Rate your truck's highway manners

[4Runner4Leon]

Based on what I'm hearing, these trucks should be at least decent at highway speeds if not lifted or modified.

I'm thinking I'll pull the driveshaft this weekend to see if that helps, and failing that will get a set of tires.

My tires are 8 years old, so even if the new tires don't help with the vibration, it won't feel like a total waste of money.

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[thezentree]

Based on what I'm hearing, these trucks should be at least decent at highway speeds if not lifted or modified.

I'm thinking I'll pull the driveshaft this weekend to see if that helps, and failing that will get a set of tires.

My tires are 8 years old, so even if the new tires don't help with the vibration, it won't feel like a total waste of money.

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Yeah mine was smooth as glass at 80mph before I lifted it. Relatively speaking it's still pretty good even with the lift and bigger tires other than that damn vibration.

Speaking of which, I am hearing a few of people in this thread say they have vibrations at highway speeds - same here. At about 55-75mph mine pulsates as if there are two separate vibrations at nearly the same frequency and I feel it through the steering wheel, seat, and floor. It is most pronounced through the seat and floor, but driving around in front wheel drive (or even 4H) makes it worse. It's a high-freqency buzz.

Do those of you who have highway speed vibrations have similar symptoms? [MENTION=136902]thecole1098[/MENTION] [MENTION=149807]sdwaltz[/MENTION] [MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION]

 

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

It's a hard one to quantify... I'd say 7 for me in terms of long distance fatigue, but in terms of "drive" it's fine.

I have zero vibrations all the way up to 120+ however due to the fact that it's tall, thin, and has the aerodynamics of a small house and is sitting on 33s. its quite stressful. It's a speed it wasn't designed to do, and I've made it less stable at speed... Its very unpleasant scary and I'm never doing it again. lol

At "normal cruise Speed" (80 ish) it's fine. Tracks well, stops well (Tundra fronts, Landcruiser rear disks) can keep it straight with one finger easily.

The ride on "smooth" is fine (all new OEM ball joints, all new OEM bushes apart from the SPC uppers) Toytec Boss kit. It's noisy at hell, mainly due to the fact that on 4.88s at 80 I'm sitting at 3k RPM, and my exhaust is very loud, so it looses fatigue points for that. BFG AT's being swapped form very old ones that had gone hard to fresh ones made a huge huge difference.

Comparison, my usual mile muncher is the company car, 2017 BMW 118d M sport. I'd give that 8-9 diesel drones a bit, lots of road noise from the low profile tyres.. but you can cover a huge journey with minimal fatigue.

For 10 you need a Lexus LS or an S class.

For me the issue is on bumpy roads, I need to lower it a bit as there isn't enough droop, so the ride crashes on the Oxfordshire country lanes where I live

 

[sdwaltz]

Yeah mine was smooth as glass at 80mph before I lifted it. Relatively speaking it's still pretty good even with the lift and bigger tires other than that damn vibration.

Speaking of which, I am hearing a few of people in this thread say they have vibrations at highway speeds - same here. At about 55-75mph mine pulsates as if there are two separate vibrations at nearly the same frequency and I feel it through the steering wheel, seat, and floor. It is most pronounced through the seat and floor, but driving around in front wheel drive (or even 4H) makes it worse. It's a high-freqency buzz.

Do those of you who have highway speed vibrations have similar symptoms? [MENTION=136902]thecole1098[/MENTION] [MENTION=149807]sdwaltz[/MENTION] [MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION]

For me personally, I'm pretty sure it's all in the wheel. I don't really get on the interstate all that often. The majority of my commute has a 50mph speed limit so I hover between 60 and 65 most of the time.

Sounds like my slight issue is different from yours because mine is smooth as silk up to about 70 but after that the vibrations start.

 

[twitchee2]

I live in Socal and the flow of traffic can very easily be 80mph. I typically drive 65-75 for mpgs reason. I did get in the middle of a group doing 90mph+ on hwy 5 between Sacramento and LA, obviously not recommended but the 4runner kept up.

I have a 2-3in lift on 265/75/16 duratrac with 260k on the clock. moral of the story, mine handles hwy just fine.

 

[thecole1098]

Yeah mine was smooth as glass at 80mph before I lifted it. Relatively speaking it's still pretty good even with the lift and bigger tires other than that damn vibration.

Speaking of which, I am hearing a few of people in this thread say they have vibrations at highway speeds - same here. At about 55-75mph mine pulsates as if there are two separate vibrations at nearly the same frequency and I feel it through the steering wheel, seat, and floor. It is most pronounced through the seat and floor, but driving around in front wheel drive (or even 4H) makes it worse. It's a high-freqency buzz.

