New England B.S. Thread

It's like the 4Runners cooler twin brother to me

 

I stuck my head under the Highlander today to take a look. Sway bar is there and attached as are the other rear suspension parts. Which, of course, does not mean that a bushing is worn or gone. Once I get my truck back from the body shop, the Highlander will go to an independent shop near me for an oil change. I'll ask them to look at the rear suspension and check for loose bushings or whatever.

Last time I was there they mentioned that the driveshaft was a bit noisy, but i don't think it's related. I hope.

 

That does not inspire confidence…. A driveshaft is fairly simple and shouldn’t be ‘noisy’. It’s either a bearing or a u joint that would be noisy and there shouldn’t be play across the joints or bushings. A bit noisy usually means something is starting to fail and should be addressed.

 

It's a two piece drive shaft and the bearings are not replaceable. Well they are, but it costs as much as an aftermarket drive shaft.

The noise I'm hearing is not from the driveshaft because it happens when I go over a bump. It will probably be easier for the shop to see what's happening when they have it on the lift. If I were younger and still did my own work, I'd definitely want a lift.

 

I would have a drive line shop check it out. According to Toyota, the Tacoma carrier bearing is not replaceable either, they try to sell you the whole unit flange to flange. In reality, you just need to press out a u joint and you can get the flange off and the drive shaft comes apart. If the Highlander is similar, it’s absolutely doable, but a lot of shops may not want to deal with pressing universals out. May be way off base, I’m not familiar with the Highlander, I just recall the dumb responses I got from dealerships when I needed my carrier bearing replaced. They would only replace the whole thing to the tube of $1k. I ended up doing it myself in my basement.

 

When the shop told me about it, I did some research. There are companies that do it, but it is very expensive. I looked at replacements drive shafts and there are some non Toyota units available.

Keep in mind that our plan is to replace this in the spring, so I'm not thinking long term replacement.

 

Sounds like that highlander shaft is like a Subaru shaft and isn't worth trying to replace since the ujoints aren't suppose to be serviceable so the bearing caps sit on top of the ears instead of inside

 

Have you checked the exhaust heat shields? I just had to fix one on my wife’s 4Runner that was rattling when hitting bumps.

 

Watching a few horse races. That is all.

 

I feel like you can age a NE vehicle by how many heat shields are still on it. You're right though, they can make a hell of a racket when they start to loosen up.

 

This. Cheap and easy enough to at least have a look see at it first. Mine would start making a rattle at odd times and got looser, I just had it removed.

 

Might be a heat shield, but it doesn't sound like it. I've rescrewed heat shield in this car before. It's not that sort of higher pitch rattle that heat shields usually have.

 

Pine, brass, and a hell of a lot of labor.

 

@deanosaurus
Thanks for the serpentine belt sticker

 

I think today the coldest 50° day in recent memory! I walked outside after checking the temperature and it felt so much colder than I had expected.

 

Welp, don't ask me how but they fit with only a tiny bit of rub at full lock/reverse dirty5s baby

 

It's nice in eastern MA, or was this morning. 52 with next to no wind. If it's windy, it will feel colder. If for some reason it's humid and cold, it will feel colder.

The worst is a cold, windy, humid day.

 

Looks sick

 

Your turn

 

Half waiting on Drew to move to 37s so I can get his.... but the kenda 35s are at a good price.

What's your wheel offset? I need/ want new ones. Sounds like you'll be fine uca wise. I think I'll pop the spc ones in soon if so.