A little help for a newbie?

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SBTC

SBTC

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Threads
6
Messages
24
Location
Reno, Nv
I have 1998 100 with OME lift and 315 bfg's I am back and forth from SF to Tahoe. I have about 200k on the rig and it drives like a top, well until today.

Here is the situation I pulled off --I80 in Truckee after a 4 hr drive from SF and i felt a weird wobble at low speeds. It almost felt like a flat tire. I got out and looked at all the wheels and all looked well. I hopped back in my LC and continued to drive. I feel this wobble or almost shake when accelerating at low speeds 30 to 50 mph then it goes away. No issue while breaking?
Anyone have this happen? Any input would be HUGELY appreciated!
 
did you check the lug nut tightness? When was the last bearing repack? Inspect your CV axles, drive shafts, and anything that spins while moving forward. Also, put it on a lift and check for play at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock. As well as 9 and 3 o'clock. This will check for bearings, and ball joints. It could also of been the road surface. I-20 in south GA is groved for rain (heavy downpours in the spring). The truck will pull and feel like the front end is wiggling loose due to the tires tracking in the grooves. I would not sell the LC for a Tahoe, that's going to make you create 10X the amount of threads like this one.
 
Thx for the post-- and a big shout out to MUD... what an amazing resource all you guys are!

I will get it up on the hoist tomorrow --will check all of those suggestions and let you know-- I hope it is something i caught early

... btw... the "back and forth" i meant was physically driving my LC from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe. LC is the only truck for me!
 
everything 2000UZJ said covers the bases.

I had a similar issue recently but mine was a reverberating between 50-75mph. Turns out i banged my drive shaft on something that bent one end. Changing U joints did nothing, new drive shaft and all is well.

Takes 10 minutes to pull drive shaft, would recommend doing this FIRST before bearing repack/service as it takes a fraction of the time, if it goes away you have a starting point. I tore down and re torqued repacked my front bearings probably 5 times each side because i was certain it was a front vibration...
 
I had a similar issue w/ a 2005 V8 4runner. Felt JUST like a flat tire, I pulled over and found nothing wrong. It only did it twice and I still have not confirmed what it was. However, I had issuse with my master cylinder not releasing the brake pads fully, causing them to drag just enough for me to feel the uneven brake deposits in the rotors. I since sold my 4runner to get the landcruiser and I know it's a long shot that your problem is anything like that, but wanted to post anyway.
I agree w/ other posts, check the obvious stuff first.
Were you by chance hard on the brakes before this happened? My 4runners brakes stuck engaged one time after I drove it like a banshee. The dragging brake pads made if feel "wobbly" and sluggish, hince me thinking i was driving on a flat.
Hope you track your problem down, and again, it's not likly that your problem is the master cylinder, but due to the symptoms I wanted to post anyway. Good luck!
 
12guns said:
I had a similar issue w/ a 2005 V8 4runner. Felt JUST like a flat tire, I pulled over and found nothing wrong. It only did it twice and I still have not confirmed what it was. However, I had issuse with my master cylinder not releasing the brake pads fully, causing them to drag just enough for me to feel the uneven brake deposits in the rotors. I since sold my 4runner to get the landcruiser and I know it's a long shot that your problem is anything like that, but wanted to post anyway.
I agree w/ other posts, check the obvious stuff first.
Were you by chance hard on the brakes before this happened? My 4runners brakes stuck engaged one time after I drove it like a banshee. The dragging brake pads made if feel "wobbly" and sluggish, hince me thinking i was driving on a flat.
Hope you track your problem down, and again, it's not likly that your problem is the master cylinder, but due to the symptoms I wanted to post anyway. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I have had the same issue on my 01 100. It ended up that the front drivers side caliper was hanging up and not letting the pads spread after breaking. It had the same wobble/flat tire feeling. I cleaned the calpers and lubed them and all is good.
 
I had a similar issue on my 2001 and I kept thinking of all the mechanical problems it could be. I thought of wheel bearings, driveshaft, u-joints, internal transfer case issues, etc, etc. I had a sporadic vibration at about 55-60 mph and only sometimes.