Do those of you who have highway speed vibrations have similar symptoms? [MENTION=136902]thecole1098[/MENTION] [MENTION=149807]sdwaltz[/MENTION] [MENTION=143526]theesotericone[/MENTION]

I would say my vibrations are felt through the seat and floorboard for sure. I don’t have a high frequency buzz however I’ve never taken the rear driveshaft off to drive in 4wd on the highway to test that. I wonder if the vibration with us that have lifted is caused by a bad pinion angle in the rear diff

 

[thezentree]

I would say my vibrations are felt through the seat and floorboard for sure. I don’t have a high frequency buzz however I’ve never taken the rear driveshaft off to drive in 4wd on the highway to test that. I wonder if the vibration with us that have lifted is caused by a bad pinion angle in the rear diff

That's kind of what I'm thinking. The frequency I'm experiencing seems faster than wheelspeed, which would correspond with a driveshaft (mine is a brand new Tom Woods shaft). I have a set of Metal Tech adjustable rear links that I will install whenever the weather gets better, since my shop is a broken asphalt driveway. :sobbing:

I'm going to take the diff drop out too, since the front DS will spin sympathetically, even in 2H. I'm thinking the two steeper pinion angles are causing the vibrations, and since the front DS is not connected to the rear in 2H, that's why there's a difference in frequency.

Either that or steeper CV angles are causing it.

 

[Kaohi]

I was doing some seafoam on my 97' yesterday and brought it up to 90mph. It feels pretty good. Drove like I was doing 50mph.

 

[T4R2014]

A stock one should be smooth as glass even at 110.

 

[Rolling_Thunder]

Mine is around a 6.5-7

"Stock" 1998 with tall coils and 265/75/16s.... manual transmission swap, 4x4 swap - no real wandering or issues besides OD being non-existant... I wish Toyota did a better ratio for OD than the 0.83 that's in the R150F...

Granted I am grading this in regards to trucks... my 68 Charger handles way better than my 4Runner

 

[4Runner4Leon]

I feel my vibrations both through the seat/ floorboards and the steering wheel shimmy. And it's a fairly low frequency, not a high frequency buzz. That's a good point about higher frequency being likely a driveshaft /u joint problem, and lower frequency being due to tires, that makes sense given the gear ratio.

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[4Runner4Leon]

A stock one should be smooth as glass even at 110.

Mine actually smooths out at higher speeds (which I rarely reach). It's really mostly bad around 66-69 and 72-75, where I spend most of my freeway driving) . That's gotta be telling me something, I just don't know what.

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[Road Bull]

Manners?

Well some days it's smooth sailing and happy.
But when someone cuts it off or veers into its lane, it gets all loud and black-throated. But normally it's chill.

How I feel it handles... I would say with my lift, bumpers with swing out, larger tires, and all the armor, not bad. I would put it at a 7.5 considering everything I have done. It is all a give and take compromise. The rear tire swing out is pretty solid, but does vibrate a bit back and forth over big highway seems, (sometimes). Other times, when I expect it to move, it doesn't.

My suspension feels great. Kings in front, 861's and LC Tokico blacks. I even ran 861's without any weight in the back and didn't think it was harsh as some people say. I also have SS 1.2 rear lift components.

If I were to rebuild, I would consider all the extra weight I would be adding and make sure I am getting a good return on weight investment. I love my build, but I might have tried wheeling with 265/75/16 tires a bit longer. If that worked for my needs, I would just get a good roof rack in favor over a rear swing out to save a bit more on weight. I probably could get away with just front belly armor instead of full skids. But, I know the moment I take it off, I would get high centered and jack things up. Lol.

 

[whyzee125]

I've had 8 3rd gens and my dad has one: every one is a little different. My daily, which overall drives the best of any I've ever had, has a very slight vibration right from 69-72. It started when I got new tires so I'm sure it could be balanced out but I've not gotten around to it. I have a very slight amount of play in the wheel so I get the two hand thing but depends on traffic and how straight the freeways are. Tracks straight and brakes well with no shaking so I can do one hand unless there are tight turns. I'd give it a 7. My dad's is a little more planted but has a little more wheel play. My other has zero play but more vibration. I had one that had neither but had a slight rocking lol. They're all a tad different.

 

[turbo8]

8 or 9 for me. I felt fine hitting the speed limiter.

 

[theesotericone]

3

HOW?:lookout:

I'll tag [MENTION=158195]thezentree[/MENTION] here cause he asked about some vibrations.

So, if you've read my posts from the past I had the usual vibrations at 65-75 MPH. Nothing to severe but enough to annoy me. It was a steering wheel vibe. Couldn't really feel it anywhere else. It was there when I purchased the truck stock last year.

I replaced the LBJ when I did my lift. At that time I also installed SPC arms thereby getting rid of the stock UBJ. I replaced my rack bushing and adjusted the rack guide. I verified all other suspension components where tight( tie rods replaced by previous owner less then 10,000 miles ago.) I balanced the wheels. I had one of the best alignment guys I know align it. I drilled my rag joint and put in a 3/16th roll pin. It still had that damn vibration.

