Another vibration issue thread

I've recently been experiencing the dreaded Tacoma shudder / vibration. The shudder only happens when accelerating at roughly 1200-1500 RPMS (30-40 mph) and happens in both 2wd and 4wd. Feels like hitting rumble strips or not having enough speed in a manual trans. You can feel it more through the floorboard and pedals and not so much the steering wheel. 2009 DCSB has 181K on the clock, approx 3" lift and AAL (38" ground to fender on all four tires, 23" hub to fender) and 265/75R16 tires with decent tread left. I've dug through just about every TW thread on the shudder that I can find trying to chase this down. Just had the carrier bearing and U joints replaced with spicers, driveline angle measured and checks out. New font shocks, tires rotated and aligned. New passenger CV axel and boot. Front brakes and rotors, new drivers side hub.

Looking for advise on where to go next. I'm not opposed to having the needle bearing replaced but don't know if this will do anything since the problem persists even in 4WD. Haven't flushed the transmission fluid but might move that up the list. In the photos you can see grease around boots, might this be related? Thanks all.

Front Passenger
Front Driver

 

looks like your steering rack bushing are leaking?

 

I’ve gone through this post and have tried narrowing things down one step at a time. Will perform the break tap test and report back!

 

Mine was doing exactly the same thing at ~175k. I took it in and got the trans flushed by the dealer and it’s good as new. Drives like a new truck again.

 

Just made an appointment to take it in. Hope that’s it!

 

OP have you checked your PS fluid lately? you got a lot of PS fluid build up from that leaking steering rack bushing.

 

Drove around attempting the brake tap test (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...th-pics-for-second-gen-4-liter-trucks.289913/) but could not replicate any vibrations in OD.

Fluid levels in the reservoir are fine although a little darker in color than i’d like to see. Replacing bushings and fluid flush next week.

 

I had the shudder in both 2wd and 4wd. Modest lift on my truck. The shop rebalanced the wheels which did nothing.

I took a fairly extreme approach and replaced the hub and bearing assembly on both sides, CV axles on both sides, and the needle bearing. I'm pretty sure it was the needle bearing, but I did it all at once so can't be sure. The CV axles were getting to a point that they were going to need to be replaced in the next year or two anyhow (one was original, the other was aftermarket). The hub and bearings were in decent shape and when on the jack the wheel did not seem to rock. I did use aftermarket parts. Managed to get all the work done for under $1000 in parts and about 8 hours of my labor.

Truck rides super smooth now, so whatever was the problem, it is gone. I'm at 8yo and about 75K miles. I do mostly in city driving to and from work.

 

I had the shudder in 2wd but not in 4wd or OD. Just had the transmission flushed and that seemed to take care of the problem.

Still feel a slight stutter in the lower RPM's so I think new CV axel, boot, and needle bearing are still on the list. Nowhere near as bad as what I was experiencing before the flush.

 

You’re narrowing it down, if you still have it but only in 2wd, I think you’re on the right track with a needle bearing change.

 

any updates?

 

Transmission flush seemed to take care of the bulk of the problem. Have since gotten new tires, seemed to help as well. Waiting to get my hands on the tool locally to change needle bearing. Waiting to hear back from dealer for frame replacement and with that new steering rack and cv’s. Thanks for checkin in!

 

thank you. just flushed mine.
i got a 2015 4.0 with 63k miles on it. already did a full flush and now just did it again and added shudder fix....well see it that helps.

 

I have an 09 4.0 with quite a bit more than 63K. Like I said I feel like the trans flush was what made the biggest difference for me. There’s a lot of variables so all you can really do is keep goin down the list until something fixes it. Let me know what ends up working for you.