Front wheel vibrations!

[kayakstu]

Hello members, long time lurker here in need of some help with 2007 Tacoma ( TRD Sport)

I have a harmonic vibration coming out of my front passenger wheel and it is driving me NUTS! Here are the details, bare with me, I am not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination.

The trouble started when I hit a ditch coming off a bridge deck that a grader operator left at the end of his work day. I was doing about 80 km/h and hit it square on and HARD! My first thought was my motor could have fallen out. My stereo never worked again ( warranty replacement), topper shifted about 8" off my truck. Needless to say a hard hit.

The problem is a harmonic vibration coming out of the wheel. It mostly happens when the truck is cold. It has no preference of speed, or when I am turning. It happens a lot in the winter as the truck never really gets really warm. In the summer it happens for the first few minutes and then nothing.

I have ruled out the aluminum wheels as it happens with my steelies and snow tires. I have had the struts changed. A good mechanic/ friend/ toyota owner has driven it in 2H, 4H, 4L, pavement, dirt, snow, on the hoist.... I am not burning through tires ( happened last summer) as we balanced the wheels.

Basically we are stumped and just waiting for something to fail and the problem will be resolved. We can here the hum when in drive but at a stand still and lightly touching the gas....

So 3 trips to the shop and now I present my problem to you!

Suggestions???? Thanks in advance!


sTu

 

[toyotech]

have you tried different tires. if its the same tire. might be internal failure. if you have tired different tires. maybe a wheel bearing or axle.

look at the fender, body and engine bay for any body separation or damage

 

[HillbillyfromAL]

Basically we are stumped and just waiting for something to fail and the problem will be resolved. We can here the hum when in drive but at a stand still and lightly touching the gas....


sTu

Are sure it's wheel related? Sounds more like a pulley that's on it's way out, or something belt driven PS pump etc. With the quote above and you also saying it didn't matter if you were turning or not I wouldn't suspect the wheel bearings. However, after a hard hit it might be wise to have them changed out as well as the kingpins or spindle bearings. Having that apart will allow you to inspect go any further damage too. As far as checking the pulleys and other stuff with the belt removed try spinning each one by hand checking for wobble or grinding. It's alot less expensive to fix those before a catastrophic failure. For example the water pump on my wife's old Excursion gave out without any real warning other than the occasional squeal that she never mentioned. Had I known it had been going on and looked into it it could have cost me $500 instead of $2500 plus a cab and towing bill on the 4th of July weekend. Trying to pinpoint stuff like that is sometimes a real PIA so good luck

 

[keezer37]

If you're sure it's coming from the wheel and is heat related, I'd still be looking at the bearings. You might drive it around, get it warmed up to where the vibe goes away, stop home real quick and hose down that wheel for about five seconds on both sides and see if it comes back right away. That would isolate the problem.

 

[kayakstu]

Thanks for the quick responses!

I will pass this along to my mechanic buddy and see how it goes!

 

[blair_tundra]

If you're sure it's coming from the wheel and is heat related, I'd still be looking at the bearings. You might drive it around, get it warmed up to where the vibe goes away, stop home real quick and hose down that wheel for about five seconds on both sides and see if it comes back right away. That would isolate the problem.

I agree its probably the wheel bearing on that side. My prior truck was a 2008 Tacoma 4x4. One of my front bearings went out and it made a wuh-wuh-wuh harmonic type noise that became less evident the longer and faster you drove on it.

Blair

 

[1stDeuce]

Hello members, long time lurker here in need of some help with 2007 Tacoma ( TRD Sport)

Basically we are stumped and just waiting for something to fail and the problem will be resolved. We can here the hum when in drive but at a stand still and lightly touching the gas....

If this means the vibe is there when you are not moving, but rather just giving it a little gas in Drive, the problem is NOTtires, wheel bearings, brakes, or anything else that isn't spinning when you're stopped, so you can stop trying to rule any of that out because you already did.

I would look closely at the following:
accy drive (bad idler pulley)
motor and trans mounts (you may have broken one or broken a bolt or two, or have a bent or collapsed mount somewhere)
exhaust (could be barely touching somewhere until it warms up and moves just far enough away)

You can also try the gas in Reverse and see if it gets worse or better. If it changes at all, that would rule out the accy drive.

Chris

 

[Mrknowitall]

That Chris guy is pretty smart. I wonder what he's doing over here on these Toyota threads all the time though.
You can further prove things out by taking the whole serpentine belt off and starting the truck- a short time wont hurt anything. If your noise is gone, then its definitely accessory drive. If you hit hard enough to shif your topper, you could have bent all kinds of other things. Check the exhaust for cold leaks, too. start the truck cold and have someone else put their hand over the exhaust. Good luck.

 

[kayakstu]

Just checking in after a few days away, lots of good feedback here, thanks! I will have a look, and hopefully find a solution!

 

[1stDeuce]

That Chris guy is pretty smart. I wonder what he's doing over here on these Toyota threads all the time though.
You can further prove things out by taking the whole serpentine belt off and starting the truck- a short time wont hurt anything. If your noise is gone, then its definitely accessory drive. If you hit hard enough to shif your topper, you could have bent all kinds of other things. Check the exhaust for cold leaks, too. start the truck cold and have someone else put their hand over the exhaust. Good luck.

He was bored. And always thinking about the next vehicle....
C

 

[timber]

Check to make sure its not the hard plastic air intake hose where it comes through the engine compartment. It will vibrate like all hell at certain times ( very much like you describe)... Just one little thing to check out before you go nuts trouble shooting. I had a very similar problem and thats what I finally tracked it down to. Ended up wrapping it with a strip of rubber fatigue mat where it comes through the fender and have not had any more problems. Good Luck!