I was positive it was in my rims by this point. They where the original split spoke design. I was deciding on tires at this point. The Nitto Ridge Grapplers where my top pick. That meant I'd have to get new rims since they are only made in 17's and up. After picking my rims MB 851's I found a great deal and purchased them.

My wife wanted to wait to get new tires since the old one's weren't quite done yet. As luck would have it about 2 weeks after getting the rims I punched a rock through the tread on the old tires. They where c rated and I assured my wife that would not have happened with the E rated tires I wanted to buy. She agreed and I got 295/70/17 Grapplers.

I had then mounted and balanced. No tire took over 2 ounces of weight which is pretty amazing for a tire that size. I got them home and mounted them up. Damn they looked good. Then I went for a drive. After hitting 85 MPH with zero vibrations I was pretty stoked. I waited a few days to report my findings to make sure the vibration didn't come back. It still hasn't 7000 miles later.

So that's what fixed mine. I can't say for certain if it was the tires or the rims but I'm 90% sure it was the rims.

 

[thecole1098]

That's kind of what I'm thinking. The frequency I'm experiencing seems faster than wheelspeed, which would correspond with a driveshaft (mine is a brand new Tom Woods shaft). I have a set of Metal Tech adjustable rear links that I will install whenever the weather gets better, since my shop is a broken asphalt driveway. :sobbing:

I'm going to take the diff drop out too, since the front DS will spin sympathetically, even in 2H. I'm thinking the two steeper pinion angles are causing the vibrations, and since the front DS is not connected to the rear in 2H, that's why there's a difference in frequency.

Either that or steeper CV angles are causing it.

The front DS actually shouldn't spin in 2WD unless the ADD system is not working correctly and the front diff is stuck engaged. This can be tested by having the truck in 2WD and you should be able to free spin the front DS by hand. The CVs, however, do spin all the time with the hub.

 

[muellernautique]

I'd rate it a solid 5, maybe 6. I can fly down the highway going 85 and it only vibrates when I hit the brakes (warped front rotors). Otherwise everything else is smooth. Drives pretty good compared to my C1500, I don't have to constantly adjust the wheel and I can drive with one hand fairly easily. Doesn't track as well as my Miata though.

 

[thezentree]

The front DS actually shouldn't spin in 2WD unless the ADD system is not working correctly and the front diff is stuck engaged. This can be tested by having the truck in 2WD and you should be able to free spin the front DS by hand. The CVs, however, do spin all the time with the hub.

It will spin sympathetically, not necessarily because it's engaged. Watch this video at about 30 seconds in and you can see the front DS start to spin independently of the front wheels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXSi1c9lNP0

(it's a Tacoma, but same principle applies)

 

[thezentree]

I'll tag [MENTION=158195]thezentree[/MENTION] here cause he asked about some vibrations.

So, if you've read my posts from the past I had the usual vibrations at 65-75 MPH. Nothing to severe but enough to annoy me. It was a steering wheel vibe. Couldn't really feel it anywhere else. It was there when I purchased the truck stock last year.

I replaced the LBJ when I did my lift. At that time I also installed SPC arms thereby getting rid of the stock UBJ. I replaced my rack bushing and adjusted the rack guide. I verified all other suspension components where tight( tie rods replaced by previous owner less then 10,000 miles ago.) I balanced the wheels. I had one of the best alignment guys I know align it. I drilled my rag joint and put in a 3/16th roll pin. It still had that damn vibration.

I was positive it was in my rims by this point. They where the original split spoke design. I was deciding on tires at this point. The Nitto Ridge Grapplers where my top pick. That meant I'd have to get new rims since they are only made in 17's and up. After picking my rims MB 851's I found a great deal and purchased them.

My wife wanted to wait to get new tires since the old one's weren't quite done yet. As luck would have it about 2 weeks after getting the rims I punched a rock through the tread on the old tires. They where c rated and I assured my wife that would not have happened with the E rated tires I wanted to buy. She agreed and I got 295/70/17 Grapplers.

I had then mounted and balanced. No tire took over 2 ounces of weight which is pretty amazing for a tire that size. I got them home and mounted them up. Damn they looked good. Then I went for a drive. After hitting 85 MPH with zero vibrations I was pretty stoked. I waited a few days to report my findings to make sure the vibration didn't come back. It still hasn't 7000 miles later.

So that's what fixed mine. I can't say for certain if it was the tires or the rims but I'm 90% sure it was the rims.

Gotcha. My third set of tires in 4 months got rid of the the bad holy-shit-I-might-die vibrations too, haha. The ones that I can't shake (see what I did there?) have got to be somewhere in the driveline.