Vibrations / CV Axle

B

Blitz

Junior Member
I have a 96 SR5 4x4 with around 322K miles
I just did: U&L ball joints, rear axle seals, fluid replacement on F&R Diff, transfer case, oil change, and for the 1st time ever greased the u-joints and drive shaft yokes, then got an alignment

After doing all that, specifically greasing the drive shaft I got a severe vibration. I figured it was something I did. Everything is solid on the drive shaft, no play in the front wheels. I do get a slight movement on the drivers side cv axle, the passenger side no movement at all.

I got a wheel balance and rotation just to check that. They are low in tread and worn on the outer side more due to needing ball joints. The vibration went down some after this.

I just read on a different thread that after greasing the drive shaft I should back over a curb 10x to distribute the grease. Thank you to whoever posted that!!!

Now I took it up to speed and I think the vibration is gone. So I greased incorrectly maybe too much in the yoke?? I have no idea.

Anyway, I have several questions:
Can the cv axle cause vibrations when I am in 2 wheel drive?
Is that slight movement a reason to replace the cv axles?

I previously was convinced that it was the CV axles and ordered re-manufactured ones from Cardone. Should I replace them? and if so should I do it in pairs?

Thanks in advance!
 
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CV axles always spin, even in 2WD. There should be *slight* play in the axles, but not much at all (up and down). In and out and in rotation there is play/backlash (a few mm/degrees).

The slip joints in the prop shafts can hydraulic (stop being able to compress) if they are overfilled with grease, that may have been part of your issue.

-Charlie
 
So I swapped brake calipers today, because they needed it. Then I could road test it on the highway. I still have the shakes. It started around 70 and then slowing down it still shook.
I guess I am going to try swapping the CV axles. There is a bit of up and down play.
Although I really think I may have overfilled the drive shaft like Charlie suggested.
If the CV axles don't fix it I guess I'll take the drive shaft apart and clean it out.
Thx for the tips so far
 
Blitz said:
Although I really think I may have overfilled the drive shaft like Charlie suggested.
Click to expand...
The simple way is to remove the grease zerk, unbolt the rear end and squish the grease out.

If you do remove it, make sure you keep close note of the orientation between the front and rear parts. It is 100% required they line up correctly. Ford PTFE driveshaft slip yoke grease works well for the slip splines if you take it apart.

This stuff:
34283d1328935501-slip-yoke-b37c1d96.jpg


-Charlie
 
Mark the rear driveshaft to rear diff and on the both sides of sleeve yoke. Unbolt the rear driveshaft from the back. Slip out the yoke and use a suitable clean tool to remove excess grease. Obviously Secure the vehicle with blocks on front and rear and apply parking brake. Never heard of backing up a curb 10 times. Normal driving and suspension travel will nullify that.
 
Still vibrating and dragging

So I replaced the CV axles, and instead of removing the drive shaft, I took someones advice and removed the zerk fittings and drove around a bit. No grease came out of the front and a little came out of the rear. So i think I eliminated the drive shaft as a concern. The one old CV axle was spitting grease so those needed to be changed anyway.
When I am driving and shift to neutral the car slows abnormally quick will come to a stop on a flat surface. Something is holding it back. It may be 2 issues or the same.
Is it possible the new Toyota brake master cylinder is bad and causing the brakes to drag?
My local mechanic suggested that my rotors are causing the vibration. I am skeptical but I have them on order. They are the Tundra upgraded calipers and rotors and have been on the car for many years so no issue with replacing those.
Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
 
Blitz said:
I just did: U&L ball joints, rear axle seals, fluid replacement on F&R Diff, transfer case, oil change, and for the 1st time ever greased the u-joints and drive shaft yokes, then got an alignment

After doing all that, specifically greasing the drive shaft I got a severe vibration.
Click to expand...

Don't forget that this is where your severe vibration trouble started. Assuming your 4Runner ran fine before doing all this work, I would move front axles, master cylinder and front rotors pretty low on the list of parts causing the problem. Did you adjust your rear brakes when you changed your rear axle seals? They could be over adjusted causing the drag and vibration. Does the vibration get better or worse when applying the emergency brake while moving?
 
