PSA: Are you trying to hunt down a vibration from your front end? Look Video inside!

[gshadow325]

Lately i have been getting a vibration from my front end. A shake like its tires out of balance. A occasional clunk click thud....just a weird un-natural sound.

the shake also comes and goes. so its inconsistant, very annoying.

NOTE: my 03 has 184k. stock control arms, ball joints etc. check them all and it looks and feels good when i took the weight off the wheels and did the usual pull/push wheel at 12 and 6 o clock and the 9 and 3 o clock positions. everything checked out to be good. thats why this was bugging me.

Finally i brought my truck in and put it up on ramps again. went under there and touched everything for a good 30 minutes. finally i got to the front cv joints.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/100447045" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/100447045">20140710_152857.mp4</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user21976357">Ste Ve Zee</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

that video pretty much explains it all. its a worn out cv joint on the hub/wheel side. you can see it moving in the video. the other side doesnt do that. not one bit.

came home tonight to check my NEW oem front axles to see if they were like that. also checked to see if i had a hub bolt maybe thats loose or not tight.

the following pictures shows there are no hub bolts.



picture above is the part of the axle i was wiggling around.

these axles are new in box OEM toyota front axles for my v8 03.

quick search on rockauto.com says front axles are the same on
lexus gx470 03-09
toy 4runner 03-09 v6 or v8
toy fj cruiser 07-13
toy tacoma 05-13

so this problem is probably the same one we all complain about and cant find. this problem is probably why we breaking front axle when we go wheeling, since i mostly see the cv joint busting at the hub side, not the diff side(outer joints).

 

[Billynath1988]

Unbelievable.. I've been trying to figure out what the hell is going on for a few weeks now and this makes sense. I've pulled wheels.. Rebalanced and rotated tires..checked entire front end.. Nothing.. 99% of the time it drives smooth as glass..then out of no where and occasionally after heavy brakeing... It will develop a shake around 45 to 60mph.. Then it will go away completely for days at a time. CVS look fine... But this does make sense..

105k on 05 v8 4runner


Rockauto has CV assembly replacements with HD boots for $50

 

[gshadow325]

I did all that too, balance and rotated tires too. Mine shakes come on when I make the transmission shift. But not always

 

[Bob J]

I had a similar vibration at various random times and it turned out to be a stuck caliper.... Replaced caliper and disc and it has been fine since....

 

[HokieRunner]

I'll be curious to see if the new axles solve the problem. Hopefully you found the source of your vibration.

Are folks really breaking that many CV axles? The few I've seen break were in very high pressure/poor angle situations but I was under the impression the 4th Gen CV axles were pretty robust.

 

[gshadow325]

I'll be curious to see if the new axles solve the problem. Hopefully you found the source of your vibration.

Are folks really breaking that many CV axles? The few I've seen break were in very high pressure/poor angle situations but I was under the impression the 4th Gen CV axles were pretty robust.

i dont know of you on the northeast 4 runner goup on facebook, but josh, fernando and sergio all break driver's side axles. sometimes it even destroys the hub too

 

[HokieRunner]

i dont know of you on the northeast 4 runner goup on facebook, but josh, fernando and sergio all break driver's side axles. sometimes it even destroys the hub too

Yeh, I'm not in that group or on facebook which would explain that haha.

I see the posts about a random break here or there but I guess I just read your post as it being a more serious issue. Have they each had multiple failures? were they cheaper reman'd cvs? I know a few of those guys wheel pretty hard but at this point I'm just curious to know the circumstances.

I'll have to go search around a bit as I'm not trying to get off topic.

 

[meonard]

It's hard to see in the video, but it looks more like the bearing is moving than a bad outer joint. If it was not torqued correctly when the CV axle was installed it will cause play. I don't see how the outer joint going bad could cause scraping on the external part of the joint???? This would only be caused by a bad bearing.

Although that joint being bad could certainly cause a vibration.

 

[gshadow325]

Yeh, I'm not in that group or on facebook which would explain that haha.

I see the posts about a random break here or there but I guess I just read your post as it being a more serious issue. Have they each had multiple failures? were they cheaper reman'd cvs? I know a few of those guys wheel pretty hard but at this point I'm just curious to know the circumstances.

I'll have to go search around a bit as I'm not trying to get off topic.

honestly dont know what and why theirs broke. i can only guess mine are oem toyota from day one. i will know next week when the seals and diff fluid comes in so i can tackle the job. i am glad i snatched up a pair of new in box set of axles for $175!!

 

[gshadow325]

It's official. I needed new axles. I just did 30 miles on the highway with me hitting 70 plus mph to check for vibrations. It had never been this smooth for a long time.

 

[Greydog]

This is good feedback, thanks for reporting back.

I have 185k on mine, and chasing some vibrations as well.

Were there certain speeds you felt the axle vibration? Or was it generally starting from low speed and just increased overall?

Also, Amy suggestions on where to find lowest cost Toyota axles? I'm more concerned with doing this once but spending a bit more, though I'm not sure OEM costs so maybe that'll change quickly

Lastly, what tools are ideal to make this job not suck totally? I'd like to do my own but not if it's a total nightmare. I have the usual 2 breaker bars, torque wrench, sockets of all sizes, but no air tools.

