Drivetrain vibration above 50mph

this all started when I tried to eliminate that annoying clunk when stopped . I replaced the carrier bearing, leaf springs & shocks , greased slip joint . Had unjoints replaced at a shop . They rebalanced the driveshaft twice . I took it to another shop for a second opinion since I was skeptical of the first as they moved the weights from one end to the other . Shop #2 even shot a video to show me the shaft is balanced . Today I had tires rotated and rebalanced at Costco. Seems like ever since the first time that shaft was removed and replaced I have had this extremely annoying vibration from about 50/55mph up to 70 then it clears up above 70 . Yes I marked the shaft and reinstalled to match . I can feel it with my foot on the gas pedal . I have even shifted to neutral at 50-70 and it pretty much remains unchanged. Have engaged / dis engaged repeatedly the 4x4 and verified it is not engaged (prop shaft not turning).
The clunk now is very seldom . Something I can live with but the vibration feels like something is gonna fail down the road .
Any thoughts on how I can spend another thousand dollars on this pos ( I’m kidding ) ?

Let me add this , I am going to do an alignment as I replaced front shocks/springs after the rear was done . The truck steers straight as an arrow but it couldn’t hurt. probably a waste of money

 

My truck gradually started having vibrations around 70 mph. I replaced the carrier bearing and greased the driveshaft, but no luck, that didn't fix it. Finally I decided to get the the tires balanced and rotated and the vibrations were gone.

 

some people have had better "luck" with road force balancing of their tires. Not all shops can do this.

 

I had the same mystery problem on another vehicle that plagued me for a long time. Finally after getting an alignment it went away, I never would’ve thought that would do the trick, good luck!

 

Pay attention to where the vibes may be. Had the same issue with my 93. Ended up being the bearing in the rearend. But heeard others say it may be a bad cv. But those come up more when turning. Do you notice anything when accelorating? Before it started did you hear a clunking sound going from reverse to drive? How many miles on the truck. Crawl inderneath look at the input yoke ok the rearend.

 

110k miles . No issues during acceleration.

 

Would be premature for the diff bearings. Look to make sure the wheels are not counter balanced. But would still check diff bearings. Or a fluke a bad brake rotor. Have the tires balanced on the vehicle.

 

I had a vibration that felt like a drive line issue. I can feel it in the floor / seat. The dealer removed the drive shaft and drove it in 4 wheel drive. Problem still existed. Then they re-balanced all 4 Hancook tires using a road force balance machine. This did help some. Said that the 2 rear tires wouldn't balance completely because they are out of round. Before I recently had them rotated, the steering wheel would vibrate a bit since they were in the front. I have had them for over a year and had no idea that 2 of a brand new set of tires were out of round. Now I either live with it or pony up and buy some new tires. The Hancooks only have about 5K on them.

 

Just want to add this . The vibration is not felt in the steering wheel . I feel it through the floorboard and gas pedal . Like I said it smooths out above 70 mph . I don’t live in an area where I can push the speed above that .

Alignment & road force balance scheduled for next week .

 

Had same issue with vibraton of driveline since I bought it at 157,000 miles. The carrier bearing was shot so I had it replaced by dealer and they sent it out to a driveline specialist and they said that carrier bearing was installed upside down by dealer. The carrier bearing mounting ears are not concentric with the center of rotation of driveline. If mounted upside down that will change the pinion angle at differential causing pulsing vibrations on the ujoints and show up at 50-70 mph. The center of rotation needs to be below the "ears" of the carrier bearing, thus correcting the pinion angle at differential. Also my problem was contributed to by axel wrap with incorrect leaf spring ubolt torque under specs. I also had road force balance of 4 new tires and alignment. In addition I had new rear shocks installed at 160,000 miles. The vibrations are gone at any speed and I received a refund from the dealer for what they charged me to replace the carrier bearing. The rear two piece drive line has that double cardan bearing and the ujoints were replaced and drive line balanced and lubed by the specialist shop. It took a while to solve my vibration problem by doing one thing at a time to pinpoint the primary cause of vibrations. Any or all of the above changes can fix what dealers say that Tacomas have this characteristic and we must live with it. Patience and Persistence can fix multitude of problems.

