Just a bit of fun with the 470...

[ChaseTruck]

... for your entertainment. Ok, here we go :

'04 470, ~ 155k miles, living in Baton Rouge, but needed in Phoenix for skiing transport duty to Utah.

Tires were vintage 2017 31" AT's; changed out to stock size Michelins before the cross country trip. Now the truck makes a humming sound...

Suspected bad front wheel bearings, RF seems to have a minute 6-12 wiggle, LF maybe... $216 spent at Lexus of Baton Rouge netted diagnosis of bad RF and RR wheel bearings, $2,600 quote to fix; however, parts not procurable in the available time frame.

Everything is dry at the rear axle, no leaks. Wheel bearing/hub combo's from O'Reilly's (yes, I know, never install non-Toyota parts because of karma...) were available, 1/2" Milwaukee impact to the rescue, change bearings myself. Humming sound is significantly reduced, but still there.

Off we go, first to Dallas, then to I-40 in Amarillo (because I've never been up there), visit Cadillac Ranch, then Tucumcari of spaghetti western fame. No issues until about 8 or so miles outside of Santa Rosa, NM: suddenly there's a quick weird sound that my wife diagnoses as belt. Sure enough, 5-rib serpentine belt is now a 4-rib belt. Nurse truck to motel in Santa Rosa, no energy to even think about wrenching; AAA tow truck to Lexus of Albuquerque next morning.

Lexus replaces the belt, idler pulley initially deemed unavailable until my wife tells the parts guy to call Toyota... Need to be in PHX the next day for an AM appointment. New belt & idler pulley installed, get the truck at 2pm, 395 miles, good to go.

We make it 360 miles, downslope from Mt. Ord to Sunflower, AZ on Hwy 87 - that's when the new belt snaps. AAA / Sunflower Towing to the rescue, flatbed tow to Earnhardt Lexus in Phoenix.

Diagnosis from Earnhardt Lexus the next day: loose crank pulley , moving up to 3/8" - we dodged a big one there... (Timing belt was done before we got the truck at 125k, but no record at Lexus).

Lexus fixes the issue, crank bolt now torqued to spec, truck runs well, sound still there. Bring it to @richardlillard1 and @twalker9480, they find/fix a LR parking brake issue that we didn't know we had - sound still there. They replaced the worn U-joints in the front drive shaft - sound still there. I swap rear tires - sound still there. Fluids in rear axle and t'case at correct level and look ok. I'm ready to try some snake oil in both to maybe quiet gears...

Richard and Travis also found bum U-joints in the rear driveshaft. Alas, there's a recommendation from Lexus to replace the rear drive shaft altogether. So that'll happen today. We'll see. I somehow can't help thinking this would be too easy a solution. Richard tells me to have faith.

I actually do: Ski trip to Utah at the end of February. Now excuse me as I need to do my daily squats - a man's gotta have priorities . Cheers, Michael

 

[DSRTRDR]

sound is still there - clearly a rotational sound, only present with the truck rolling - very smooth sound that doesn't change with letting off the gas

interwebs searching found a guy who claims the sound goes away when you turn a corner - yes, it's less pronounced the slower you drive - so I go around a few corners without breaking: sound still there

anyway, taking only curvy roads isn't an option in a metropolitan area that's fundamentally laid out on a grid, like Phoenix

 

[ChaseTruck]

So. Claudia brought the truck to Discount Tire in Fountain Hills. They found that the balance job on the newly mounted tires - mind you, that was Discount Tire in Baton Rouge, in early December - was either not done at all, or not done correctly. After re-balancing, seems like the sound is gone .
Well, we got a lot of stuff done on the vehicle, so that’s good. I did really not expect to incur a balancing issue with street tires; bigger M/Ts, yes, perhaps, but Michelins for the street? We will not use that particular Discount Tire location anymore.

 

[folivier]

Good to know about DT in BR. I live in BR part time, spend most of the time in Colorado where I keep my '06 GX.
Hope your luck continues to improve.
I had my timing belt changed by a mechanic around Gonzales, LA. He had a Toyota with the 4.7L and over 500,000 miles. Did a good job, can't remember his name right now.

 

[ChaseTruck]

Good to know about DT in BR. I live in BR part time, spend most of the time in Colorado where I keep my '06 GX.
Hope your luck continues to improve.
I had my timing belt changed by a mechanic around Gonzales, LA. He had a Toyota with the 4.7L and over 500,000 miles. Did a good job, can't remember his name right now.

Sometimes the car gods require their sacrifices... I am actually glad we got all these issues addressed now, before going skiing. As for luck, I can't really complain: that crank pulley issue ended up just being an inconvenience, and there could have been a much worse outcome. Yet, I may have to learn a 'snow dance' so that conditions in Utah may improve before we get there in March.
In all fairness, I'd like to add that we've had good luck with DT in Prairieville, LA. It's just a bit longer of a drive, so I didn't go there for the GX...