Thanks !

 

[gshadow325]

This is good feedback, thanks for reporting back.

I have 185k on mine, and chasing some vibrations as well.

Were there certain speeds you felt the axle vibration? Or was it generally starting from low speed and just increased overall?

Also, Amy suggestions on where to find lowest cost Toyota axles? I'm more concerned with doing this once but spending a bit more, though I'm not sure OEM costs so maybe that'll change quickly

Lastly, what tools are ideal to make this job not suck totally? I'd like to do my own but not if it's a total nightmare. I have the usual 2 breaker bars, torque wrench, sockets of all sizes, but no air tools.

Thanks !

my suggestion is to go grip your driver side axle near the hub and see if it moves like in the video. also, i have no more driveline slack. the slack that happens when you go from park to drive to reverse and vice versa.

now you ask about the vibration. it was there at low speed then worse at higher speeds. i noticed now that its fixed. its smooth all the way up to highway speeds. i never really noticed since i got my 285/65/18's on. they much bigger and heavier than stock so it kinda numbed the vibrations a lot.

i dont have any suggestions on where to get them from. i know i would not buy new axles from china. inferior quality IMHO. i would buy rebuilt oem axles. i think mine were in there since day 1. so they lasted 184k!!

i didnt do the job myself. rusty toyotas seem to become more PITA that its worth. i felt it is better for me to pay my trusted mechanic $125 to change out both axles both seals and swap out the front diff fluid. i got nothing broken, nothing leaking and no extra noises. priceless since its my daily and only driver.

i was surprised that no one bought them. they were for sale for a long time in the classified here. i got lucky.

 

[absolute yota]

After breaking 2 Chinese made new axles from Advance auto I decided to get remanufactured axles from NAPA which use the factory cores people trade in. My factory axles are still good, they have around 130 k on them and are leaking but I plan to r e boot them and run them. Both my axles and Fernando's axle snapped at the shaft on the inside joint. One sheared the shaft right off and the other ᤾2 grenaded the inner joint. All 3 incidents involved a lot of the spin or the front end leaving the ground and coming back to earth under throttle. I've yet to see a OEM CV axle break. I will beat the shit out of these NAPA axles and let you guys know how I make out.

 

[gshadow325]

good info josh, i never took notice on where it broke. all i said to myself....holy crap, hope that doesnt happen to me with this noise. i put off wheeling these last few months till i felt comfortable to not break anything...might be heading up your way this weekend

 

[HokieRunner]

After breaking 2 Chinese made new axles from Advance auto I decided to get remanufactured axles from NAPA which use the factory cores people trade in. My factory axles are still good, they have around 130 k on them and are leaking but I plan to r e boot them and run them. Both my axles and Fernando's axle snapped at the shaft on the inside joint. One sheared the shaft right off and the other ᤾2 grenaded the inner joint. All 3 incidents involved a lot of the spin or the front end leaving the ground and coming back to earth under throttle. I've yet to see a OEM CV axle break. I will beat the shit out of these NAPA axles and let you guys know how I make out.

Josh - Thanks for the clarification that they were Chinese axles and that it was the inner hub/side that went. Definitely more In line with my impression of the oem axles. Good luck with the vot as well. Following the vot trip reports the last few years has been a great source of entertainment. Looks like a blast!
[MENTION=93434]gshadow325[/MENTION] - glad you got the vibration solved. Trying to narrow them down can be a wild goose chase! Thanks for the video too.

 

[Greydog]

GShadow325, in the vid are you pushing or rotating the inner CV with you hand or pry bar? I see the movement, and was trying to understand how to test it the same way.

I thought I was imagining something last week, when I had the tire off and turned the hub. It looked like the DS axle shaft was rotation in an oval patrern, not rotating true. Perhaps this is a clue.

Tx again.

 

[gshadow325]

GShadow325, in the vid are you pushing or rotating the inner CV with you hand or pry bar? I see the movement, and was trying to understand how to test it the same way.

I thought I was imagining something last week, when I had the tire off and turned the hub. It looked like the DS axle shaft was rotation in an oval patrern, not rotating true. Perhaps this is a clue.

Tx again.

all i did was grab it with my hand. this was the outer joint and moved it up and down. a unatural movement. since it didnt do nothing on the passenger side!

 

[Brutalguyracing]

passenger side will have about half the play the driver side does
right from the factory.....
normal

 

[gshadow325]

passenger side will have about half the play the driver side does
right from the factory.....
normal

i didnt know that play was normal. i never experienced such a thing on any of my cars before. so i naturally looked to fix it. its due for some anyways @ 184k it has been a good 6 months since i had to spend a dime on maintaining this truck. its $450 well spent

 

[Brutalguyracing]

Next time your at a dealership crawl under and pole around
There was some good threads on tw about it
Now there is a thing as too much play
Mostly occurs on driver side with the needle bearing wearing out
That can be easily swapped out for a solid bushing from ecgs
Also the side to side is because the cv just slides into the diff with a c clip