Rear Vibration Issues - Fixed

2013 TRD Sport DCLB 91k miles.
265/70/17s 35psi
5 tire rotations every 5k
Firestone Destination A/Ts
12/32 original tread
9/32 current tread
52,000 miles on this set of tires
Original suspension, no lift

Last Friday I drove my truck to work and ran 4WD for a bit like I try to every month. Drove to work no issues. Drove home, no issues that I remember.
Parked the truck Friday night, didn’t touch until Sunday morning.

Father in law and I get in the truck Sunday and drive down the road. Between 10-45mph we both look at eachother like “uhhh truck is shaking bad, something isn’t right”.

Truck visibly shakes in the rear starting at 10mph. You look in the rearview mirror and see the bed vibrating.
Vibrations kind of mellow out past 45mph then turn into a tonal hum but there is no bad sound. Its like how knobby tires hum differently but theres no noise coming from the truck, just a hum.
Its not the engine, not the trans, not the diff, and there are NO driveline vibrations. All vibrations are felt in the body of the truck, I cannot feel any vibes in the wheel.

Vibes to me feel like drivers side rear wheel/hub.

We checked under the truck. U joints are fine, drive shaft still has its two weights, leaf springs are flattish but not frowning or cracked, struts look fine.

Yesterday I took the truck into the shop where I bought my tires and asked they check the balance on the rear wheels. Sure enough 4oz off on the drivers side rear wheel. They fixed, test drove and still said vibes were there.
They did an alignment, test drove, still vibes.
Tech said tires are starting to show cupping and thats the only reason he can see that will cause the shaking. He has checked everything else.
Told him to show me the cupping, I’ve never noticed bad wear on these tires ever, and I pay attention.

tech and I checked out the truck. I see no cupping. We messed with the hubs, wheel bearings are fine. No catching, no griding.

I said OK. They quoted me a new set of tires and will honor the quote all year. Told him I’m not looking to replace tires that look fine now but if they get worse I’ll know its the tires then replace.

The trucks shaking is resolved by about 50-60%, but there are still rear vibrations.

Again no noises coming from the truck, just a vibe that starts at 10mph then turns to a hum at 45+mph. This occurs with acceleration and with the foot off the gas and braking.
No vibes in the driveline.

Am I missing something?
Do I need to have someone else check it?

See pictures of my tires below. I forgot my alignment spec sheet but will post if needed.
I see no cupping.

Plus I rotate my tires religiously, the cupping should be uniform even if it was there... I feel nothing up front, only the rear.

I honestly feel this came on suddenly not slowly over time. Truck was parked in the garage at home between the time it was fine and the time it was noticed.

Any advice or opinions are appreciated. I just want to make sure I don’t ignore something important.

The only thing I can see is less wear on the very outer edge of the tread. I could probably air the tires down a bit.

 

I guess you could start simple and rotate the back tires to the front to eliminate a tire or wheel issue.

 

Bad wheel bearings can cause vibration. Any good tire shop would have told you that after balancing them

I get mine balance every 5K and it normally rides smooth. About 2K into the last balance...the steering wheel started to shake when I braked about 45 or higher. Then the same wheel shake would occur when it got above 35. Took it in to discount to eliminate the balance. Of all techs I got a girl, she told me only 1 tire was barely out of balance and that could not have caused the shutter. She starts trying to sell me new tires, and I tuned her out. I talked to a few other techs and they all agreed it probably would be the bearings if the balance didn't fix it. Sure enough I drove out and it all vibration issues are gone. So just a little out of balance can cause a lot of vibration.

Also make sure all your counter weights are in the center of the wheel not the edges. If not have the tech re-do the balance with all center wheel sticky weights.

Good Luck.

 

You get your tires balanced every 5k miles??? Dam

 

I could be off here, but could this be the under-torquing of the U-Bolts from the factory issue? Service manual says 37ft-lbs but I believe they are supposed to be 73? At least an easy thing to check off the list

 

Ok.

Took the truck to another shop. They said the wheel I thought was the culprit was not, it was fine the opposite rear wheel that needed a couple ounces.
They balanced and rotated all wheels (which I actually asked them not to rotate).

The two wheels that have been out of balance are now on the front.

I get vibes from 20-40mph. I do not really feel it in my driveline.

I swear when I drive over 50mph I hear a hellatious hum coming from the rear. I normally drive with music but this weekend I had it off and was driving 60mph and it was horrible. Its basically a loud hum, almost if I was driving with M/Ts on.

