Vibrations at 40-50mph. Wheel bearings?

Hey guys. Appreciate everyone on here for the help that everyone provides. hopefully someone can help me.

2015 Tacoma TRD off road.
Bilstein 6112/5160 2.5” lift front.
Icon add a leaf in rear 1.5” lift.
63k miles.
Serviced regularly. new oil in all diffs. New transmission fluid 8k ago.
driveshaft lubed every 5k
265-70r17 wild peaks at3 rotated every 5k

I had the lift for about 15k miles so far and no issues. Went up to snow recently and it was hard snow. So truck was falling in and out of the tire tracks that were already made by previous drivers. Jumping around a little bit. And I do off road this truck regularly.

anyways, after the snow trip I noticed I get vibrations from 40-50mph mostly once the truck shifts to 5th gear (automatic) the vibes are also dependent on the throttle, more throttle, more vibes in the steering wheel. Also there is a sound...hard to describe but it’s like some 2 door sport cars have when the windows are open and you get the wind drone....but it’s only between 40-50. If I shift up into 4th and the rpm go up, it’s still slightly there but less noticeable.
Does not go away if I put it in 4wd so don’t think it’s the needle bearing.

I did get under the truck and checked all the nuts and bolts for all the suspension and it’s all tight.

tried moving the driveshaft around and seems solid so don’t think it’s the u joints.

Someone said if you roll and touch the brakes it disconnects the torque converter. Try it and I still have vibes.

but if I slam on the brakes firmly, the vibes go away.

does this sound like wheel bearings?

edit: I also checked the driveshaft if they still had the factory weights on them and they did. They didn’t fall off

 

Just guessing; warped rotors.

cant think of anything else that could have changed since you went to the mountains. Any hard long braking?

if you feel it in the steering wheel it’s front wheels/tires/rotors/steering component related.

 

Just had the brakes done recently. And rotors resurfaced. I checked them again yesterday. Seem fine.
I’m thinking it is the front as well. Going to dive In more today

 

I doubt it’s wheel bearings especially at only 63,000 miles. But it probably a good idea to rule that out first. It’s easy to do and there are numerous YouTube videos to show you how to do it.
Since it happened right after your snow trip it sounds like you damaged something then. Start with the wheel bearings and go from there.

 

Transmission shudder. Did you drop the pan when you did the trans?

 

Couple of things that are free, try rotating the tires then if it goes away or changes your onto to it. Next try different air pressures then check. This should rule out tires.

 

Had two bearings go out on me last spring, for me the vibration was not throttle dependent but speed dependent. id feel it as early as 20 mph but it would get bad at 40.

jack up the wheel that you suspect has a bad bearing, try to shake the tire by pushing on the sidewall in the front and rear of the tire. You will be able to tell if the bearings are bad.

 

no I did not. Just did drain and fill 3x....

and the transmission doesn’t seem to be an issue. The power is steady. It’s not pulsating or anything like that.

 

Wheel bearing would be a constant vibe that gets louder with more wheel speed, sounds engine related

 

Is the vibration still present when 4WD is engaged?

 

Any chance you lost a wheel weight?

 

Yes. It is.

not sure. Will get my tires rebalanced sometime this week

 

I'm thinking this...

 

just came back from getting tires rotated and rebalanced and the vibes are still there. going to try to move the wheel while its in the air to see if it the wheel bearing now.

 

An chance they were roadforced? Just asking due to the wildpeaks having excessive road force which will cause vibes.

 

Is the vibes felt in the steering wheel or ur seat?

 

Steering wheel

 

That usually means front end . (Feel it in ur seat usually means driveline), tie rods , ball joints tight?

 

I would lean towards either tire balance or WBs. Jack up the front end and spin the tires by hand along with push/pull at 12/6 o'clock to listen and feel for noise or movement. Even at 63k miles, WBs will fail prematurely especially if you offroad. Even failed WBs will pass the manual test. I agree with the recommendation of road force balancing and would start there after the manual WB testing.

 

Yes sir