Mysterious front end rattling & vibration - baffles a dozen mechanics

I'm hoping that one of you Tacoma lovers can help me solve what an army of local mechanics can not. I want to make this post as well written as possible, and I hope that you find it interesting or entertaining as a reward for your time spent. Here we go:

Currently my 1999 Pre-runner has the following issues:

1. Rattle / clank sounds coming from front tire area (both sides)
   
2. Serious vibration over 60 mph
3. Play in the steering

The Story:

I've owned this truck for three years and 18,000 hwy miles. Last year I bought a new set of Highway/Terrain tires and she purred, smooth as warm butter on Bunny bread. I was in heaven for about six months.

However, there was a fly in my martini. Whenever I went over a speed bump at low speed or hit my brakes* there was a loud squeeking coming from the front end. So I had a small-time local mechanic rebuild the sway bar, thinking those bushings were the source.

That's when I started hearing the rattle / clank only from the passenger side on rare occasions when I would go over a deep hole at low speeds (ex. a 6" deep hole at 5-10 mph).

So, I took it to a well respected shop with four bays and as many mechanics on duty and told them about the clanking. They pointed out that my shocks (rear) were expired - kaput. My struts (front) had very worn bushings** even though they were not even two years old. They replaced the shocks and struts with OEM Monroe parts.

That's when the vibrations began. The tires have been balanced by two different respected shops with high-tec balancing equipment. Still vibrates. Still rattles and clanks.

So last month I took it to yet another local respected mechanic and asked him to replace the upper and lower ball joints and outer tie-rod with Napa Chassis OEM parts. After that I took it to Firestone for an alignment.***

That's when I noticed play in the steering. Still vibrates. Still rattles and clanks! And, yes, it still squeeks when I go over a speed bump.

The rattle and clanking has been happening for 5 months now and has progressively become more and more frequent.

Two years ago:

1. Swapped out the original 15" wheels with a 17" set from a 1st gen Tundra.
2. Installed new upper control arm bushings (Import Direct / O' Reillys)
3. Installed a new steering rack (Edelman Elite 2039)

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* Like when I am rolling through a stop sign at 2 mph but then I see a cop and stomp the brake (SQUEEK!)
** The worn strut bushings seemed a likely cause of the clunk/clank/rattle sound. But, alas.
*** I told Firestone about the clanking and paid them to test drive and examine the front end for anything out of the ordinary. They said that the only thing out of the ordinary was how many new parts they saw on such an old truck, including the new rack-n-pinion power steering unit (2 years ago).

I tried to keep this story somewhat entertaining and concise. If you are curious about why I went to so many mechanics or anything else, please feel free to ask.

Where do I go from here? Please advise.

Thank you for reading. Wow. I welcome any and all constructive comments, as well as ridicule, sarcasm, dumb questions, and debasing suggestions. All are welcome to this thread. I hope we can have some fun with this and solve this mystery as an added bonus.

 

Possibly worn upper control arm bushings or a bent upper control arm bolt (hard to imagine those getting bent unless you took a hard hit), worn lower control arm bushings which can be replaced but likely easier to just replace the arms, hopefully they replaced the steering rack bushings when they replaced that- easy check is to kneel in the driver door with the engine running so you can turn the steering wheel and look for play in the steering where it mounts to the subframe, check the bolts are tightened to spec.

That might be the best method to check aside from jacking up the truck safely and trying to move things, such as gripping the tire at 9 and 3 then 12 and 6 and trying to pull and check for play/noise.

Brake system in good condition such as caliper bolts tight, calipers functioning properly, probably a good idea to flush brake fluid, etc

Seems like stuff they’d check for

 

Hmmm
Lemme see if I can find this thread that might be the issue

 

If X amount of mechanics have looked at the usual suspects to no avail……

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/weird-steering-issue.828100/

 

Regardless of the OP’s issues, I learned something - great info!

 

What about this one?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/im-guess-my-steering-rack-is-worn-out-vid.487994/

 

Now you’re just showing off, I personally did that one many years ago

Hopefully if he replaced the rack that’s not the issue

 

I missed the rack replacement the first time I read through the post!

 

How many total mile on the truck?

Nice write up BTW but ir seemed unclear to me when a few repair details happened. One thing I've seen is when the issue is not diagnosed by the repairing shop (customer diagnosed). They are more than happy to shut off any logic and just do the instructed repair. Cha ching.

As far as Firestone goes, my local stores hire tech's incappable of tieing their shoes. Hourly rate up, qualifications down. I could go on about new parts falling off and other basic simple issues with them all day. No disrespect meant to the many good tech's out there.

