How to CAUSE the Driveshaft *Clunk*

J

Jyn

New member
Hi, all. I've had my V8 4Runner for a few years and have always read about/experienced the driveshaft clunk, but this week I decided to take it to the local dealership to see if they'd replace it since I bought the 4Runner from them CPO. Initially, they agreed to do it under the extended warranty, but then of course like most dealerships, they're trying to back out of doing the work now. They called me this evening saying their technician couldn't reproduce the problem, the TSB I showed them is only for 4WD 4Runners (even though the rep admitted his Tundra does the same thing), and that I should "just live with it" since his Tundra does the same.

tl;dr - The technician said if I could reproduce the clunk on a test drive tomorrow they would be willing to discuss it. I've always noticed it intermittently, so I don't really know HOW to reproduce the error. Any tips??
 
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Tell them you'll take them on a test drive everyday til it happens again haha

Mine does the same thing hopefully you get it resolved
 
C C said:
Tell them you'll take them on a test drive everyday til it happens again haha

Mine does the same thing hopefully you get it resolved
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Haha I wish I could, but I bought the 4Runner where my parents live (tiny town in Texas) and I move around between east and west Texas, so I'm not actually here often.
 
If mine isn't greased it seems like mine does it almost every time after I brake hard. Coming to a hard stop at a light or something I almost always feel it on take off.
 
ive noticed it happens more often when i drive a little aggressive and after stopping at a light it happens then. or i can get it do it when if i left off the brake a little let the car move a little and then reply the brake and i would get the clunk. dont know how everyone else is but thats what i have noticed.

i just grease the fittings every oil change and after a day of offroading
 
C C said:
Tell them you'll take them on a test drive everyday til it happens again haha

Mine does the same thing hopefully you get it resolved
Click to expand...

This! Went down the road a few weeks ago. After two days and two techs both experiencing clunk they finally agreed to fix it. It was a battle royal. The extended warranty people are cheap crooks! It was worth the fight. Love not waiting for the bump after hard braking.
 
Unfortunately the TSB only states that the repair onlyt applies to the 4WD models, yet it is documented in other TSBs to affect a large number of Toyota Trucks & SUVs (mostly V8 Equipped vehicles, but the FJ's and 5th Gens also have a similar TSB).

Normally, its most noticable after agressive driving and a mildly sudden take-off; greasing the driveshaft regularly does alievate the condition in many vehicles, but the reality is its a clearance issue in the expansion joint/spline of the driveshaft (I think it has to do with the backlash/fit of the spline in the expansion joint). What I would do is turn the A/C on, come to a stop somewhat harder than normal (hold the brake down pretty hard, you don't want to let the vehicle "creep" as that could lessen the desired clunk effect), and on take-off gun it a bit more than you normally would; this should give you a little clunk feeling if done a couple times. The A/C tends to bring engine RPM a little up and tends to make the vehicle want to "creep" at a stop more. If the complaint has been logged multiple times in the vehicle's history the dealer and warranty company shouldn't give too much push-back; but then again you have a 2WD vehicle and the TSB does not technically cover the condition that that particular equipment set-up.

I do hope that it gets taken care of for you in the end; as for the salesperson, he's sort of right as it was how the vehicle was made. As it was explained to me by a factory rep who was in Japan working for Toyota; apparently 4WD vehicles in Japan tend to have this type of clunk issue and its accepted as a "normal" characteristic of 4WD vehicles. The only reason Toyota did anything about it was because many many GX470 owners complained about this issue and so Lexus, being Lexus quickly took care of the customer, but the issue was found to be inherent in many other models.
 
BlackWorks, thanks for the reply. I've read a few of the threads I found through searches and saw that, but was hoping with the success of other 2WD V8s, I could get similar treatment. Personally, I've gotten used to it, but I let my mother (who drives a V6 4th gen) drive it the other day and she wouldn't touch it afterward because it scared the bejeebus out of her when it happened at the stop light lol. Thanks for the advice though, hopefully it'll happen when I take it out for a spin with the tech tomorrow.
 
Ohhh S.k. CFPB said:
ive noticed it happens more often when i drive a little aggressive and after stopping at a light it happens then. or i can get it do it when if i left off the brake a little let the car move a little and then reply the brake and i would get the clunk. dont know how everyone else is but thats what i have noticed.

i just grease the fittings every oil change and after a day of offroading
Click to expand...

This
 
Jyn said:
Hi, all. I've had my V8 4Runner for a few years and have always read about/experienced the driveshaft clunk, but this week I decided to take it to the local dealership to see if they'd replace it since I bought the 4Runner from them CPO. Initially, they agreed to do it under the extended warranty, but then of course like most dealerships, they're trying to back out of doing the work now. They called me this evening saying their technician couldn't reproduce the problem, the TSB I showed them is only for 4WD 4Runners (even though the rep admitted his Tundra does the same thing), and that I should "just live with it" since his Tundra does the same.

tl;dr - The technician said if I could reproduce the clunk on a test drive tomorrow they would be willing to discuss it. I've always noticed it intermittently, so I don't really know HOW to reproduce the error. Any tips??
Click to expand...



