hard shift when stopping...

My '99 Toy has developed a disturbing lurching right before coming to a complete stop - say at a traffic light. It feels similar to popping the clutch. Problem is its an automatic. It does the same thing hot or cold and in any gear. I had the transmission flushed at 30k and fluid is still clear and full and brakes are good. Everything is stock on the truck - V6, 3.4L, 4WD - and its only got 37,000 miles (no, not a typo!). My driving is roughly 60/40 split of off-road w/4WD and highway miles.

No other complaints or problems.
Can anyone shed some light on this? No one I've talked to can come up with a cause. I don't want to let this go if it could lead to something major (as in expensive) to fix.

 

Sounds like axel wrap. Some people have greased up the slip joint on the drive shaft, and had that remady the issue, while others have added an AAL to fix it. The axel wrap tends to get worse as the springs sag with age, and loose their spring rate.

 

working on the drive shaft later today...hoping that solves it because i really dont want to lift the truck!
i will report back soon as to any improvement.

 

i've put about 800 miles on since working on the driveshaft and the lurching seems to have gone away. (yeah!) just glad it wasnt something expensive. i can still feel it rise and settle when stopping/starting so i can see what you mean by saying the leaf springs are aging - i guess thats the down side of driving a non-trd offroad most of the time. it doesnt bother me at all but i will probably look into changing them out soon in hopes of getting a smoother ride.