BFG Vibration and Volume

I just got the duratrac's and I love them and dont find them noisy at all. Plus they are grippy as hell

IMAG1181.jpg~original


The tires I took off had a vibration issue like what you talked about. It was caused by the slightest bit of uneven mounting on a perfectly balanced set of tires. Funny enough it was a set of 1/4 spacers that when I measured with a micrometer I found a 0.5 mm difference side to side. Magnified by speed it made my wheel shake pretty bad.

I am actually betting that you have a bad universal joint somewhere in your driveline. I would try and swap back to a set of stock wheels to see if that gets rid of your issue.
 
Unique Observation with Vibration

I was driving down the highway yesterday, annoyed by my vibration, when I noticed something unique about it. On a straight stretch going 65 mph it is very prominent in the top of the steering wheel and gas pedal, as I've stated previously. Yesterday I noticed that when I turn the wheel left to change lanes, the vibration goes away completely. Turning it to the right reduces it but it doesn't completely go away. I think this eliminates unbalanced tires. Bad wheel bearings that I have experienced actually get louder when the wheel is turned.

Any ideas?
 
sounds like your drive line is a little stretched out from the lift, it happens all the time. It will be a simple fix once we figure out what it is.

look at your drive shaft and cvs

...oh and
:worthless
 
ridefast said:
sounds like your drive line is a little stretched out from the lift, it happens all the time. It will be a simple fix once we figure out what it is.

look at your drive shaft and cvs

Something like this is more what the vibration feels like. I'll take some pics and post them up. Then you guys can let me know what you think.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
I've been doing some more digging around on the forum searching for threads related to vibration and there are a lot. One that is down in the problems/warranty issues section mentions a valve in the steering rack that creates the vibration/hum in the steering wheel. There is also mention in there of a TSB on the GX470 concerning this same type a vibration that involes replacing several steering components. The last useful post in that thread was over 1.5 years ago.

Has anyone that frequents the forum now had any experience with these fixes?
 
My moms 07 gx470 rides perfect. Based on her vin the tsb did not affect her gx. Check with the dealer if you are affected, if your truck is affected you will prob have to fight them to get it done. Its already hard as heck to get some dealers to do tsb work and now that you altered your truck its going to be harder. Its worth looking into. Did you have the vibes before the lift?
 
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Honestly, it sounds like a wheel bearing since it changes pitch when you turn the wheel. Turning the wheel shifts the load on the bearings, causing the change.

I had a front wheel bearing on mine go bad, and it made sounds just like you describe (noise went away when turning the wheel one direction, changed pitch going the other direction, very audible going straight). FYI, with the car jacked up there was no play in the bad bearing and it made no audible grinding noises when I spun the wheel. The noise was only at speed and would go away when turning left.
 
sonerick said:
Honestly, it sounds like a wheel bearing since it changes pitch when you turn the wheel. Turning the wheel shifts the load on the bearings, causing the change.

I had a front wheel bearing on mine go bad, and it made sounds just like you describe (noise went away when turning the wheel one direction, changed pitch going the other direction, very audible going straight). FYI, with the car jacked up there was no play in the bad bearing and it made no audible grinding noises when I spun the wheel. The noise was only at speed and would go away when turning left.
Click to expand...

Was it the left side?
Did it create a vibration or only noise?
How many miles were on the truck at the time?
 
I had a similar issue with my BFG A/T KO's ... started getting worse and worse vibrations after 5k miles or so. Had 'em rebalanced twice at different shops, never fixed it. Then had 'em balanced again @ the Toyota Dealer, they did a much better job but still couldn't get the balance issue out.

I insisted something must be wrong with something else (bearings/etc), but the dealer said nope, it's the tires. To prove it they swapped out the tires with another used 4Runner on the lot, and was smooth as silk.

I finally ditched the BFG's and went with Michelin's which have been fine. Luckily the BFG's last forever and still had a ton of tread so I was able to get $100 each off 'em on Craigslist.

Only think I can figure is when I first bought the BFG's they were never balanced right from the get-go, and it somehow wore the tires funny over time to where it was impossible to balance 'em anymore. Food for thought...
 
I definately apreciate the input but I think I have about eliminated the tires being the source. The only reason I say that is because of the fact that my vibration stops when I change lanes to the left on the highway. If it were the tires I don't think that would happen.

I'm about convinced that it's a wheel bearing. I was just over at 120 doing some research and there are a couple of guys over there that described having the exact symptoms that I have. Their problem turned out to be bad bearings.

I will try to get my shop to put a different set of tires on and let me test drive it before I spend $500 on pre-pressed bearings.
 
