Vibration between 60 - 72MPH

[nicheel8]

When I drive under 60 and over 72 mph the 4Runner is smooth, but right when I hit 60 I can feel a slight vibration and a low humming. Not enough to shake the rear view mirror. I already had the tires rotated and balanced. That help a bit, but its still vibrating. Any ideas?

 

[Snowy21]

Rear u-joint. Put the truck in neutral and block the tires so that the driveline isn't in a bind and pull the rearmost u-joint on the driveshaft up and down. If it has play in it then it needs to be replaced. Pretty cheap and easy if you have tools or can find a shop that's not trying to rip you off.

 

[ToyOtis]

Hey nicheel8,
Did you try the rear u-joint fix?
Curious, as I'm having the same exact symptoms. Same speed range.

I have only had the truck for a short time and I love it, but this noise is making me crazy!

 

[nissanh]

Drive shaft! Do what claund21 says to find it. If you are buying the U joint, buy it from the dealer. You can also find a good used drive line for about $100. My drive line came from a truck that had 300K miles and it is still good!!

 

[woodro]

had the same vibration around that speed . new u-joints and its like brand new !

 

[ToyOtis]

Thanks for the quick responses nissanh and woodro.
I have crawled under the truck and checked for play in the rear joint and the double cardan and they all feel pretty darn solid. I've greased them a couple times too and no difference.

Think I'll drop the shaft tomorrow and check the joints while I've got it out of the truck. Maybe I'll feel some play or roughness then.

 

[ddking]

I replaced my front sway bar and steering rack bushings and it basically fixed mine. It still has a slight shake, but you can't see the steering wheel moving any longer . I didn't necessarily replace them thinking it would fix the problem, I just noticed they needed it. My front shock bushings are also completely shot, so I imagine if I replaced those, it would take care of the problem altogether. I'm probably going to just wait till after the Christmas buying season and replace the springs and shocks. If your bushings are worn, it won't hurt anything to replace them and its pretty cheap if you do it yourself. I purchased mine through Wheelers Offroad and got front and rear sway bar and rack bushings for around $70 shipped.

 

[jsukey]

I've had the same problem before. Mine turned out to be the driveshaft. Start with u-joints, then move to the driveshaft. I took mine to a driveshaft shop in Shreveport and asked them if they could spin it to see if it was out of balance. They told me it would cost $250 just to check to see if it was out of balance!!! I left and went straight to the junkyard. 2 hours and $50 later, I had a brand new used driveshaft and no vibrations!

 

[Ronin1082]

Well I have my Sunday project now........

 

[ToyOtis]

Got it!

Thanks everybody for all of your help!
Turns out it was a bad rear u joint, but it wasn't loose, turns out it was just the opposite.
I had to drop the rear of the shaft to find out the joint was smooth in one direction and would barely budge in the other.

From the attached pic you can see 3 bearing cups were perfect, but it was nearly seized in the fourth!

I got a new u joint from NAPA (Federal Mogul Precision u joint Part #387 for $21.50 and made in the USA)
Took a few hours of cleaning, cursing, disassembling with cursing, reassembling with cursing, relubing and a final "hell yeah!" when I got it back out on the highway.

So glad to have this fixed. That low pitched rumble was driving me freakin' nuts.

Previous owner had a history of taking the truck to Jiffy Lube. Guessing they missed that inner zerk every time.

Hey nicheel8 sorry I hijacked your thread, but I hope what worked for me will help in your case too!