Sparky, Yes i did have the driver's side brake over adjusted. I didn't know how to fix it until I saw a short video from Timmy the Toolman. So I stuck a screwdriver in the back slot to move the adjusting plate out of the way and was able to loosen this brake. The wheels all seem to spin freely now. I am still getting the vibrations and I am noticing it at lower speeds now. I have not gotten it up to 70 yet. I have also not applied the e-brake yet either, which I will try.
Thanks for the suggestions and I will report back after I test these.

OK missed Church this morning due to the time change so I was able to check these things out. I think the dragging issue was the rear brake. The e-brake does almost nothing right now since I loosened the brake. It is weird that it barely vibrates until I get to around 70, then once it starts the steering wheel still moves back and forth at 25mph.
The rotors and tires should be completed by Wednesday so those will be off the possible issue list soon.
 
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I just installed the new rotors. While doing it i had a real problem backing the brake fluid back into the master cylinder. The pistons moved freely, it was just when pushing on all four it would not budge. I am now thinking this is my problem.
I still get front brake drag as it does not release all the way.
I get much less jitter/shakes with the new rotors but it is still there.
I cannot think of what else it could be and this was one of the last things I did to the 4Runner. Obviously something is wrong with the brakes and this was the only thing I touched before the problem started. I have a replacement on order.
 
Hi Charlie,
Yes I thought about that too. I replaced those a while back with I believe a higher end set of flex lines than stock. I got them from Wheeler's Off-Road. They are at least a nice red color! :-)
I was thinking that if they were blocked, the fluid would be blocked in both directions. When I bleed the brakes the fluid flowed freely to the calipers. This seems to me that they are OK.
I found someone else online that was having what sounds like the exact same problem on a Corvette forum. It was a blocked bypass port. It could have been blocked from the get go, or I could have done it by over-stroking when I bench bleed the master cylinder. I have been accused of over stroking before so this is not a stretch! :-) I found somewhere where they say to do short slow strokes, so maybe next time I will get it right.
 
There is a fairly unusual procedure for bench bleeding the master:

BFS1dvk.jpg


Also note the specific wheel order for bleeding. (this is for '96-'00)

-Charlie
 
I finally got another master cylinder, it would not bench bleed properly. So I found out Aisin has a subsidiary called Advics that produces brake parts for the aftermarket. It was about $140, much cheaper than buying through Toyota. It has the exact same markings on it as the original. So I got that one today and installed it, bleed the brakes and I STILL have the shaking when I took it out on the highway. Now I am really stumped I don't even know where to look now.
Any thoughts on this issue?
As a recap, I replaced: upper and lower ball joints, calipers and rotors, new tires, cv axles, rear axle seals, power steering fluid, gear oil in front and rear diffs and the transfer case, lubed the drive shaft, oil change. The drive shaft is rock solid no movement, the wheels at 12 & 6, and 3 & 9 no movement, had an alignment done
 
Yes I did, and mine does not have a LSPV. It is a 4wd w/ABS. In fact I bleed them 3x now. Once for the master cylinder, once for the calipers and once again for the replacement master cylinder. I'll do it one more time today for the new flex lines.
 
Yeah, any time you open the system, you really should bleed it out, again. It doesn't take even a single air bubble to cause problems, and a single line broken open to make an air bubble. Sp yeah, when you opened the system to replace the master cylinder, when you replaced the lines, etc etc etc. That's why you should try and do everything at one shot, if possible. Saves a lot of brake fluid :D

Good luck, and let us know how things work out for you :)
Pat☺
 
Success! At least I think so.
I replaced the flex lines today and took it out on the highway. No violent shaking like before, so for the most part I think it is fixed.
I am however having some doubts, I notice a mild vibration when driving normal. It may just be the age of the car, or it may be me being hyper sensitive to it since I was having these issues.

Thank you everybody who helped! This site is an invaluable tool to keeping our 4Runners running! Hopefully I have uneventful next 200,000 miles
 
Sorry but I claimed success too quickly. With everything I did the vibrations are much less, but my brakes are still dragging. I took a long drive today and it seems to get more noticeable after it warms up. The fronts are hot and they have fresh brake dust. Since the fronts engage first this makes sense. But I never adjusted anything linkage wise, I just replaced the master cylinder when it was leaking. The other stuff I replaced such as calipers, rotors and flex lines were after the issue became apparent to me. Being that I had two new brake master cylinders on it, I do not think that is the issue. Brake fluid flowed freely through the lines when bleeding so I do not think there is a blockage.
I am really stumped.
 
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