Yeah, just make sure it's the bearings or whatever b4 dropping the $$. Come to think of it, mine would also stop vibrating during certain freeway corners or long freeway speed curves. It drove me crazy, I literally googled and researched for weeks trying to get to the bottom of my vibration. I actually ended up arguing with the dealer when they swore it was the tires and I swore something else. (my consistent arguing with them was probably the only way they finally offered to put an entire different set on to prove their point).

When I picked up my new tires from Costco (who balanced the new Michelin's on install), but get this ... I had even worse vibration! I took the truck straight to the dealer and said "SEE!!!!! It wasn't the tires! Look, I just dropped a grand on tires 'cuz y'all said it was them!!! vibration still there!" Again the dealer swore, "nope, Costco balanced them wrong, we can tell just by looking at the weights. They didn't use the right machine."

I was like really???? Well here's the truck go for it. They re-balanced and magically voila problem solved.

I for one am nobody to believe anything a dealer tells me ... but this time they were right, and I was actually impressed. Curious to see how your situation turns out... just a word of advise don't take the tire issue too lightly with those BFG's. Like I said before I think once my BFG's were messed up from x-many miles of driving perhaps balanced wrong or what-not, there was no hope for them... vibration free for over 20k miles now on the Michelins, tires holding up nicely as well via 5-tire rotation (all balanced @ the dealer).
 
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OHP said:
Was it the left side?
Did it create a vibration or only noise?
How many miles were on the truck at the time?
Click to expand...

Honestly I don't remember which bearing it was. I replaced a diff seal on the opposite side at the same time, so I was working on both sides of the front end. I do remember that turning left made the noise go away. This was especially noticeable on the highway when changing lanes.

It was a noise and a vibration in the pedal/steering wheel

I think I had just under 100k on it at the time.

I'd have your mechanic use a stethoscope and confirm. FWIW, I bought the bearing for about $75 on RockAuto and had a shop do the pressing in/out of the bearings for me. Not too bad of a job, really. Sure beats $500.

Edit: I think it ended up being the front right bearing, the opposite of what you would expect if the noise goes away when you turn left.
 
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Update

I'm going to keep this updated until I get this fixed.

It is not the tires. I had them rebalanced and although the shop said all four were slightly out of balanced, the humming/vibration persists. The same shop that did the balance ran the truck up on the lift and listened to the front hubs with a stethoscope. They said the right front bearing is making the noise. I got three quotes from around town ranging anywhere from $500 to $267. So I got online and started looking for the bearing. This research lead me to a guy that has been mentioned on here before that is selling pre-pressed assemblies on ebay for $239.00. (They're $229 on his website, Blue Pit Bearings | 2003-2009 Toyota 4Runner Complete Front Hub Wheel Bearing) Essentially he is just buying the parts, pressing them together, and selling the whole thing. At his website price that saves about $30 over me having someone else do it. Plus, if I replace right front and the vibration is still there, I can swap it to the left front and put the old one back on the right side. I spoke with the guy on the phone, very nice and knowledgeable, told him the symptoms and he agreed that it is probably the bearing. I would agree too if I were selling them.

So we'll see. It should arrive Tuesday and I plan to install it Tuesday evening.

Any pointers before I tackle the project?
 
Vibration Gone!!

As previously posted, I ordered the whole wheel bearing assembly on Friday afternoon. To my disbelief it showed up at my door Saturday morning via FedEx. I went Saturday afternoon and rented the necessary 36mm socket and torque wrench. (Neither of my torques will do 173 ftlbs needed for the axle nut)

This morning I started on it after I watched the youtube video posted by the guy I bought the bearing from. The only difficult part was getting the old hub off the steering knuckle. It took a 5lb sledge and progressively bigger pry bars. If that had come out easily, I could have done the whole project in about 45 minutes easily. One word of CAUTION to anyone attempting this. Somehow I managed to split the seal on the backside of the steering knuckle that the axel butts up to. Sometime in the near future I will have to take the axel out and replace that seal. I'm not sure how it happened but I would suggest being careful not to move the axel back and forth too much.

The good news is that the vibration I was experiencing is completely gone. Hopefully this thread will help someone diagnose and fix this problem in the future. :thumb:
 
May I ask why you're only rotating four of your tires? If memory serves, the owner's manual calls for rotating all five tires, including the spare.
 
vlafrank said:
May I ask why you're only rotating four of your tires? If memory serves, the owner's manual calls for rotating all five tires, including the spare.
Click to expand...

Because my BFG's are bigger than my original Dunlop spare. I should probably get a matching spare but I'm too cheap. :biggrin2:
Also, I don't think it will fit in the spare spot.
 
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