So I have come into the position of getting a free car from my sister on the condition that I fix a problem with it, I know enough about cars to do basic things, change tires, change oil, brake jobs, general upkeep type stuff.. I figured where better to go then the car board to seek advice..
The problem is there is a jerking or rumbling at lower speeds, and the faster you go the faster it gets, around 50+ it starts to vibrate the car pretty seriously, at about 70 the desire to go any faster with it goes away entirely.. First thing I thought of it being was maybe a really bent rim, but the rims were all good and that idea didn't really take into account that at lower speeds the front of the car somewhat does a slight sway back and forth (car goes straight body kinda shifts around).. My buddy had a car with a badly bent rim, that was more of an up and down bouncing vibration, this is more side to side vibration, and I am also 90% sure whatever is wrong has to do with the front then about 60% sure it's the front left.. When making sharp turns while accelerating at low speeds (like a U turn) the car kinda jolts around as it turns (as in the turn is fixed but the car turns less and more sharply in almost a pulsation)
The next idea came from my dad who knows more then a bit more then me about cars, Last year or so my dad took a look at it and thought there was a bad U-Joint maybe.. He greased them up and it got 'better' but not fixed..

So the question would be, does this sound like a U-Joint problem, and how can you tell if a U-Joint is bad.. He claims there to be alot of them in the car and I really don't want to just randomly start replacing crap until it goes away as that may get rather expensive..

Ahead of time I'd like to thank any input from anyone that was willing to read this post as it turned a little longer then intended and strayed slightly, But I really wasn't sure how to really describe how the car felt.. I have no doubt that if some of you more experienced with cars drove the thing for a block or two you could tell me exactly what the problem it, it's alot harder to describe it to you though and get the same input..

I was under the impression that FourRunners used a CV-joint style front axle instead of live axle U-joints.
Just for shits and giggles and to maybe give me a better idea of what's going on, jack the front of your vehicle up and support it with jack stands. Make sure that the front suspension can dangle freely. Next I want you to grab the tire at the 9 oclock and 3 oclock position and wiggle the tire (right in and then left in). If it moves/wiggles significantly, you have tie-rod issue. If you grab the wheel at the 12 oclock and 6 oclock position and perform the same wiggle/move (push in and out- top and bottom), then you have a balljoint issue, as in one is about to fall out.

also, of there is a significant amount of 'play' in the wheel, the wheel bearing/hub may be shot... as I am thinking about this, it has to be one of those three things. I am leaning towards hub/bearing, just because the hub/bearings rumble when they start to fail and have a real serious wobble when they are about spectacularly fail (as in fall apart). After re-reading your symptoms again and again, man, am i thinking hub/bearing.


try these things and see what happens.

10-4, I'll try that out tomorrow and see what I come up with, Isn't there normally alot of grinding sounds when the hub/bearings goes?
By rumbling I didn't fully mean sound, it's more of the sway of the car and how it rides, although in the end it's a SUV so I really am not under the impression that it shouldn't ride 'smooth' so I am not sure how much of the sway and bumpy ride is SUV and how much is whatever is messed up.. It doesn't really help that I have never driven the thing when it didn't have this problem though..
It does feel different then when my Volares bearings died though, but again not sure if it's just a "different style of car different feel of the problem" kind of deal (although I know the wiggle you talk of)
As for CV/U joint, I have honestly no idea which the car has, although if I dug around for a while and found one in there I could possibly tell you which it is, also my dad could have said U and meant CV *shrug*

As much as Wikipedia can be flawed the "fault finding" section of the CV joint page 'somewhat' sounds like what I have..
http://en.wikipedi...ant-velocity_joint

Although there is sound with the problem, At around 50 it sounds/feels almost like I have a subwoofer playing a wave of base (wave as in a slow pulsating intensity, and the kinda bass like at a shitty club where you can 'feel' the music rip through your chest..) I suppose the noise 'is' there at lower speeds, but it's just not /nearly/ as noticeable, and harder to distinguish from random road noise like going through snow slush and whatnot..

