2012 with 300 miles. Full turn left equals SCRAPING sound.

I've seen some folks with higher miles have had weird noises at full turn due to bad tie rods, torn CV's etc. I've literally got 300 miles on a 2012 4x4 TRD TX Pro DCSB. At full left turn (like when doing a u-turn or squeezing into my driveway) FULL turn only... all the way to the edge then it makes a bad scraping sound. Almost the same sound you'd hear when trying to stop after a brake pad falls off and you're going metal on metal.

I've looked, but I can't see anything at all. It literally sounds like there is a rock between two moving parts rubbing or something. I've inspected everything at every angle for at least 30 minutes and can't see anything.

I've searched this site for answers. I just can't figure it out. Does this mean I'm due for a 100 mile drive to the dealer? It's really annoying. It runs fine and handles fine, and there are no issues, except for that darn full left turn.

Any info appreciated. If you've been down this road and found something odd causing it, please give me a heads-up. Thank you.

 

I bet its your tire hitting your mud flap....

 

i notice that sound too on my 2012 when i do a u-turn or a sharp turn it kinda annoying cuz if it does that on stock tires i can only imagine how worse itd sound with bigger tires

 

Why is it only happening the one direction then though? Do you turn more to the left than the right? Poorly adjusted mudflap? Why didn't it happen until this week? Mudflap move for some reason? I've only driven straight to work on the highway and back (4 miles per day) since buying it, and one trip to my brother's house on the freeway that totaled about 50 miles round trip... plus the 70 miles home from the dealership. Strange strange stuff. I guess I'll have to chalk up the flap and see if it leaves chalk on the tire after turning full left.

 

The groan you hear when turning is the steering stop rubbing up and down on the stop pads. This is a common condition on IFS trucks. At the factory Toyota installs plastic covers on the steering stops. These plastic covers quickly wear out. Contact between the stop, and it's pad causes a quick loud groan and is especially noticeable when making a U-turn with one tire going up over something like a curb. Despite the annoying noise it's not causing any damage. There are two solutions to this noise. One is replace the factory plastic cap with new ones. The other is to toss out the plastic caps and put a little dab of grease on the steering stop pads at each oil change. With will keep the noise under control.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/11926-steering-stop-cap-write-up.html

 

I dont know if this has anything to do with it but I know the manual says not to crank the wheel until it hits the stoppers until a certain amount of miles.. something about putting too much stress on the steering pump or something like that? dunno...

 

So the stops have worn out in 3 weeks of highway driving? Weird. I owned 2 FJ Cruisers and a 4Runner over the last 4 years that are nearly identical in design and never had any such situation despite pulling into my weird angled driveway the same way each day. From looking at the front suspension it looks completely identical to the front end of both FJ's I had and I never experienced anything similar. Are the parts that much difference that I'd have this happen on this particular IFS setup as compared to my FJ's and 4Runner? Same driving, same parking in the same spot, etc. Seems weird that the Tacoma would have this problem after 3 weeks of driving and I never experienced any such thing in years in driving nothing but Toyotas built on the same platform since 2007.

 

The best way to check if it is your steering stops making that sound is to crawl under your truck and check if they are, in fact, worn down. The suspension should be identical, but Toyota could have changed suppliers over the years making the steering stops a different quality from previous generations.

It either you steering stops which are a minor annoyance, or a wheel bearing, which is a PIA but you're under warranty so you'll be fine either way.

 

Perhaps one plastic cap is simply missing? I had this issue on my old 1986 Toyota. I got in the habit of greasing the stops every other oil change to get rid of the noise.

You have a warranty. No need to crawl under there if you don't feel like it.

 

Can somebody give me a link to a pic of a steering stop as it should look on a Taco? I guess I can compare the two sides. Here's the big issue. 3 spine surgeries in a short period, makes it hard for me to climb underneath. I've done it twice to look with it at full knock to each side and not seen anything out of the ordinary. But I'll do it again before I drive the 100 miles each way to the dealership. The dealer in town isn't trustworthy. I won't be taking it to them for service no matter what. But it's nice to have the warranty when needed. If it's just something mild like needing a small part replaced I can email a pic to the service guy and I know he'd mail me what I needed for a self install. They're cool like that and don't want me to have to take a whole day out for a minor inconvenience because I go there for all regular services.

 

I think this might be it:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/11926-steering-stop-cap-write-up-2.html#post1685661

Here also: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/11926-steering-stop-cap-write-up-2.html#post3681356

 

So this isn't a pic of a Tacoma's steering stop, but its for a relatively new replacement steering stop for an unknown vehicle:

 

I looked at the first pic and compared to my truck. That's the correct spot that I believe is making the noise. I went out and looked at mine and there are no plastic caps on mine. I've never had a noise on this one, but looks like my mechanic has been putting grease on that area for me. Try wiping a little grease on there if you can, or get whoever does your service work to do it for you.

 

Coolness guys. Thanks a ton!!! I've got some grease here from my mechanicin' days. I've also got a creeper so I can get down there ok. I'll get under there tomorrow night after work and give it a go and also take pics of the whole area so that if there is an issue I've got it documented as to what everything looked like at 300 miles, plus I'll have him document the issue in the computer so he can take a better look at it when I come in for my first oil change in a couple of months. That way I won't have any issues where the dealership says I did it off-roading and whatnot (as I WILL be taking it offroad in the summer!).

 

Ok, just an update... I got down low and inspected everything as clearly as I could... and it is obvious what happened. The front driver's side mudflap wasn't installed properly. It looks like they either missed two clips, or put then in improperly and they popped out. I haven't hit anything that would have knocked them out or anything, so they just have likely been working their way loose due to it being hooked up crooked and the tire hitting it, or it was loose and every time it got hit the whole setup got worse.

There are also 3 bolts that hold the flap. 2 were loose, and one was hooked straight into the vehicle, but hooked up BEHIND the flap. So it wasn't holding it in.

My guess is that somebody at the dealership started installing the flap and then put the rest of the pieces in there loosely so they didn't loose them and then went on a lunch break or got asked a question, had to deal with an emergency. Then when it was time to finish up they had just totally forgotten.

It looks like I'll have to take some pics of it and send it to my salesman and see if he'll send me some new clips so I can repair it. I don't mind doing it... and I don't want to spend my whole Saturday driving up and back and waiting for them to 'INSTALL' this piece again.

So if you're hearing the weird scrape. Follow the advice in this thread. Lots of good help. Check the stops, check for junk stuck in the brake pads (I've seen gravel do this before), check for loose tie rods, check for cv joint issues, check for poor lubrication at the specific lubrication points, and check for misaligned, loose wheels/lug/nuts/and in my case it appears to be loose and a misaligned mudflap.

Lots of stuff it can be. I'll try to get a pic taken and show what needs to be adjusted in case anybody runs into it and needs a specific walkthrough newbie style like I obviously needed in this situation.

Thanks all. Hoping the fix works. If anybody knows what part number replaces the clips let me know in case the dealership is slow or won't send me some right away. Then I can just buy some at Autozone and get it done, as much as i hate doing it that way.