New to me 05 LC with a couple of questions and pics

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Hey y'all, just picked up a new to me 05 for my wife to drive. Previously she drove a 2000 4Runner (I have an 01 4wd 4Runner).

The mileage is high, 360k. But it was one owner and in mint condition. I've done some reading and a fella on the 4Runner section advised me to check out the front end.
It has a very small clunk when shifting from R to D. I wouldn't have noticed it except that the guy I bought it from (a friend who's a salesperson at the Toyota dealership) said that he thought there was a small issue with the front cv. I believe it's coming from the driver side. I've searched around and was wondering if someone can point me to some "everything you need to know about diagnosing and replacing CVs" thread. I'm good with 4runners (I've had 3 3rd gens), but LCs are new to me.
Thanks in advance.

image.webp
 
Looks Sharp!! Welcome to da Club!
 
Welcome. Clunk is common. Re-torque your drive shaft per service manual and grease all your driveline grease zert's. If I remember correctly there is at least 6 maybe 7? This is normal maintance that should be performed every 15k miles.
 
Congrats on clean 05 with 360K miles.

Time to baseline starting with flushing/changing all fluids and lubes, front end (steering & wheel bearing) service, correct all leaks, check brakes and replacing old heater tee's.

The above Official clunk/thunk "driveshaft thread" is really miss labeled. It should read "propeller shafts aft & forward". I say this because it's how the FSM (Factory Service Manual) names them. When looking up info in FSM or for parts it's important to have names correct. Propeller shaft clunk/thunk is most often associated with coming to a stop and take off from stop clunk/thunk .

The CV's are part of the front drive shafts, and most often have a clicking sound when going bad. We almost always see lube coming out of the CV boot(s) prior to going bad on OEM (factory). This throws a lot of lube in wheel well and should be visible. Loss of lube causes dry "CV" bearing to wear out.

Whereas: R to D (N to D) is most often associated with worn front drive shaft axle teeth and axle hub flange teeth. Toyota or Lexus Dealer shops' will change out the front drive shaft(s) and axle hub flange(s) (with new OEM) to correct this if under warrantee.

This is most often caused by improper wheel bearing service. By that I mean wheel bearings are set to loose, and snap ring gap to hub flange is to wide. This sets up a sawing action on teeth of axle and Hub flange with flange getting the worst of this.

Notice worn teeth of hub flange
DS Axle hub flange teeth worn on back side large.webp


Axle teeth are not to bad, but notice wear in direction of travel (left side of teeth):
1 DS axle spline.webp


001.webp



The hub flange gets the worst of the wear. One can replace hub flanges and If axle teeth are only slightly worn one can switch axle from one side to the other, to get better side of teeth in direction of travel. Some clunk should be expected with age. Any part removed that has an OIL seal associated with it, it is best too replace OIL seal or any damaged Dust seal or cover.
 
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Wow are you sure that truck has 360k? Looks really nice! Congrats and welcome!
 
Congratulations on the new purchase.

I just received my front CV axles from Advance Auto. They have brand new carquest CV axles $70 each and with an email account you can get a discount of 20%. I got both shipped to my door for $122.

I just finished comparing the two (new and old) and the length and all are identical in every way even the weight.

Droping the front diff is not too bad. 3rd gen 4runner front diff is in a tight spot (I too own one). But the cruiser got a much simple removal. Took about 3 hours to lower the diff and CV's. I removed only the top ball joint, ABS sensor and caliper to pull out the CV.

Getting all that back together on this Saturday.
 
So I checked the service/maintenance website that Toyota has. A tech checked it out when the previous customer brought it in and advised that the front CV shaft splines were damaged and that is what was causing the clunking.
So, looks like I'll be looking into repairing/replacing those boogers. Whooweee.
 
Personally I'd pull the grease cap on both sides at a minimum. If back-lash is found between hub flange & axle teeth, I'd then pull hub flange to get better look at axle splines. I don't like just replacing parts, unless I confirm they're not serviceable.
 
Congrats on clean 05 with 360K miles.

Time to baseline starting with flushing/changing all fluids and lubes, front end (steering & wheel bearing) service, correct all leaks, check brakes and replacing old heater tee's.

The above Official clunk/thunk "driveshaft thread" is really miss labeled. It should read "propeller shafts aft & forward". I say this because it's how the FSM (Factory Service Manual) names them. When looking up info in FSM or for parts it's important to have names correct. Propeller shaft clunk/thunk is most often associated with coming to a stop and take off from stop clunk/thunk .

The CV's are part of the front drive shafts, and most often have a clicking sound when going bad. We almost always see lube coming out of the CV boot(s) prior to going bad on OEM (factory). This throws a lot of lube in wheel well and should be visible. Loss of lube causes dry "CV" bearing to wear out.

Whereas: R to D (N to D) is most often associated with worn front drive shaft axle teeth and axle hub flange teeth. Toyota or Lexus Dealer shops' will change out the front drive shaft(s) and axle hub flange(s) (with new OEM) to correct this if under warrantee.

This is most often caused by improper wheel bearing service. By that I mean wheel bearings are set to loose, and snap ring gap to hub flange is to wide. This sets up a sawing action on teeth of axle and Hub flange with flange getting the worst of this.

Notice worn teeth of hub flangeView attachment 1324030

Axle teeth are not to bad, but notice wear in direction of travel (left side of teeth):
View attachment 1324048

View attachment 1324028


The hub flange gets the worst of the wear. One can replace hub flanges and If axle teeth are only slightly worn one can switch axle from one side to the other, to get better side of teeth in direction of travel. Some clunk should be expected with age. Any part removed that has an OIL seal associated with it, it is best too replace OIL seal or any damaged Dust seal or cover.

What he said. Be sure to use a grease with moly content when doing the slip yokes, otherwise the clunk comes back in a few hundred miles.
 
welcome!!!! nice to see someone else buying a higher mile 100. I got mine with 405k on it and wouldnt trade it for the world....i have the same clunk issue and glad it was mentioned above about the flange and the cv not it being a drive shaft like most would think.
 

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