Posted by Pravus 10-4, I'll try that out tomorrow and see what I come up with, Isn't there normally alot of grinding sounds when the hub/bearings goes? By rumbling I didn't fully mean sound, it's more of the sway of the car and how it rides, although in the end it's a SUV so I really am not under the impression that it shouldn't ride 'smooth' so I am not sure how much of the sway and bumpy ride is SUV and how much is whatever is messed up.. It doesn't really help that I have never driven the thing when it didn't have this problem though.. It does feel different then when my Volares bearings died though, but again not sure if it's just a "different style of car different feel of the problem" kind of deal (although I know the wiggle you talk of) As for CV/U joint, I have honestly no idea which the car has, although if I dug around for a while and found one in there I could possibly tell you which it is, also my dad could have said U and meant CV *shrug* As much as Wikipedia can be flawed the "fault finding" section of the CV joint page 'somewhat' sounds like what I have.. http://en.wikipedi...ant-velocity_joint Although there is sound with the problem, At around 50 it sounds/feels almost like I have a subwoofer playing a wave of base (wave as in a slow pulsating intensity, and the kinda bass like at a shitty club where you can 'feel' the music rip through your chest..) I suppose the noise 'is' there at lower speeds, but it's just not /nearly/ as noticeable, and harder to distinguish from random road noise like going through snow slush and whatnot..

what you're describing, the real deep noise, is usually associated with a wheel bearing failing. Now, with a four wheel drive, the sound may be amplified as well because most of these have the bearing integrated with the hub assembly, much like certain Front WD cars. When a CV shaft fails, you'll get a serious clicking noise up front on turns (usually with a front-WD car), but realistically, there isn't much play in them. That's not to say that it couldn't be walking around in the front of the car. My gut feeling is still wheel bearing.

I started to jack the thing up today and my mom told me to just take it to a shop and have them check the thing out, so since it's apparently on her dime I did..
They drove it around a little then hoisted it up, they said all the U joints looked fine, but they said the transfer case looked messed up or jiggled and said that the front wheels 'should' freely turn independently while in 2WD mode, which they didn't.. So their idea was that the 4WD was stuck on more or less no matter what the shifter thing was set to.. They told me that I should have a trans shop take a look at it and thats where I am now, I guess I am going to bring it to a few more 'specialty shops' tomorrow..

After talking to my dad and telling him what the guy at the shop told me he doesn't think the guy at the shop had any real idea what he was talking about, Which I was already somewhat in the opinion of..

Posted by Pravus I started to jack the thing up today and my mom told me to just take it to a shop and have them check the thing out, so since it's apparently on her dime I did.. They drove it around a little then hoisted it up, they said all the U joints looked fine, but they said the transfer case looked messed up or jiggled and said that the front wheels 'should' freely turn independently while in 2WD mode, which they didn't.. So their idea was that the 4WD was stuck on more or less no matter what the shifter thing was set to.. They told me that I should have a trans shop take a look at it and thats where I am now, I guess I am going to bring it to a few more 'specialty shops' tomorrow.. After talking to my dad and telling him what the guy at the shop told me he doesn't think the guy at the shop had any real idea what he was talking about, Which I was already somewhat in the opinion of..

the wheels should turn freely regardless of 4wd or 2wd.

Well basically the mechanics at the first place I took it to (the first place that'd look at it for free) said that since when one was turned the other turned the other way it as messed up.. but I assumed that was because of the differential or some such.. the guy was saying that if you turn the left tire the right tire should just sit there and do nothing..
That aside they were trying to tell me that 4wd was stuck on, and I know for a fact it's not because of the way it handles in the snow..
So overall I just don't know how much of anything they said was remotely valid

Posted by Pravus Well basically the mechanics at the first place I took it to (the first place that'd look at it for free) said that since when one was turned the other turned the other way it as messed up.. but I assumed that was because of the differential or some such.. the guy was saying that if you turn the left tire the right tire should just sit there and do nothing.. That aside they were trying to tell me that 4wd was stuck on, and I know for a fact it's not because of the way it handles in the snow.. So overall I just don't know how much of anything they said was remotely valid

that mechanic was an idiot... if you spin one tire, the other should spin the other way.

