oh no....TSB-0171-16 Driveline vibration

I feel your pain! Very disappointed in the 3rd gens. Good luck!

 

Here's an update...this is for shared experience.

Found a friend of a family member who has pull on the service side and addressed the main issue. I won’t give details on who or where.

The results are ... this truck is a piece of 5hit. Keep in mind my prior vehicles.

Biggest mistake was trading this truck for a 2007 TRD Sport DC I bought with 14 miles and left it with 220k+-. Also had a 99 TRD off road extended cab for a few years and in between that a regular chevy S10.

Current truck, 2018 TRD Sport DB 4x4, has been to 3 Toyota service centers and mentioned these items at most locations. Reference service centers as #1, #2 and #3

Rattle in passenger tweeter/dash

-------(fixed at #2 - but rattle came back after around 4/5 weeks - could not replicate at #1 and not an issue at #3)

Unidentified rattle in/on driver rear side cab

-------(plastic on plastic over bumps and textured roads - could not locate at any service center but tech that rode with me at #3 confirmed hearing it – no fix)

Howling from the rear at higher speeds on deceleration (foot off gas)

-------(not mentioned at service center #1 - #2 acknowledged and found a like vehicle to drive - #3 did something (replaced line?) and still exist)

Vibration while braking from 30-10mph

-------(service center #1 - results posted above – they found a like TSB (TSB-0071-17) and applied it but it passed the inspection. Determined its normal- #2 acknowledged the issue and said they aren’t worried about it. Its known and normal issue. The tech said he did fix one but it was way worse than mine. Finally #3 friend of family. Applies same TSB as #1 and it fails the spec test. (((Kept truck for a week and they gave me a rental –new Ram Rebel with AT tires and dammit if that truck didn’t ride like a quiet gem with no rattles))) TSB is applied. New leaf springs and steering dampener. Truck still has the same vibration on deceleration.


I guess it’s a normal characteristic. Unacceptable, normal, unfortunate, characteristic.


Between #2 and #3 I started a buy back with corporate. Gave the case to lawyer in the family which is also who hooked me up with the Toyota service center contact. In the timeframe the TSB was being applied at #3, corporate was sending certified letter to the house asking for all documentation. I decided to let it go until I had results from #3. I’ll send one last message including above synopsis but will likely make this someone else’s problem


Do you buy a Ram, Chevy or GMC. People say it wont run as long as the Toyota or hold value but how does everyone know that since they changed to the 3rd gen. I really don’t want to buy a GMC. Someone talk me out of it. I did see a 2nd gen with 5k miles for close to $30k??

 

I've owned 2 GM trucks, a Sierra and Colorado, and I will never own a 3rd, garbage long-term reliability.

I've also owned 2 Nissan Frontiers, a 2006 and a 2017. The 2006 was an awesome, extremely reliable truck, the 2017 was much less so, even though it's the same chassis generation as the 2006. It is well known by now that Nissan's build quality has suffered since the Renault acquisition many years ago. The reason I got rid of the 2017 was due to mounting annoyances just like this vibration issue.

The 2020 Tacoma DCLB OR that I just purchased a month ago, which I looked forward to buying for years, has been a major disappointment as far as build quality/refinement goes. That said, build quality and reliability are two entirely different things. I do believe this truck will have excellent long-term reliability, but it's poor build quality results in the kinds of issues we are discussing here. They are very annoying, but I suspect they won't negatively impact long-term reliability in any significant way. In other words, the Tacoma, so far, has been an annoying truck to drive, but I do believe it will last for a long time, which is indeed a unique conundrum.

Bottom line for me, I will be keeping this truck forever because I paid a fortune for it and I'm not willing to lose my a$$ trying to trade it for something else that will have its own set of annoyances. My only hope is that I can get the vibration sorted, so at least I don't hate driving this thing everyday.

 

Still trying to figure out the percentage of 3rd gen trucks do this. Is it worth shaking the dice and trading the shaky truck for another one. Also what's the next step in trying to fix out of pocket. I was reading the thread about the single piece driveshaft...

 

I have greatly reduced the vibration. I first added 1/8" spacers to the carrier bearing which helped a little. I noticed that the vibration was much better if I had a couple hundred pounds of weight at the rear of the bed. That gave me hope that angle shims for the rear axle would help. I installed 2.5 degree shims and there is now very little vibration. I only feel slight vibration on acceleration. In the past it was mostly when braking. I would like to try 1.5 or 2 degree shims. I also read that the aluminum shims will crush down over time.

Does anyone know where i can purchase steel shims that are 1.5 degrees or 2 degrees that fit the Tacoma?

 

My 2016 has the vibration and it also occasionally slams into first gear when slowing down...sucks!!!!!

 

You'd likely lose $1000s on trade-in unless you've had the truck for at least a couple years and it's in excellent condition. If this is something you are seriously considering, I'd look into selling it privately first. If I can't get mine sorted out, I may consider selling it privately in a year or 2 and roll the dice on a different Tacoma because there isn't any other small truck on the market that I'd buy at this point. I might consider another Nissan Frontier if the coming 2021 redesign turns out well, but I'd have to wait at least a couple years to see how reliable they are. I actually do like a lot about my Tacoma, but every time I drive it I get pissed because of these damn chassis vibrations that shouldn't be there.

 

and this is on stock setup, correct?

 

So I took my 18 trd offroad in on seeing if they could figure out the deceleration wobble I guess. Or it's kinda like drums are warped. Don't think that can happen. It's not has bad if you put it in neutral while braking. What else could it be?