Like the 49 threads on this discuss... your clunk is a result of lack of maintenance. These 4Rs came with greasable U-joints from the factory, which is a desirable feature. However, what that means is that every 5-10K miles you have to actually stick a grease gun on the zerks and fill them up. People who don't do that get the "clunk".

I had the clunk really bad when I bought this thing. After I greased the hell out of the zerks I have now been totally clunk free for 6,000 miles.

Very rarely will you find people who actually want a sealed unit over a serviceable unit...but I guess Toyota guys are a little unique. :peep:
 
Funny how it's a desirable feature from the factory, yet Toyota dealerships don't seem to know to even do that when you get your oil changed there :p
 
Just approach a stop sign slowly, let the car keep running forward in idle, it will thump sooner or later, mine does it all the damn time
 
WXman said:
Like the 49 threads on this discuss... your clunk is a result of lack of maintenance. These 4Rs came with greasable U-joints from the factory, which is a desirable feature. However, what that means is that every 5-10K miles you have to actually stick a grease gun on the zerks and fill them up. People who don't do that get the "clunk".

I had the clunk really bad when I bought this thing. After I greased the hell out of the zerks I have now been totally clunk free for 6,000 miles.

Very rarely will you find people who actually want a sealed unit over a serviceable unit...but I guess Toyota guys are a little unique. :peep:
Click to expand...

This isn't completely true as the issue happened with vehicles that were regularly serviced and maintained as well. While I am not saying lack of maintenence won't cause the issue; many members who have regularly greased (myself included) their driveshafts have still had this issue. Toyota's original "fix" for the issue involved partial disassembly of the driveshaft slip yolk and then filing/sanding the splines and shaft down slightly; this tells me Toyota was aware of an issue in clearance when the shafts were machined, something that even greasing may not properly compensate for. The current fix is an updated driveshaft, though current production vehicles (and current GX470's at the time) still had the "bad" driveshaft, which was only replaced upon customer complaint; this is also true of the FJ Cruisers and 5th Gens that do have a TSB in regards to this issue. The new driveshaft is actually nearly identical to the previous, minus I believe one zerk fitting and a slight length difference in the main body vs. the slip yolk section (I forgot to take pictures when I replaced mine, but they were so similar I really didn't think about it much.)
 
Just as an update: Took the technician for a test drive and couldn't get the car to do any major clunks. The tech was telling me how the u-joints are sealed and non greaseable (I have a 2WD) and how the TSB was only for the 4WD and there's currently no redesigned drive shaft to replace the 2WD one with, so it'd just be possibly the same issue. Unfortunately I didn't have time to argue with them since I just had dental work this morning and my jaw was still numb, but I may be back tomorrow to speak with them about this issue. Or I may just learn to grease these non greaseable sealed u-joints myself ;)
 
I'm not too familiar with the 2wd drive shaft but from what I've experienced this is what happens when the slip yoke is not getting greasing. My 2000 got so bad that it sounded like I had a cow bell on the truck while driving. Greasing the drive shaft made it completely disappear and the clunk was eliminated by greasing all zerks on both the 2003 models I've owned. To make it clunk do a spirited stop not releasing the brake until it has completely stopped. When you go to accelerate it should clunk like the best of them.
 
BlackWorksInc said:
This isn't completely true as the issue happened with vehicles that were regularly serviced and maintained as well. While I am not saying lack of maintenence won't cause the issue; many members who have regularly greased (myself included) their driveshafts have still had this issue.
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Minus his opinion on cars, I agree with WXman. I was under the impression the only reason some guys can't resolve the clunk with grease is because there worried about over servicing. You really have to load her up...once you think you've put enough, double it. You have to get an electric grease gun or else your hand with go numb before your put enough grease in.

Mine only requires a good greasing every second oil change to keep the clunk at bay.
 
TRDCal said:
Minus his opinion on cars, I agree with WXman. I was under the impression the only reason some guys can't resolve the clunk with grease is because there worried about over servicing. You really have to load her up...once you think you've put enough, double it. You have to get an electric grease gun or else your hand with go numb before your put enough grease in.

Mine only requires a good greasing every second oil change to keep the clunk at bay.
Click to expand...

I assume you are exaggerating a bit. An electric gun is not needed, that is over kill. I use a regular grease gun and about 20-30 pumps that should do it. It you do it every 2nd oil change. it is not a big deal.
 
TRDCal said:
Minus his opinion on cars, I agree with WXman. I was under the impression the only reason some guys can't resolve the clunk with grease is because there worried about over servicing. You really have to load her up...once you think you've put enough, double it. You have to get an electric grease gun or else your hand with go numb before your put enough grease in.

Mine only requires a good greasing every second oil change to keep the clunk at bay.
Click to expand...

I greased mine very generously and regularly and still had the clunk. It was better but not gone; the new driveshaft was a night and day difference.
 
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