Took it today to another shop.. estimated cost of repair is ballpark up to 2k.. Apparently the drive shafts ujoint is messed up more then likely, the slip joint has alot of play in it and needs to be replaced, the bearings in the transfer case are shot as best we can tell.. sadly in order to take the transfer case out you have to drop the trans.. The estimated time to take the transfer case out and put it back in as thought of by toyota is something like 9 hours.. So I am unsure if we are going to do it ourselves or bring it to a shop.. We are unsure of other damage the vibrations have caused to inside the transfer case and other places until we rip things apart..

that's amazing for a Yota... i've seen 4x4 Yotas be absolutely piss-pounded with few if any ill effects to the engine/driveline.

weird.

Well I dunno how this happened to it and it was like this when my sister bought it, the vibrations concerned my sister so she took it to a toyota dealership to check it out and they said everything was perfectly fine, so she bought it then after that she hit higher speeds (highways) and felt more of it.. I guess that U joint was bone dry before my dad greased it, so that could have caused all the damage from it binding.. OR another idea is maybe the oil pump in the transfer case got messed up and the rear bearing overheated and blew apart and that gave the drive shaft play which eventually wore it down from bouncing all over hell.. Hopefully it ends up where we fix it and I can take it in because I rather like the way it drives, especially since this will upgrade me from a pos ford torus wagon, which is maybe the largest deathtrap known to man.. I don't think I will ever willingly buy a ford.. ever..

Posted by Samurai that's amazing for a Yota... i've seen 4x4 Yotas be absolutely piss-pounded with few if any ill effects to the engine/driveline. weird.

My friend's had a 'chassis point lubrication guide" on the visor... with different intervals for normal use, commercial use, and SUBMERGED use!

So I take it that this thing may be worth saving? It seems that 4runners have quite a following of offroad enthusiasts and whatnot, thats gotta say something..

Posted by Pravus So I take it that this thing may be worth saving? It seems that 4runners have quite a following of offroad enthusiasts and whatnot, thats gotta say something..

i know that early 4Runners were based right on the HiLux chassis and shared that wicked durability. I'm not a big fan of 'foreign' cars/trucks, but you CANNOT take away from the fact that Toyota pickups are amazingly durable. There is a BBC show called 'Top Gear' and they did a show basically seeing how tough a Toyota HiLux (Pickup) was. Google the episode, it's worth a watch. You'll laugh your ass off at what that truck goes through and still continues to run and drive.
I'm not sure what year the 4Runner became more posh and fat than serious off-road contender, but it was a dark day when it went to be a fat conveyance for housewives cruising suburbia looking for the perfect parking spot... a dark dark day.

The '92 4Runner is still based on the Hilux platform... in my opinion, worth saving if the body is decent. They're an awesome truck.

Posted by Professor Chaos http://www.youtube...atch?v=Lrk6vsb77xk

did you hang around and watch what they did to that truck after?
it's glorious!!!!

Apparently they went more toward the luxury side and ditched the 'good' Hilux chassis in 4runners '96 and newer

Posted by Pravus Apparently they went more toward the luxury side and ditched the 'good' Hilux chassis in 4runners '96 and newer

there is a reason I hate SUV's

Posted by Samurai there is a reason I hate SUV's

LOL. Some SUVs are not bad. My Honda Passport (rebadged Isuzu Rodeo) is really just a SUV on a truck frame (Isuzu Hombre/Chevy S-10 if I remember right) and it rocks.