I’m worried something is wrong with the truck and its not just an out of balance wheel.
I’ve checked the drive shaft, rear suspension, u-joints, I’ve pulled the wheels off and messed with the hubs to check bearings.
I’m not sure what is left to check.

The vibes are the only thing that lead me to believe the wheel is still an issue. However it stops at a faster speed. The humming is now my major concern. Can’t imagine an out of balance wheel would do that?

Any advice is appreciated.

@Bebop I know you are a wheel and tire whisperer. Is this an out of balance wheel or is it something else?

 

Aftermarket or oem wheels? Spacers or hub adaptors of any kind? How did they balance them? Dynamic? Static? Road force? Where were the weights placed? Are they chasing weights when they were balanced? Are there weights in more than one spot on each wheel? Possibility of water inside the wheels ( seen this before when people get air and they don’t purge the water from compressors)

 

T4R TRD Pro wheels. Genuine Toyota wheels not the knock offs.
Absolutely no spacers.
They are not road forced balanced but static vs dynamic I don’t know.
Weights are on the inner part of the wheel behind the spokes in the center.
One of the wheels does have weights in more than one part of the wheel.
I have not put air in my tires. They would have been the ones to do it.

 

I wonder if you damaged your front axle needle bearing when you ran it in four wheel drive. Did you say you tested in four wheel drive again since? My '13 is at stock height but vibrated the instant I lifted it and disappeared the next day as soon as I lowered it. I had about 10K miles on it then and the play in the drivers side half axle was unbelievable then. I still have no problems but I may be in the same boat as you soon. I have just 60k on it.


The bad needle bearing vibe will change or disappear in four wheel drive.

 

I have run it in 4WD since and its been OK.
I think I’m more terrified of a rear diff issue if that horrific humming is not a tire.
I feel like its coming from the back but its hard to tell.

Its gotten to the point where I’m afraid to lift the truck. I feel like this truck wasn’t made well and any mods may turn into a nightmare. I would like to put 5100s on the front this year to test it out. I’d be upset to drop $2,500 on an OME lift with install and run into that issue with having to take it back off.

 

The bad needle bearing hides itself in four wheel drive and returns again in two wheel drive. Many guys have had them turn to dust even without lift and faster with. It feels like driving on a rumble strip and started at low speeds in my case.

 

If you are trying to isolate the hum, put the truck in the air and put it in gear and let it spin up to speed in the air. If the hum is there you have a bearing or driveline issue of some sorts, if the hum is gone it’s a tire noise.

Dynamic balance is weights in 2 spots, a group of weights in one spot on the inside of the wheel and another closest to the inside of the wheel. Static is 1 group of weights on the inside of the wheel in one spot.

 

Motors blown

 

I’ll take it off his hands and use it as a trailer.

 

Thank you for your wisdom.

Should I make them pull all the weight off the wheels and rebalance?

I hate it when I’ve had perfectly balanced wheels for years but one throws a weight and they can’t get it rebalanced and tell me “to deal with it”.

 

What I do scrape them off and start over. If I got a tire with wheel weights and it’s not balancing, the proper way is to scrape the weights off then balance it. Not add weights to existing weights

 

Shop is telling me all wheels are balanced, but the vibration still exists.

The shops have rotated the tires each time they say they fix it (which I ask them not to do but instruction following is apparently not their forte).
The vibes have changed from the rear to the front as they rotate them.
I’m finding it hard to believe anything is wrong with the truck if the vibrations are changing between axles.
Is there something I’m not thinking of that could be the culprit outside of incompetent tire techs?

I’m about ready to lose my mind. I can’t stand the vibration anymore. I need it fixed.

 

Sorry if its been said didnt read the whole thread. Did you have the tires dismounted and rotated on the wheel then balance them?

 

No.
I’m afraid to ask them to take all the tires off and start all over but that may be my next request. Start over from the beginning.

 

If the vibes move as you move the wheels then it is clearly a wheel or tire issue. One issue that hides itself from balancing machines is an out of round tire. The easiest way to check for a defective tire that is out of round is to jack up the truck just enough that you can barley see daylight under the tire and then spin it by hand. If your daylight gap grows or shrinks as you turn the wheel you have a bad tire that you’ll just have to throw away unless it is still under warranty. In the past ten years I’ve had this happen twice with BFG’s and Pro Comps ( which were the absolute worst set of tires I have ever owned ).