21 Tacoma still vibrates after TSB.

Just a minor update, I used 4 different angle finders to shoot the angles, it's interesting that they all worked quite well. Three of them (excluding the red one) including the cheapie Harbor Freight unit read exactly the same numbers once they settled down. The Klein finder was the quickest to settle to its final number and was the best, but only by a hair. It's also the most expensive, 2x or 3x what the others cost. The others were all great or excellent. The red one measured .2° different on one measurement but the same on all others, certainly not enough to be concerned about. If you shoot your angles, be sure to remove and reset the finder several times and average the numbers you get. Wipe the flange and magnets each time with your finger to remove any debris, even the smallest crumb will affect the angle considerable. I used the tube and yoke (in pictures above) and cleaned the yoke flange thoroughly to make sure the finder seated properly.

See pics below for the "new" mount installed, compare with pic above for the unmodified mount.


The other picture is the two pieces of metal removed from the mount legs. I may have overshot my target angles, with the suspension loaded I'm currently running:


Front joint: .2° down
Center joint: .6° down
Rear joint: 1° up

These angles combine to an almost perfect number- the output shaft and pinion are within .2° of being parallel. Spicer wants them within 1° (.5° for motor homes). I'd use the .5° number as I'm fussier than most.
I will put in a shim in to regain my target angles, I'd like the front joint to be about 1°. This means if you want to cut your tranny mount you should probably go for about 11mm rather than the 13ish mm (about 1/2") that I cut out.

I'll put a 1mm shim in between the mount and crossmember, drive it a while, measure the angles, and report back. At this point I'll repeat that the vibration is still 100% gone, I have well over 1K on it since the change including some highway trips and there is zero driveshaft vibration at any speed or in 4wd. (We have had considerable snow here lately!) This makes me really happy, as a few months ago I was undecided whether to keep this truck or not. I could not have "lived" with the vibration forever as many of you are, I'm too fussy for that.

I'm putting a video together on this venture but it's not done yet. I hope some of you that have this issue will benefit from my research and use it to make decisions of your own.

As Arnold said, "I'll be back".......

 

The best way to get Toyota to own up to this and change is bad PR. Start to harm their customers' trust in their product and they'd react very fast. Faster than they would with petitions, class action lawsuits, etc. We could start a website dedicated just to this, link it to youtube and get each person on the forum or elsewhere with this issue to add their case and we track and tally it on the website and promote and spread it on Youtube. Toyota would be shocked and couldn't ignore us since it'd be in the public eye.

 

I have a 2022 access cab TRD OR that has done this since new. Like many of you, it is intermittent, both in occurrence and severity. Sometimes it is very noticeable and sometimes it's not. I loaded the bed with 3 sand bags and filled the tank and there is no apparent change. It seems more severe going uphill or down, but then it also does it on flat ground. It seems like it was worse when it was new, and has subsided in frequency a bit.

I took it to Toyota and we were able to reproduce it. I gave them the most recent TSB and it doesn't apply to my truck, but the symptoms are exactly the same. So, they spent all day measuring everything and inspected the angles and everything checks out. I have dealt with this dealer for a long time and they have been nothing but stellar in every way, so I tend to believe what they are saying. They reached out to the regional rep with Toyota and are waiting to hear back on what to do next.

Interestingly, I had a 2021 (long story) version of the same truck and had a driveline vibration that was different and not present when braking...more of a hop. The same dealer replaced the driveline and all was well after that. This truck also has that same vibration that was on the last truck with the addition of the one in question in this thread(esp when braking). I'm super confused and disappointed that a brand new truck has this issue, but glad the dealer is responsive so far.

Here's to hoping they will figure it out and actually provide a fix...In the meantime, I am researching other trucks and may just jump ship after years of loyalty to Toyota. There have just been too many issues with the recent trucks that it seems like the Toyota we all came to love is falling to the wayside. Sad....

 

Yep. Sucks to hear but a common story. Mine has two vibes; 30-10 MPH that is maybe driveline and a harmonic vibe at 50 MPH now that it wasn't doing before, which might be the needle bearing. I keep going back and forth between trying to fix this crap or sell it and get a GX460 or GX470. Unfortunately, I'd like another mid size pickup but don't like the others.

