong to three other Toyota truck boards and none offer as good 4Runner-specific info.

So glad I noticed this thread before searching for a separate issue. I thought it was a problem with my rear differential (which I had to replace on my '05 after a slip from drive to neutral, then back into drive while accelerating across traffic) which I thought I may never recover from related issues.

Can't wait to see if this solution fixes the problem.

... now back to figuring out why my passenger-side & rear vents are the only ones to blow cold a/c. *fingers crossed*

i have 2007 4Runner that I bought with 50K on it. It had the kick. I only had to lubricate the yokes and that was it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The dealer lubricated the u-joints so I did not need to do anything there. Only the yokes. 17 pumps to each. and NO MORE kicks!

Thanks to everyone who posted the info to this forum!!

it'll likely come back. it is a "feature" of the truck. live with it.

I have lots of grease left in the gun..

send some my way because i've been "dealing" with it for a great many miles! lol