 

I will look into flipping the carrier bearing. I should be able to do that no problem with a jack stand to support the drive shaft .
Thank you Jonathan 73 and others for the feedback.

 

Flipped the carrier (support) bearing. No effect .
In shop today for road force balance & alignment. Fingers crossed

 

If the road force balance and alignment do not solve this then anything that rotates or is suspended is suspect. Grab the front drive axles and give them a good wiggle close to the diff. See if the front drive axle slides a little in and out and is not bound up. Put a block of wood under the oil pan and lift the motor a little and check the motor mounts, do the same for the transmission. While you have the the jack there get the front tires just off the ground enough the pry the tire up and check your lower ball joints. Grab the front driveshaft where it exits the trans and give it a wiggle to see if the support bushing in the trans extension housing is wore. Even after all of this you might not figure it out. Some auto manufacturers have driven their engineers nuts trying to solve various vibrations on cars/trucks. Older Ford Explorers had a harmonic balancer installed on the transmissions, in essence a big weight attached to a steel arm some 24 " long that projected out the back of the transmission. A "band aid" fix at best.

 

I had very similar symptoms with my 99, vibration at around 55-65. I'd go over 70 and it would go away. I didn't feel it in the steering. It was a bad tire. It was such a small imperfection that the tire shop couldn't detect it. I drove the truck off the lot new in 99, had the problem from the start. I had the same problem with the second set of tires! The third set was perfect, still on those, truck has 208,000 on it. Sure could be some other prob you're dealing with of course. I finally thought my prob was the drivetrain also, started taking it off but stopped.

 

been off here a while . The vibe issue continues . Latest expenditures : road force balance all tires , alignment, replaced engine and transmission mounts. I even borrowed a set of Taco 17” wheels and swapped out for a road test to be certain my wheels are not the culprit. ready for NASCAR now with impact wrench & jack ...lol
I am beginning to wonder if the support bearing I replaced at the beginning of this might be the culprit all along . When the driveshaft was re-balanced 3 Times it occurs to me that it is on a machine flat and level and not sure exactly how fast it is rotated ?
Support bearing is from RockAuto $80 . Toyota dealer wants $282 for OEM . Might just have to do this again .
Local 4x4 place that has done some of this work is totally stumped . Driveshaft peeps got nothing either .

 

I do not see where you examined the front drive axles and checked for play at the center carrier. East Coast Gear Supply has a bushing that replaces the needle bearing on the DS. Is this your issue, dont know, it is one possibility. I do not see where you checked the tailshaft bushing/front driveshaft for play, in short, if it rotates it is suspect.

I am curious about the 17's you put on... was the backspacing ok for your truck? did they stick out too far or did the tires rub on sharp turns?

 

I have pulled and poked everything I can think of . I would hope a 5 star rated 4x4 joint would have done the same when their experts had it !

Please elaborate on needle bearing you mentioned .

The 17’s came from a late model Taco . My friend picked them up off C/L . Rubber was 265/65 I believe . Rode fine , vibration still there !. I did not go hard lock to lock on the steering to see if they rubbed . I have medium size flares and didn’t notice the 17’s protruding

 

I had what I thought was drivetrain vibration. Mechanic found wheel bearing had a very rough spot in it

 

Have you measured your drive line angles ? This is performed with the truck on the ground . Universal joint deflection to be no more than 3 degrees .
Are your universal joints phased correctly ?
Is your truck automatic or manual
I am not positive the ECGS bushing will work in your truck ...more of a 2nd gen thing
Check my vibration thread . I am sure we can narrow this down over a long distance keyboard

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/vibration-diagnostics-for-all-tacomas-write-up.520607/

 

Gearcruncher... I had the bushing installed in my 96 4X4.