Suspension Clicks, Pops, and Squeaks. But only with a Passenger?

The irony is I bought this truck for it's simplicity and the fact it wouldn't give me any issues. I sold off a complicated $50,000 Lexus GS400 V8 (worth that when new, I paid only $9k 15 years later) for the piece of mind of the simple Tacoma.

And I'm on the brink of insanity 10 days into the ownership. LOL

(The Lexus never gave me a single problem.)

The gas mileage of the 2.7 is heaven-sent, however.

As they say, used cars is buying someone else's problem. I'm sure it'll be fine after I sort everything.

 

I've never really heard these noises from a taco. Something's definitely going on somewhere, sorry I can't be more help over the web. But I will say you've made a good choice on a used truck haha. It's probably just related to age and could just be catching up on maintainance.

 

Understand your frustration. You will find the issue and fix it, then you will be on easy street. Most of us on here enjoy many trouble free years with these trucks. Problems start when we start to mod stuff. Could totally relate to a mod up front.(suspension). There are a bunch of people who have a lot of knowledge on this site that will help you figure this out. Someone will hit on it!

 

I'm pretty sure I have the same front sounds coming from mine. I recently upgraded my suspension so I figured it was related to that.

 

BamaToy1997 is a certified tech with his own shop. He tries to help people here, I know I've shot him some questions. Maybe shoot him a PM

 

Update:

I looked at all bushings I could find, front and rear. All look good. Lower control arm bushings are nice and tight, as evidenced by turning the wheel lock to lock and watching them not move at all.

Jouncing the suspension at each corner, then at each end makes no noise, only sloshing in the gas tank.

I put a 2x4 between the cab pinch weld and the nerf bar. A can leverage the cab up about 1/4" doing this. With my fingers between the mount rubber and body, I can feel the flexing taking place.

So I put my gym weights back in to trigger the noise to continue investigations.

And now the noise is fucking gone.

I'm losing all my hair here. I put my wife in it and we went to run some errands. Not a peep. I *may* have heard a mild click once. But at best, the noise went from 100% to 1%. No changes in weather, weight, or anything else I can think of. Moon phase maybe?

Go fukkin figure. Ugh.

It will be back, then so will I.

In the meantime I will still look around.

I may order my new wheels and tires to cheer me up a bit. Still deciding on those tho...

 

Same thing happened when I took off my wheel and dust cap to investigate a clicking sound. I don't get it.

Maybe with the flexing of the cab when you tested it put something back where it belongs or loosened something that wasn't supposed to be in there like debris of some sort. I love those FREE fixes.

 

Yep, the leveraging of the cab upwards to flex the body mounts was all I really did to change anything. The rest was visual.

Hopefully that's the end of it, but I seriously doubt it. I can't be let off that easy.

Time will tell...

 

Keep us posted!

 

Lol sounds like your having fun. Glad it went away, let us know if it comes back.
By any chance did you try to lift the box up and down. Had a few wear out between the frame and bottom and they would clunk randomly. Just a thought =)

The other option if it comes back. Find someone who has or buy a chassis ear. http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Chassis-Ear-JSP97202-Category/dp/B001DICEKC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_auto_3/190-4564713-5510107?ie=UTF8&refRID=0K8HH7X85N46EE1C32BF
And place them around suspect points =) Saved my ass several times.

Noises, clunks, and Bumps are the most PITA things to find haha.

 

Box meaning the bed? I thought that was hard bolted on with no bushings?

Or is box something else?

 

The bed. Box. Same shit. They are but they can come loose. We had one of the newer plastic ones in and it was loose. Rubbed half way through the bottom mounting points on the box. Lol.
Chances are it's not it. But it doesn't hurt to try lift up on each bed corner with your hands.

 

Hey I'll try anything at this point. I'll give it a yank tonight.

Thanks.

 

A pebble stuck somewhere,,rubbing and making a clicking noise against sheetmetal or a hard surface of some sort possibly.

 

That too, i had a rock above my heat shield it was jammed in there. Over bumps it would clunk on the floor.

 

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This is something I was thinking also, I listened to your audio earlier & yeah the sounds i did hear were the normal for the most part except the one that sounded like 2 pieces of metal striking against eachother, that was the one that concerned me, a rock between the cab/frame being ground down is perfectly plausible

 

Update...

Sound slowly came back. (shocker)

It's about 40% this time tho, which sucks as now it's harder to diagnose because I can't replicate it at driveway speeds of 1mph like before. I have to be on the road. Obviously can't be under it like that. My wife as the passenger says she hears the squeak behind her. As in between the bed and cab on her side.

I spend a good amount of time under the truck again. This time I removed both skid plates as they seemed way too close to the oil pan. As in like 1 or 2mm. That can't be right, can it? Maybe it was hit and bent up but there's no curves in it that look "field applied". Anyway it's off and noise still there.

Checked the rear spring bushings, all good. Gas gank mounts, straps, all solid. Spare tire has some give and makes a minor noise if you thrash it but it's not the noises I'm chasing. Bed mounts all seem solid. Nerf bar mounts and bolts all seem tight. Lower control arm bushings are nice and solid, no movement under test. Can't see any cracks on frame mounting ears for bed, cab, or shock tower. Brake hardware all seems tight and in place.

Again I will stress this only happens with extra weight in the cab so I keep concentrating on this being some sort of weight carrying component. Either strut top mounting, lower shock bushing (which is tired but still doing it's job), or again with the body mounts.

If I jump in the bed, slowly or quicky trying to jar the truck into the noise, nothing. Jouncing the shit out of each corner and each end also results in silence.

The only other clue is the fact the truck is a little vibraty when stopped at idle speeds, which has prompted me to do the engine mounts. Altho I've never seen engine mounts cause this type of noise. But they are on the list anyway.

The rock idea makes the most sense. As the body lowers from weight, it makes contact. As weight is removed, the cab goes up, provides more clearance, and no noise results. I will take a hard look at the top of the frame front to back and see if I have any stowaways.

As for the chassis ears, I've been wanting to add those to my arsenal for quite some time. But I've always been successful tracking down noises for the past 20 years the old fashioned way. I've always taken pride in it.

That's what's making this so hard to for me to accept.

Thanks, fellas! I may try removing the nerf bars next but hell if they aren't on tight as shit. Doubt it's that.

I will spend some time under the truck tomorrow with it on the lift and see what pops out.

The search continues...

 

It's little sketchy but how about lifting the rear of your truck and put the frame on jack stands. Have one or two people sit in your truck and step on the gas as if you're driving it. Maybe the sounds will come back and you'll be able to isolate the sounds.

 

Should be easy to try when on the lift... Might give that a shot. If it does it at that point with the truck stationary and unloaded suspension, then it points to the engine mounts, cab mounts, and removes the suspension from the focus of the investigation.

Good tip, thanks!

 

You must look funny in your neighborhood jumping all over your truck and riding outside it and whatnot lol