I see your rack was replaced. With new oem bushings? New o.e.m. tie rods

Im going thru similar difficulty finding qualified diagnosis. Seems if it isn't hanging, snapped in two or throwing a code your vehicleis doomed. $150 an hr. Diagnosis fee only work is apearantly good enough for many shops. Beyond that thry think its time to throw parts at it and see if they stick. Cha ching$$$

 

Monroe parts are NOT OEM, nor are Napa. They are at best "OEM equivalent"- which means absolutely nothing, and in reality, they are low quality junk grade components. If you continue to use Monroe parts expect to replace them frequently.

The number of bays or mechanics on hand is not an indicator of how good or qualified a shop is.

The fact that your truck is a 99 means that any of the components with original rubber in them are overdue for replacement.

1 & 3) you need to get the front of the truck off the ground and use a pry bar to find what's moving. It could be ANYTHING, bushings, ball joints, tie rods, bearings. The fact that you've replaced components with inferior low quality parts does not mean those parts are working as intended.
2) fix the front end and reassess. Vibrations are hard to track down, could be anything from the tires on in. Wheel bearings, u joints, carrier bearing, diff bearings, pinon or output bearings, etc...

 

@Andy01DblCabTacoma The Napa Chassis ball joints and tie rod ends were the most expensive I could find, without trying a Toyota dealership. I paid $550 for those 6 parts. Please share what source/brand/manufacturer you would suggest for these critical parts.

I've never felt truly clear about the meaning of the term "OEM", and still don't after re-reading the explanations online. I used the term OEM in the original post to denote parts made to original specs, not a modification.

 

@1 Limited Toyota 233k total miles on the truck.

I replaced the rack 2 years ago with an Edelmann Elite 2039 which came with inner tie rods. No new bushings.

 

The steering rod bushing thread?
Not off centered at firewall?

 

OEM = original equipment manufacturer. In this case, Toyota. However, Toyota doesn't make every part. Many of the electrical components on the trucks are made by Denso, other parts are made by Asin. You can often buy an Asin part, and it will be the original Toyota casting with the logo removed. Interesting to note that, Toyota has stock in both Denso and Asin. Things on the trucks from the factory, like shocks, tires, and brake pads, could be supplied by 3rd party companies. The TRD edition of the 1st gen trucks came with Bilstein 4600s (They are actually a slight variation, but on the open market, 4600 would be the closest equivalent). Toyota sets manufacturing requirements and test parts from these suppliers because they have to certify the truck as a whole. They are on the hook if any part fails.

Once you get into the world of "OEM equivalent", those companies don't have the same skin in the game, and are likely making those components for as many different vehicles as possible, so design the parts to best suit their manufacturing processes. But at the end of the day, "OEM equivalent" will really just mean it probably fits. It does not mean as good quality or spec as the original part from Toyota.

The higher tier Napa products are probably ok, but I don't have any personal experience installing them. Many here like them for certain parts- brake components if my memory is correct.

The Monroe products are well documented as complete garbage. Keep them as far away from your truck as possible.

I have installed Moog products as they were one time suppliers for Toyota, but the quality of those products has declined significantly. I installed Moog U Joints- they only lasted a year before they were bad. I had to do the work again to switch back to Toyota (made by someone else.. Spicer or Koyo maybe?) U Joints. Have a few friends who installed Moog replacement lower control arms so they didn't have to do any press work to change their LCA bushings. Those bushings were toast within a year of just daily driving. Had to do the work again to change them out.

Sure people are constantly driving around with these inferior parts on the trucks all the time, they "do the job", but usually at the cost of shorter lifespan.

I personally install Toyota parts as much as possible unless there is a practical alternative. Something that holds your wheels on (ball joints) 100% OEM. Shocks, well, Bilstein, King, ADS, FOX, all make pretty good products no brainer to go with them. MAF sensor, Denso or Toyota.

 

@Andy01DblCabTacoma Thanks for you thorough explanation of OEM and quality parts, vs readily available crap. Very helpful.

 

@ControlCar Thanks for the thread about the steering column. That needs to be checked. I've never done that before, but I will make it happen and get back to you.

 

Read up around here about QuickStruts, not the greatest choice.

I don't see upper or lower control arm bushings mentioned anywhere. That would probably be the third place I I'd look after ball joints and front shock bushings. You also don't mention how it aligns, if they have trouble getting it close to spec that could be a clue.

 

Some good points here. I should mention on my 4R, it had a terrible vibration when slowing down around 50mph. I replaced all the usual suspects but it ended up just being the tires even though they didn't even look that bad

On my taco, I had a click/clank over speed bumps and similar and that was the struts I had bought that were only a couple years old (BILSTEIN). Monroe is generally considered garbage fyi

 

Is it appropriate to quote oneself? Just saying

 

Sorry, I was unclear.
I meant the rubber bushings rhat clamp the rack