I have BFG a/t's on it in 285/75-16 load range D. They have about 40k miles on them but still have a lot of tread life and are wearing fairly evenly. Even though I did not think tires were my issue, I decided the cheapest thing I could do was rule them out first. I topped all of them off with air and made sure they were all exactly the same, then I rotated them. That alone got rid of a lot of my issue.

I took the truck to my local tire shop and explained my, now slight, vibration. I told him I wanted all the tires rebalanced and a front end alignment.

He called me later and told me it was no wonder I had issues. The tire that was previously on the front left and now was on the rear left after the rotation, was calling for 10 ounces of weight. He said he broke it down off the rim and turned it 180*, then it called for 'only' 4 ounces of weight. He said on a new tire, anything over 3 ounces is excessive and they will send the tire back to the manufacturer.

Anyway, I am trying to milk all the miles out of my tires so I had him put the 4 ounces on there and leave it on the rear. It fixed 99% of my sporadic vibrations. I have a brand new set of Nittos to put on as soon as I feel like these are finished.

That is my experience.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD
 
I am chasing down some vibration problems on my 04 and have started a thread also.Man it seems like it could be so many different things.35's on a 100 must be cool but you are putting a ton of stress on the IFS system!!Do you have the diff drop with the OME kit and what size lift are you running? I had 35's on my old 80 and it was a blast.Good luck with it and I will keep an eye on your thread.

ps. lots of horror stories of wheels coming off modded up rigs so be sure to check those lug nuts!Read one in an old Toyota Trails where the guys tire passed him up on 50 and bounced down an embankment! We were following an 80 after wheeling the whole Rubicon trail down hwy 50 and he had broken some wheel studs in the front pass. side.He had lug nuts spinning around in his wheel and the thing was wobbling like crazy.This was near Placerville after he was going like 80mph.He slowed down in traffic at the lights there and we were able to get him to a parking lot to swap in some new studs! Scary stuff be careful!!

How is the snow up there,it must be dumping!!!
 
jsuthey said:
I am chasing down some vibration problems on my 04 and have started a thread also.Man it seems like it could be so many different things.35's on a 100 must be cool but you are putting a ton of stress on the IFS system!!Do you have the diff drop with the OME kit and what size lift are you running? I had 35's on my old 80 and it was a blast.Good luck with it and I will keep an eye on your thread.

ps. lots of horror stories of wheels coming off modded up rigs so be sure to check those lug nuts!Read one in an old Toyota Trails where the guys tire passed him up on 50 and bounced down an embankment! We were following an 80 after wheeling the whole Rubicon trail down hwy 50 and he had broken some wheel studs in the front pass. side.He had lug nuts spinning around in his wheel and the thing was wobbling like crazy.This was near Placerville after he was going like 80mph.He slowed down in traffic at the lights there and we were able to get him to a parking lot to swap in some new studs! Scary stuff be careful!!

How is the snow up there,it must be dumping!!!
Click to expand...

What? Possibly the strangest single post ever..some 1st person, some 3Rd person....some random story telling....pretty cool....
 
Throwing a weight from one of the wheels and thereby making it go out of balance could also give these symptoms, especially with large MT tires. Make sure you check the wheel balancing before spending too much time/money on the rest.
 
saillaw said:
Throwing a weight from one of the wheels and thereby making it go out of balance could also give these symptoms, especially with large MT tires. Make sure you check the wheel balancing before spending too much time/money on the rest.
Click to expand...

My sentiment exactly.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD
 
I put it on the hoist and checked all the tires (moving the tires 12 & 6 and 3 & 9)..rocked the front passenger tire and sure enough, a little play. Going to tackle a repack this week. Will let know if that was the culprit. Thx for all the posts
 
check for tire balance and a shifted belt on the tires

lots of driving like you mentioned can cause that

gives the tire a flat spot when load is on and will exactly feel like a flat tire

good luck and hope you identify the culprit
 
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