 

I've had four Toyota trucks starting with a 1988 SR5 and every one of them had drive line vibration of some type. If you love Toyotas you learn to live with it. My current truck exhibits the 30-0 vibration. What's interesting is the steering wheel weight, that's just an NVH hack.

 

No vibes on my 22 tdror auto as of yet. Maybe leer cap weight helps

 

I had toyota pickups since 1978, only my 2001 tundra had a really noticeable driveline vibration that toyota corrected 98% of it, finding the driveshaft slightly out of alignment. My 2020 sr5 tacoma is the smoothest running truck i've had to date. You can't find a vibration in it at any speed.

 

Just a hunch. Maybe this is a short bed tacoma issue. My 2017 DCLB off road doesn’t have this . From what I see here it’s all shortbed tacoma

 

I’m sure production tolerances come into play because not all trucks have the issue and some may be more pronounced that others.

 

No vibrations or other issues in my 2021 TRD Sport long bed. Love the truck so far 30,000 km and still runs and drives great. just saying.

 

Most trucks especially pickups because of several reasons have vibrations . I had two Nissan pickups at work and both trucks when you would look at the passenger seat had a vibration . Most of the time if the suspension settles down with mileage some of it will go away . Also different tires make vibes sometimes .These are trucks not cars. I feel like everyone gets spoiled in thinking we are driving a luxury car. Also once you get fixated on something we can be our own worst enemy . The people who really enjoy a vehicle are the people who know nothing at all about how a car works

 

I had a few friends who test drove my Taco out of curiousity and they where amazed at how nice, quiet and smooth ride for a 4x4 truck. My taco is stock no mod e.g big tires, lifts etc etc.

 

I don’t know if you’ve ever driven a new Ram 1500, but that my friend is a luxury vehicle with a pickup box attached. They are frighteningly refined. They are also quite a bit more money than a Toyota.
I love my Toyota, even with all the little nuances. It’s got a “miniature ruggedness” about it that no other truck on the market has IMHO.

 

Yes true
I was in a Ram a couple of weeks ago and they are like a luxury car. But I also agree with you . I love my Tacoma . The wife has a RX for when I want to go the luxury route. Those Rams go into big money real fast. But I still don’t trust Dodge. I never got burned with Toyota products

 

Yes maybe the ram is a luxury vehicle but you pay for it and they depreciate so damn fast compared to the Tacoma. Around here the Dodge lots are full because they are not selling and Toyota lots are empty but they have truck loads coming in every other day. just saying

 

Depreciate is an understatement they loose close to 1/2 there value in The first 3 years

 

Was not sure how much they depreciate.

 

Back in the 70's i worked a few years for a gm plant that supplied all sorts of electrical components. You could not believe the crap they allowed to pass qc. Many times, some scrap was set aside for rework. Tolerances were borderline, and never would have passed japanese standards, but gm just waved them through. I owned domestic manufactured vehicles till then, but after being part of it, i could no longer buy one.

 

As for depreciation....

Earlier this year I traded a 2016 RAM 2500 4x4 CC 5.7V8 with ~ 110K miles and received about 75% of what I paid for it new. Private sale value per KBB was about 80%.

The one prior, also a Ram (Dodge), I purchased new and owned for about 16 years, had over 200K miles and I sold it on CL for about 50% what I paid for it. I probably could have got 5-10% more.

The Dodge/Ram bashing is alive and well. Individual experiences can and do vary. I agree they do not hold value like a Toyota but, the last two I owned were good trucks. The quality of materials and general build quality were much better than my Taco. I know it is not an apples-to-apples comparison but, the Taco has more flimsy panels, squeaks, and rattles with 10K miles than the 2016 RAM did with 100K+ miles. If I had a good local dealer, I would buy another without hesitation.

Toyota and in particular the Tacoma, has been known for a lot of things one of them is reliability. I do not believe the turd gen taco or the new Tundra have done anything to improve or even sustain the reputation. just a guess of course but i suspect the turd gen taco will be the least desirable used tacoma in coming years. i hope the 4th gen is better.

 

Got almost 19k miles on my taco...currently no squeaks and rattles. I had nearly 300k miles on my 2001 tundra. That truck was still as tight as when i got 19 years ago.