 

Yes, Stock 2020 OR

 

So I took my 2020 DCLB OR in for the 3rd time today, different dealer this time. I opened a complaint with Toyota USA last week and they've been pretty helpful. I took a test drive with the service manager and he was shocked at how bad the vibration was. They have a Toyota engineer coming to evaluate the truck. In the meantime, I'm driving a loaner Camry SE. I should hear something within a couple days.

If you're truck is relatively new and you haven't yet opened a case with Toyota, do so ASAP because they want their customers to be happy and are willing to help. The service mgr I dealt with actually noticed a that the gaps on either side of my hood weren't perfectly symmetrical, something I hadn't even noticed, but they're going to adjust that too. I now realize that a lot of this comes down to which service dept you choose because they are definitely not all equal.

 

Aluminum shims shouldn't crush unless you're making them from foil in your kitchen. I would be more worried about the possibility that shims made from cast aluminum are liable to crack vs. ones made from 6061 or 7075. A handful of outfits offer steel shims; seems like mostly 3 degree and greater. These guys sell 2 degree zinc plated steel shims-

WFO Concepts:

https://www.wfoconcepts.com/cr/2-5-Inch-Axle-Shims/3225/4383

Bronco Graveyard:

https://shop.broncograveyard.com/2-...MIwsikmPDs5wIVypyzCh2-sgE_EAQYBCABEgJAI_D_BwE


You are the second guy recently to report success adjusting stock driveline angles with shims etc... Looks like this might be the way to go.

 

Thank you for the information.

I did not do anything with the center pin. I simply raised the vehicle, put jack stands under the frame, loosened the u-bolts, and slid the shim between the leaf spring and the axle. I did have to pry the leaf spring up a bit to get he original pin to go into the hole in the shim. However, I do not believe the pin was long enough to go through the shim and into the axle mount. Will this be an issue? Is the pin simply an alignment pin and not needed to penetrate the shim and into the axle mount?

 

are you able to post pics of this process and or send me to another install thread?

 

If you're basing your truck issues by a few speaker rattles and plastic noise you obviously haven't driven many vehicles out there. These issues are so minor its not even worth taking in to a dealer for. Put your big boy pants on and try to isolate the issues and do a little 10-15 min of work to fix. Speaker vibration issues have occurred since plastics were introduced as the material of choice for interior panels and crappy speakers were used.

Focus on the real concern which is vibrations.

 

thanks Dick... solid level of knowledge from texas ... Cheers.

 

Perhaps it was delivered in a dick-ish manner (i.e. standard TW decorum), but RubenZ is not wrong. Google any make and model with the words dash rattle and you'll see that just about every vehicle on the road in the modern era is plagued with annoyances of this sort. It is actually reasonably easy to understand and chase down many of these rattles. Rattles of this variety are primarily a symptom of temperature fluctuation, not crappy quality control. Plastic expands and contracts- when it's colder out, assemblies that were previously silent don't fit quite as tightly, especially in the case of components that are clipped or otherwise fastened together such that they can be disassembled. Toyota does mitigate some of the situations that are likely to produce noise, but obviously not all of them.

It's winter, that's a big part why you are experiencing the rattles. In my truck I experience a few intermittent dash rattles below 45-50 degrees, and the worst of them at 30 or below. For the most part these go away if I run the defrost for a few miles while the truck is getting up to temp. This actually works pretty well, and seems to warm the dash components just enough to silence most of the rattles. For the remainder, you'll have to hunt them down. The good news is much of that leg work and the relevant solutions are well documented on TW.

So, your truck is not a piece of shit because it rattles. The vibrations you and many others are experiencing, on the other hand, are pretty shitty...

 

thing is, i am addressing the vibration along with everything else wrong with the truck which happens to be rattles... no need for sweet comments ..... i could careless about fixing the rattle because there will inevitably be rattles with full cab vibrations. They do need to go on record... I'm putting my experience up with addressing the vibrations with dealerships and their handling of the issue not to have some bullshit pissing match on an internet forum. This'll be the last.

 

RG I’m with you.I bought a 2020 sport to replace my 06 Tacoma. I was totally disappointed with the quality Toyota is putting out now compared to my old truck. I moved on and traded in my new truck.
Just my opinion Toyota as a whole has gone down in quality.

 

Well, I've been going back and forth with Toyota for weeks regarding the severe vibration issue on my 2020 DCLB OR. They re-balanced wheels and did 2 separate alignments, but the issue did not improved. I then arranged to have a Toyota field tech evaluate the truck and, even though he acknowledged that the vibration was pretty bad, he determined that the driveline components were all within spec and that no further work would be done.

I looked forward to buying a Tacoma for years and when I finally decide to plop down over $40k for the damn thing, this is what I get. I am so disappointed in Toyota and their refusal to address issues that they readily acknowledge exist. I can't believe that this is the company and product that so many people rave about. I don't see myself keeping this truck for more than a year or two, it's just that annoying to drive. This will surely be my first and last Toyota.

UPDATE:
Now that I've been driving the truck for nearly 5 months, I'm surprised to say that I don't really notice the vibrations anymore. Several people told me this would happen, but I didn't believe them because I was so annoyed by it at first, but I really don't notice it now. I've also come to like other aspects of the truck quite a lot... especially the JBL infotainment and how capable the TRD OR is off-road for a bone stock truck. Anyway, I probably will keep the truck long-term, since they do seem to be very reliable over time. I guess I'll find out.