Help diagnose low speed vibes

I've read several threads but don't really know what to do or where to start. I've recently begun to notice vibrations while driving. It's most noticeable from a stop up to about 20 mph. Between 20 and about 50 it goes away, then comes back slightly from 50 to about 70.

The low speed doesn't seem to change when in 2WD or 4WD, maybe slightly less when in 4wd but not much.

My front wheel bearings were replaced back in Aug. About a 2 years ago my rear U joint was replaced under warranty.

So where do I start? I've got about 90,000 miles on my truck, and tires are new and freshly balanced and aligned.

 

If one u joint was bad, it probably caused premature wear on the others. Also, whatever caused that u joint to fail early may not have been remedied and you may need to do the u joint (s) again.

 

Take the driveshaft off and check the universal joints by hand . Thats the proper way to check them . Probably the best place to start is here .
They should be lubricated at every oil change .
Read what Spicer has to say about greasing your driveline
http://www2.dana.com/pdf/J3299-2-DSSP.PDF

 

What kind of tires? You mentioned you had them balanced (+ alignment), but I also had pretty bad vibrations between 50-70. Took it to a different shop for road-force balance and vibs were gone. They said it was the worst balance job they'd ever seen. KO2s have been notoriously bad for this.

 

My tires are Michelin defenders. I'll start with the lube and go from there, thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

Got the grease gun out and greased two fittings before I ran out of grease. There's only three fittings total, right? Or am I missing something? Also, is it possible to over grease? I know I should have been keeping better track of things, the two I greased were really dry and it took nearly the whole tube for just those two fittings.

 

Get a jack under it and lift each wheel off the ground one at a time. Give the wheel/tire a wiggle on the left/right and up/down axis. If you feel play in the left/right, you may have a worn tie rod joint. If you feel play on the up/down, you might have a worn ball joint. If you feel play all over on every axis, your bearing install may not have gone so well and the bearing is bad.

 

I am assuming you are trying to grease your universal joints . They need to be flushed so grease comes out all 4 caps . If grease is only flushing through 2 caps , spin the driveshaft to release the tension on the caps that the grease hasn't come out of yet
I will post up a copy and paste for vibrations and you can narrow things down from there
Lets look at some Vibration diagnostics . Anytime someone asks a vibration question , I copy and paste this .
I believe there are at minimum at least 12 different vibration issues assosiated with the Tacoma and all the vibrations / shudders get mixed into the same pot leaving members scratching their heads .
Have you greased your driveline ?http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/tec...rks-total.html
Do you know how to grease your driveline properly http://aftermarket.federalmogul.com/...%20FAQ%27s.pdf
Have you checked your carrier bearing https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-replacing-carrier-bearing.260283/
Does the truck vibrate in park or neutral and does the vibration change with accelerator pedal ? This is a misfire test for your engine
Does the truck vibrate while holding the brakes and hitting the gas - Automatic ? This is also a misfire test for your engine under load
Does the truck vibrate in neutral at a stand still ?or coasting in neutral ?
Does the truck vibrate in 4x4 ?
Does the truck " Only vibrate " from 1st to 2nd gear ? https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/vibration-when-accelerating-from-stop-anyone-fixed-it.300155/
Does the truck only vibrate in 2 wheel drive ?https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...differential-bearing-vibration-thread.152173/
Does the truck vibrate with the serpentine belt removed ?
Does the truck vibrate cold or hot ?
Does the truck vibrate if you select neutral and coast to a slow roll without using the brakes ? What happens when you turn the truck of in Neutral at highway speed ? Can you still feel the vibration ?
Does the truck vibrate as you are braking ? When was your last brake job ? Consider the front rotors may be warped or the rear drums are out of round .
Does the truck vibrate with weight in the truck or empty ?
Does the truck vibrate while upshifting ? Have you checked your trans fluid ?
Does the truck vibrate while downshifting ? Have you checked your trans fluid ?
When was your last transmission fluid service ?
Is the vibration caused by your torque converter ? Tapping the brake pedal at highway speeds will release the torque converter clutch . You are not actually hitting the brakes ,but manipulating the brake switch . If the vibration goes away you can expect a misfire or a converter clutch issue .
Read here for more information regarding automatic transmission diagnostics
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...th-pics-for-second-gen-4-liter-trucks.289913/
Now that you have a lift kit installed the truck vibrates . Did you cancel your drive line angles ?
Have you looked at the condition of your tires ? Toyota says to rotate every 5000 miles .Tacoma tires must be road forced balanced using the Haweka adapter on the tire machine tsu00296.pdf
When was the last time you rotated your tires ? Are you using LUG centric aftermarket wheels ? have you considered " HUB centric rings " http://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&key...vptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_7ybe1f1pby_e
Have the balance weights fallen off the tires ?
A good vibration technician can tell immediately if your vibration is caused by the rotating speed of your wheels or by the rotating speed of your driveshaft .
If you go through this list carefully , you should be able to narrow down where the problem is .
The proper and only way to test for bad universal joints is with the driveshaft removed . You cant tell if the universal joints are seized or tight spots with the driveshaft on the truck . You may see play in the universal joints , but you wont be able to properly check the u-joints without removing the driveshaft .All it takes to create a vibration is one seized universal cup and there are 4 cups within each joint .
With this said , you cant tell if that cup is seized with the driveshaft connected .
Removing the driveshaft and manipulate each universal joint by hand from side to side feeling for tight spots as you go is the only way to check for bad u joints
If you beleive its bad motor mounts or transmission mounts , grab a big pry bar and pry at the mounts to see if the rubber is torn or weak .

CANCEL DRIVELINE ANGLES http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd...tion-free.html

 

Thanks for the post, very comprehensive. Most of the answers in my case are a "no", no vibes without movement, vibes with and without gas, and both in 2wd and 4wd.

I know it's not brakes and the vibes are only noticeable between 10-20 mph and then 50-60 mph. The driveline is all greased and it didn't do anything for the vibes. It happens both when accelerating and decelerating, with and without me pressing the gas pedal or brakes.

The trans fluid is fine according to the last service I had, I haven't checked it myself but I asked at the last service for the tech to check it and was told it looks good, same with tires/balance/alignment.

I was just looking at my service records again and this is the exact record:
SPIDER JOINT, UNIVERSAL - REPLACE (LABOR ONLY) ~|~REPLACE U-JOINT ~|~ ~|~65235 REPLACED THE REAR U-JOINT

Is the "spider joint" the same thing as the U-joint? I'll have to wait until this weekend at best to have time to take the driveshaft off to check, in reading about the carrier bearing replacement I don't think I have the ability to change that myself, I'd have to find a puller at minimum and I'm not sure I feel confident in being able to get it all apart and back together.

It seems like most of the signs are pointing to one or more u-joints being the cause? It's too bad this didn't happen last year, my 7 year warranty just ended last august...

 

So it ended up being 3 things, the carrier bearing/support bearing was really bad and 2 u joints were also bad. Replacing those 3 things was $720 total, the carrier bearing was $170 just for the part, the U joints were about $30 each and the rest was labor. Before anybody tells me how I should have done it myself and saved a ton of money, I read up on what would have been needed and did not have the ability or the time needed to do it all myself. Thanks for all the info before hand.

 

Ahh, I was reading this and was about to ask about the carrier bearing..then read your update. Thanks for actually updating this with the fix, very helpful!

 

In my case at least, you could actually see the driveshaft leaping around. The shop took a video of it before fixing it and it was really obvious, the rubber in the carrier bearing was clearly worn out and the bearing itself was making grinding noises. The u joints were bad but not to the point of failure so I was to the point of losing my driveshaft on the highway yet.