Sound I'm Hearing at Low Speeds

adoihcj

adoihcj

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When driving at low speeds, if I take my foot off the gas, I hear a slight "thumping" sound. Seems to be coming from the right rear wheel. I'm due for an inspection and will have them check it out. Any idea what it could be?

It almost reminds me of when my Explorer needed wheel bearings but I'm only at 12k miles and the Explorer had bearing issues around 40k or so.
 
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More concisely, the slip yokes need lubricating. Mine needed lubing after only one month of ownership (my FJ was the same way). My mechanic friend had to do mine twice before it stopped sticking. They can require a fair amount of grease, but don't overdo it either.

If it's a single thump while braking or accelerating from being stopped this is probably it. If you have constant thumping then that is something different.

Rob
 
Rob_G said:
More concisely, the slip yokes need lubricating. Mine needed lubing after only one month of ownership (my FJ was the same way). My mechanic friend had to do mine twice before it stopped sticking. They can require a fair amount of grease, but don't overdo it either.

If it's a single thump while braking or accelerating from being stopped this is probably it. If you have constant thumping then that is something different.

Rob
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Sorry it took me so long to respond - been extremely busy.

The thumping I'm hearing is while moving at a low rate of speed (after removing my foot off the gas). If I give it some gas slightly while going slow, the thumping goes away. It's not a loud thumping just a small noise (almost sounds like a rubbing). I'll see what my dealer says during inspection this month.
 
Just had her in the shop for state inspection. Unfortunately, the thumping noise went away while at the shop. I even drove the tech around for a while and we couldn't get it to happen. Two days later, the thump returned ...

I had them lube the slip yokes and I haven't had the thump which occurs after a sudden stop. I just can't figure out why this rolling thump is happening (mainly around 25 mph when foot is off the gas).
 
This sounds like the same problem I had when I first bought mine. They ended up getting a regional Toyota guy to look at it. They replaced the front diff and front axles and the noise went away.
 
4RBob said:
This sounds like the same problem I had when I first bought mine. They ended up getting a regional Toyota guy to look at it. They replaced the front diff and front axles and the noise went away.
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That's not cool at all. This is a new vehicle and to have all of that replaced reminds me of my Ford Explorer days.
 
4RBob said:
This sounds like the same problem I had when I first bought mine. They ended up getting a regional Toyota guy to look at it. They replaced the front diff and front axles and the noise went away.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my Tahoe and they did the same thing, replaced the front diff and front axles and noise went away.
 
Too bad it is not the rear diff that has to be replaced. Then, you could have them put a TE diff in there with the e-locker, or at least I would make the hopeless attempt! :jump:
 
Finally had time to schedule the appointment. It's next Thursday (12/16). The sound has gotten worse. The funny thing is, it seems to be worse when it's cold outside, and it was a warm day when I took the tech on a drive and we couldn't get the sound to occur.

I'll let you know what the results of the repair are.

PS: My 4R was the first one available at the dealer last year when I bought it (it was the first they received and I was the first person to take delivery of a 2010). It had been test driven by multiple drivers because it had about 35 miles on it when I took delivery. When I test drove it, I couldn't move out of the parking spot because it was in 4WD. I had forgotten about this, and now I wonder if someone was driving it on dry pavement with 4WD engaged. Maybe that could have caused this problem to occur???
 
Dealer called yesterday and could not duplicate the problem, so they asked that I come in to drive the tech and service manager around. Luckily, we ALL heard the problem. The tech believes it's a tire, and said that if this was a mechanical issue, it would probably get worse (which it is very noticeable sometimes and not as noticeable on others). Now that they know what to look for, they are going to try several options including:

  • Putting another set of wheels/tires on to see if the problem is still there
  • Looking for bent wheels
  • Driving another 4R to see if they can hear the same problem

I disagree with driving another 4R around because the vehicle didn't do this for almost the first year of ownership. They seem to be doing the best they can, however they are not ready to just jump in and say the front axle and front diff needs replaced. In the meantime, I get to keep driving around the '10 Sienna they gave me with AWD and I may need to keep it over the holidays if they cannot get this fixed.

The tech said it's difficult to pinpoint because both the 4th and 5th gen 4Rs don't have these (axles/diff) issues.

I'll let you know what comes out of this.
 
SeattleMike said:
Did they identify a problem or is this a "cross your fingers and hope" replacement?
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They identified the problem. Took one week for the new diff to come in and they installed it (6 hours of labor). Everything is fine now and it drives like new (it always drove like new, it just had the thumping noise which was annoying).
 
hey all, apologies for not seeing this thread earlier, i posted a similar one, but the issue may be a little different: ?

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...lube-imagination-riding-rough.html#post682838

I also seem to have a similar issue to yours and hope it's nothing major.
Although, I have felt/heard this noise/thump with or without the foot on the gas. It hasn't been consistent, and like this issue, seemed to not be as noticeable when we just had a few warmer days. The dealer couldn't reproduce it, and indicated they didn't see anything wrong, but lubed it up per my request.

i figured i'd post this in case anyone was interested, or had opions about my post as it relates to this one.

Thanks!
 
cbcrippler said:
hey all, apologies for not seeing this thread earlier, i posted a similar one, but the issue may be a little different: ?

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...lube-imagination-riding-rough.html#post682838

I also seem to have a similar issue to yours and hope it's nothing major.
Although, I have felt/heard this noise/thump with or without the foot on the gas. It hasn't been consistent, and like this issue, seemed to not be as noticeable when we just had a few warmer days. The dealer couldn't reproduce it, and indicated they didn't see anything wrong, but lubed it up per my request.

i figured i'd post this in case anyone was interested, or had opions about my post as it relates to this one.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

That's exactly what was happening to mine. It would come and go depending on the weather. It started to do it more when I stepped on the gas, however it was most noticeable when driving around the 23 to 30 MPH range (mostly 25) while drifting. It wasn't noticeable at higher speeds (in fact, I could do 90 MPH and it drove very smooth). As I mentioned, they thought it was a tire and they both heard the noise coming from the front. I assume they lifted the truck off the ground and tried spinning the front wheels and that's how they determined the diff needed replaced. I would insist on having both the service manager and a tech drive with you and make sure you test it on a smooth road. Turn everything off (radio, air, etc.).

If you want to get really fancy, have your service manager call Baierl Toyota (888-422-4375) and ask for Kevin Katchmark (service manager) who was the first person other than a tech to actually hear the noise. Once he said he heard it, the tech "started hearing it" as well. I'm sure they will remember me because we were out on the test drive for at least 1/2 hour and both myself and the tech drove it.
 
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I'm experiencing the same thing right now. Mine happens between 35-45mph and what sounds to be the front right wheel. You have to let off the gas to hear it. I had it in the shop last night and I got a call saying that they couldn't hear it. I'm heading down today to take the tech for a ride... I'll report back when I hear something.
 
I took the tech for a ride and he was able to hear the noise and feel it in the floor boards. He suspects front differential. He said that Toyota has a bulletin out for the front differential. If I understand him correctly, the bearings in the passenger side go bad due to a problem in the driver side of the differential. He said that the noise should go away when you put in 4wd, which in my case it does. I have to take it back in for more tests when the weather clears up. The tech said that Toyota has them run a good bit of tests before they will replace it.
 
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