2009 Transmission vibration at low speeds

I've got a 2009 TRD Sport with vibration at low speeds, 1st and 2nd gear. When i first felt it, i though I had a bad tire or something. I could feel the entire truck vibrating like I had a tire out of round. With the real axle on jack stands and the engine idling in first gear, you can see the transmission shacking up and down. Weak transmission mount? Something internal broken? It shifts fine, no strange noises. The truck has 230k but had never been abused. Drain and refill transmission fluid about every 40k miles. I have had it since new. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Darrell

 

It’s known as transmission shudder. There’s a couple of threads pertaining to this. Majority of the cases, the shudder goes always after servicing the transmission fluid. Only use AWS or it’s equivalent in the transmission. Cheers.

 

This isn’t the normal transmission shudder in your case.
The shudder usually happens in 5th gear when the converter locks up.
In your case, it’s in 1st/2nd gears. Odd.

Are you sure you don’t have a bad u-joint or that the carrier bearing is not bad?

@gearcruncher might know more.
But this is not the usual shudder we see here on TW.
And I’m not sure a fluid change is going to help.
The transmission bouncing up and down only in 1st/2nd has me stumped.

 

I replaced all 3 u-joints about a year ago. They all still seem to be tight. While watching with the truck is on jacks, there is no abnormal movement in the drive shaft or carrier bearing. It might happen in a higher gear as well but if it does, it isn't as noticeable driving down the road. I only let is shift into 1st and second while I had it lifted off the ground.

 

The vibration could be occurring in third gear and higher but it's not as noticeable when at highway speeds. While I had the truck on Jack's, I only shifted first and second gear. I replaced the universal joints a couple years ago. Looking at the drive line, there's no abnormal movement in the u-joints or the carrier bearing. All the movement appears to be coming from the engine/ transmission. I can hold the brake, and press the accelerator, no vibration. It's most noticeable when at slow speeds with very little throttle.

 

Is your truck lifted?

 

The truck has not been lifted or modified in any way. After driving it a bit more, the vibration is mostly between 1,000-1,500 rpms. It does occur in 3rd and maybe even 4th gear. Just harder to tell in the higher gears because the rpms are higher. It feels like the engine is missing but doesn't do it when in gear, holding the brake and raising the rpms. Stumped...

 

I just wanted to follow up and close this issue out. Turns out, never dismiss the simple and easy and assume the worst. It was the front U-joint. I had replaced all three just a year or so ago. That doesn't mean that one isn't bad again. I had crawled under and inspected for movement but couldn't find any. A few more days of driving and it got worse. I was finally able to hear a clunk when shifting from reverse to drive. Just saved my and lot of $$$!

Thanks for all the replies!

 

Good to hear!
Simple and cheap.