noise/vibration from front end

[ghostmoney]

Ever since my last trip in the 4runner I have had a grinding type of noise/vibration when I am keeping a constant speed. It first started intermittently while I was on my elk hunting trip over thanksgiving, but now it is constant.
I only really start to notice the noise/vibration around 45mph. If I let off the gas the noise/vibration goes away completely. It sounds like the noise is coming from the front passenger side. If I accelerate hard when the noise is there it does not get any louder or worse.
I have new OEM ball joints, Inner/outer TRE's, wheel bearings, uniballs with under 5,000 miles, front differential has new gear oil, and new napa CV axle on the passengers side as I thought it could be that.
The sound does not seem to change in 4wd and I greased both driveshafts so I have also ruled out driveshaft noise.
The 4runner has 138,500 miles on it currently

Anyone have ideas on what it could be? or what to check on next? I have gone underneath and checked exhaust also to see if anything is loose and didnt find anything.

 

[ghostmoney]

Looks like I found the cause of the noise. With the noise going away when I took the foot off the pedal I figured it had to be driveline related. I had installed OME 861 coils a few weeks ago that raised up the rear a bit higher than the OME 891's I was running, so tonight I swapped back to the 891's and so far the noise is no longer there.

 

[Myrunr2010]

Looks like I found the cause of the noise. With the noise going away when I took the foot off the pedal I figured it had to be driveline related. I had installed OME 861 coils a few weeks ago that raised up the rear a bit higher than the OME 891's I was running, so tonight I swapped back to the 891's and so far the noise is no longer there.

I wonder what was causing it though. Your rear springs may have gotten it to stop, but they definitely weren't causing the noise if it was the front passengers side.

 

[mtbtim]

My guess it was one of you rear driveshaft u-joints. At the new angle the driveshaft was running with the new coils, the u-joint(s) didn't like it because they are near the end of their useful life. A u-joint replacement of the front or rear joint could be the fix. If it's the double cardan joint, that's a different animal altogether. Some people have rebuilt them but it seems the only available replacement parts for our double cardan joint are garbage parts and they won't last. I'd inspect your rear driveshaft and pull and push at each joint to see if you can feel any abnormal movement.

 

[ghostmoney]

I wonder what was causing it though. Your rear springs may have gotten it to stop, but they definitely weren't causing the noise if it was the front passengers side.

It was hard to tell where it was coming from 100%.

 

[ghostmoney]

My guess it was one of you rear driveshaft u-joints. At the new angle the driveshaft was running with the new coils, the u-joint(s) didn't like it because they are near the end of their useful life. A u-joint replacement of the front or rear joint could be the fix. If it's the double cardan joint, that's a different animal altogether. Some people have rebuilt them but it seems the only available replacement parts for our double cardan joint are garbage parts and they won't last. I'd inspect your rear driveshaft and pull and push at each joint to see if you can feel any abnormal movement.

I believe it would have to be the rear driveshaft as the front in 2wd is spinning freely and wouldnt have the torque from the motor applied to it while accelerating. I checked the ujoints and they didnt seem to have much play, but I will be keeping an eye on it. Figure I will just replace the whole driveshaft with a custom one from tom woods

 

[SpidermanGeek]

My guess it was one of you rear driveshaft u-joints. At the new angle the driveshaft was running with the new coils, the u-joint(s) didn't like it because they are near the end of their useful life. A u-joint replacement of the front or rear joint could be the fix. If it's the double cardan joint, that's a different animal altogether. Some people have rebuilt them but it seems the only available replacement parts for our double cardan joint are garbage parts and they won't last. I'd inspect your rear driveshaft and pull and push at each joint to see if you can feel any abnormal movement.

I have a very similar "grinding" type noise which I also thought came from the front passenger area.

Recently hade my UBJ, LBJ, ITRE, OTRE, BRAKE CALIPER, PADS, ROTORS and CV Axles replaced up front. Both sides. Noise is still there.

But, when the shop did a general inspection, they did note that my rear U-joint is "on its way out".

From everything I've read on here in other threads where owners had a "mystery noise", probably about 75% of them ended up being driveshaft related.

 

[ghostmoney]

Lower the rear helped a lot, but I ended up still having a slight vibration. I removed the rear drive shaft and drove it and there is no vibration. Going to be ordering up a Tom Woods driveshaft.

 

[OldManKamps]

Lower the rear helped a lot, but I ended up still having a slight vibration. I removed the rear drive shaft and drove it and there is no vibration. Going to be ordering up a Tom Woods driveshaft.

Why don't you just replace the u-joint?? That's guaranteed the issue. Check Mtbtim's post

 

[ghostmoney]

Why don't you just replace the u-joint?? That's guaranteed the issue. Check Mtbtim's post

Because I have no idea if it is just the ujoint or the CV. Instead of throwing money at it I would rather just upgrade to a stronger driveshaft that is easier to source the parts and rebuild.