Mystery Noise from Inner CV maybe?

[comtn4x4]

Ok I know that mystery noises is always coming up but I haven't heard this before. Forgive my lack of technical description and my really bad drawing on this pic but here's the situation. The noise is a loud clunk. Seems to be metal on metal. I can force it to happen when breaking either in forward or reverse or when going over the curb into my driveway. it seems to be coming from the front driver's side suspension area. When I crawled under the truck it seems that where the inner cv boot attaches to the cylinder that inserts into the truck is loose, or more loose that the other side. It seems to make the same noise I hear when I move it in and out. It seems to have about 1/4-1/2" play in it. Is this possibly what I am hearing? And if so what is to be done about it.

Thanks in advance

 

[GreyLife]

Hi Comtn. Well, I give you credit for the searching you did but there is an answer, and its not the CV Joint. Its the brake shoes. I have the same clunk when braking. Drivers side. I took my 4R to the dealer for its 5k maintenance and told them about this. I was told it was the brake shoes. They made some kind of adjustment/reseating and it went away for a while then came back. But it hasn't happened in a while now.

Coincidentally around the same time I had this issue looked at by the dealer there was a thread going on and many other people were experiencing the same issue. And it all came back to the same thing, the brake shoes. How and why I dont know but it seems like a common thing and not a safety problem.

I took video of me driving my 4R forward and reverse in my driveway just to make sure I had it happening when I took it to the dealer. If you know of a way to attach an iPhone video to a thread I would be glad to share just so you can see and have some peace of mind. Anyway, your clunk is "normal" or common. I hope this helps.

But of course I could be wrong is you just honestly have a bad CV Joint. The only way I know to fix that is to replace it.

 

[Antman]

Hi Comtn. Well, I give you credit for the searching you did but there is an answer, and its not the CV Joint. Its the brake shoes. I have the same clunk when braking. Drivers side. I took my 4R to the dealer for its 5k maintenance and told them about this. I was told it was the brake shoes. They made some kind of adjustment/reseating and it went away for a while then came back. But it hasn't happened in a while now.

Coincidentally around the same time I had this issue looked at by the dealer there was a thread going on and many other people were experiencing the same issue. And it all came back to the same thing, the brake shoes. How and why I dont know but it seems like a common thing and not a safety problem.

I took video of me driving my 4R forward and reverse in my driveway just to make sure I had it happening when I took it to the dealer. If you know of a way to attach an iPhone video to a thread I would be glad to share just so you can see and have some peace of mind. Anyway, your clunk is "normal" or common. I hope this helps.

But of course I could be wrong is you just honestly have a bad CV Joint. The only way I know to fix that is to replace it.

The only brake shoes you will find on a 4Runner are on the parking brake...

Check all your LCA bolts. Put a big ratchet on them, if you can tighten them at all they were too loose. If that's the case you need a new alignment too.

 

[comtn4x4]

Hi Comtn. Well, I give you credit for the searching you did but there is an answer, and its not the CV Joint. Its the brake shoes. I have the same clunk when braking. Drivers side. I took my 4R to the dealer for its 5k maintenance and told them about this. I was told it was the brake shoes. They made some kind of adjustment/reseating and it went away for a while then came back. But it hasn't happened in a while now.

Coincidentally around the same time I had this issue looked at by the dealer there was a thread going on and many other people were experiencing the same issue. And it all came back to the same thing, the brake shoes. How and why I dont know but it seems like a common thing and not a safety problem.

I took video of me driving my 4R forward and reverse in my driveway just to make sure I had it happening when I took it to the dealer. If you know of a way to attach an iPhone video to a thread I would be glad to share just so you can see and have some peace of mind. Anyway, your clunk is "normal" or common. I hope this helps.

But of course I could be wrong is you just honestly have a bad CV Joint. The only way I know to fix that is to replace it.

That's great input Thanks! I'll make a video tomorrow when I get home from work. So you said it isn't a safety? And they did something to reset it?

 

[comtn4x4]

The only brake shoes you will find on a 4Runner are on the parking brake...

Check all your LCA bolts. Put a big ratchet on them, if you can tighten them at all they were too loose. If that's the case you need a new alignment too.

This makes more sense. I had problems with the shop that swapped my tires. They claimed the LCA bolts were frozen and they couldn't quite get the caster in line. I had Toyota look at them and they replaced two. that was about 2 weeks ago. I didn't, however, have the alignment redone as they suck at them

 

[comtn4x4]

Figured out it's actually the diff drop hitting the skid plate. Suddenly it's sitting right on it. Not really sure what changed. The set up has been as is for 18 months and a lot of on/off road miles. Now considering solutions other than removing the diff drop