Some "slop" when coming to a stop

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Phx994Runner

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On my son's 99 4x4, with 189K miles, you often feel this kind of delay in the rear end of the vehicle when stopping. Hard to explain, but it feels like when the truck finally stops, the rear axle then "catches up" a half-second later. I don't know if it's the rear control arms maybe, or the driveshaft or something else.

We just replaced the rear springs and shocks over the weekend, but this symptom was there before - we purchased it about a month or so ago now.

There is no sound or bang, just that feeling that something has some play in (or to) the rear end that's worn.

Any suggestions what and specifically how to check these things?

TIA
 
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It's time to grease the drive shaft. I put up with mine doing that for a while before I did a full LOF (Lube, Oil, Filter.) Off hand, I don't recall how many zerks there are, but there are several.
 
Socco said:
It's time to grease the drive shaft. I put up with mine doing that for a while before I did a full LOF (Lube, Oil, Filter.) Off hand, I don't recall how many zerks there are, but there are several.
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Good call. I think this likely is the issue at hand. I did the same thing myself about a month ago using this write-up. 4Runners.org - Lubing Your Driveshaft It took maybe 30 minutes tops crawling around under the truck. Good luck!!
 
X3 on the driveshaft lubing, I get the same thing with hard stops sometimes, where when you ease off the brake you can feel the rear end "shift" into a rest position, as though it was binding under hard braking kind of thing.
 
IanB said:
How do you check a u-joint to see if it needs replacing? What do you look for?
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Pull the driveshaft. Twist the joints around and if there is some resistance when you turn the joint one way and no resistance the other way, its time. The joint should move freely in every direction you can rotate it. Try greasing them first of course....

On another note to the OP, I totally forget if our 4Runners have the carrier bearing. Im guessing they do, and that may be another place that the "slop" is coming from.
 
Interesting. I have this issue too, but I always assumed it was the transmission late to shift into neutral or engage the autoclutch (or late to downshift from second gear?) when reaching a full stop.
I know hardly anything about auto trannys.

This makes sense though.
 
Great timing for this question as my 99 has been doing the exact same thing. Being my first 4Runner I'm still trying to figure out what feels right and what doesn't feel right. The fun of a "new" ride!
 
Will this Amsoil grease work on all of the driveline zerks?

LittleCaesar said:
Try lubricating it first. A grease gun with a flexible hose and you should be good to go. Try 4 to 5 pumps on each zerk or unless you can see it oozing out of the joint.

I have used this grease in the yokes with great success: Mobil XHP222SPECIAL Grease, Automotive
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AMSOIL Synthetic Polymeric Off-Road Grease - NLGI #2

This grease has a 5% Moly content - I called the Amsoil Tech Center today and asked the guy if this would fit the bill for what the FSM is calling for. He said "yes" this would work both for the Lithium and the Moly grease fittings.

Would you guys agree? Will using this for the Spider zerks be ok?
 
I know that this is the grease that folks on the tundra solutions board used for all their drive line fittings and have done well using it, even though the U joints call for no moly grease. If $$$ was no problem for me, I would use Amsoil for most if not all my lubricants.

The Landcruiser does not have any zerks for lubrication? Just curious.
 

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Guys, search on the moly vs lithium, vs standard grease. The FSM for the 4runner says one thing, then there's a TSB changing when the FSM says. I don't have the links handy, but I think the double cardan take moly based, and the rest take standard grease.

I'll look for the tsb and post it if I find it.
 
Have you removed your rear drums and checked for an axle seal leak causing oil to leak onto the brake shoes? This oil can cause the shoes to grab, slip and pop.
 
Definitely try greasing up the drivetrain first. I just greased up my 96Limited with Valvoline Synthetic Grease and it removed a similar "slop" when coming to a stop. Most zerks took around 4-5 squirts. The slip yoke zerk took a lot of grease until it extended and the old grease oozed out.

Very easy maintenance item. Getting the grease from the cartridge into my non-cartridge grease gun took longer than the actual greasing part.
 
cobiker said:
Most zerks took around 4-5 squirts. The slip yoke zerk took a lot of grease until it extended and the old grease oozed out.
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So on my '99 Land Cruiser there are a few threads about pushing the grease past the seals on the slip yoke zerks.

Is that practice indeed recommended for the '99 4Runner as well? Should I be pumping grease as long as it takes to have the grease push out past the seal? Weekend before last I hit the 4Runner slip yoke zerks with about 15 pumps or so, now today another 15 or so. Not seeing any movement or noise on the slip part of the shaft, and no grease pushing past the seal.

Thanks in advance!
 
I did not, but this is just me. Just like with the type of grease question, you may end up with a Pandora's box of answers for this one.

Has the grease helped with the clunk so far? If so, I'd just monitor it and check it down the road, perhaps at the next oil change or the like.
 
Yes, on both vehicles the greasing seems to have improved the thunk - the condition still exists some on the 4Runner (not as bad it seems but I don't get to drive it that often). The thunk seems to have gone away now on the Land Cruiser.

But I've also been pumping much more grease into the LC slip yokes than the 4R - I finally got grease pushed past the seal yesterday on the LC. It took three different greasings over the past two weeks to get that to happen, must have been about 50 pumps or more in total which means it was near bone dry. Shame on me :(

It the two vehicles have the same type of slip yoke I would think we'd need to push grease past the seal on the 4R also, yes?
 
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