Can you loosen them up, hammer a wooden wedge between the U and the frame, just to make sure it's not rattling?
Painful low frequency drone/pressure in cabin
- Thread starter LJE
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Damn it's too bad someone didn't suggest u joints sooner.
- Thread starter
- #143
Haha. To be fair - if you tested these in-situ with the driveshaft in place they felt great - no slop. It was only with the prop shaft removed that it was obvious the joints were bad once I knew what I was looking for.
Threw the old tires back on, no giant change from before - maybe slightly less obnoxious, but definitely still there. Turning doesn't seem to affect it, so that doesn't scream wheelbearing to me, but, getting close to pulling my drive flanges off my front hubs to re-check preload - even with no 6/12 o'clock play in the wheels.
We're headed up to my inlaws this weekend, so I think I'll take a stethoscope & throw the LX on my father-in-law's lift. I'll have him run it up to speed and I'll check what I can hear with the stethoscope to see if we can't isolate the source.
Below is pure speculation, so take it as you will:
It seems like I'm still getting a lot of shake in the transfer case shift lever - could just be getting transmitted throughout the frame, but still, I'm suspicious. Based on the fact that the transfer case (and transmission) have both been tampered with before, and that there are lots of little signs of shoddy workmanship (wire harness clips on the outside are all missing, I had to helicoil one of the trans mount bolts because they annilated the threads, factory sealer not cleaned off mating surfaces well) I have concern something is very wrong in the transfer case or the backend of the transmission. But, hoping the stethoscope test will tell me for sure.
What kind of shake from the transfer case lever? There's always a little buzz to it, maybe barely visible to the eye. Are you getting more than that?
- Thread starter
- #145
I need to compare it to my Sequoia to know for sure. It *seems* like you can feel the "waaah waaah waaah" noise in the TC shifter, but I could be imagining that at this point. That's why I'm hoping the stethoscope will help this weekend.
- Thread starter
- #146
Well, this is mildly confusing.
I've got the front prop shaft out at the moment (RWD only), so I jacked up the rear axle on stands & ran it up to speed (using the 'old' tires + wheels that were roadforce balanced). You can definitely feel something shaking when you hit 45-50mph - not in the steering wheel (front wheels on the ground, not spinning), but definitely in your butt. Sorta felt exactly what I would expect an unbalanced tire to feel like. OK, so that tells me something is amiss. If I left the transfer case in neutral (so only spinning the transmission at speed) I didn't get anything, so I think the trans is OK.
So I started measuring runout on my rear hubs/spacers (BORA). I started on the driver side, measuring about +/- 0.005" of radial runout - got that down to about +/- 0.003. I couldn't detect any play in the rear wheel bearing whatsoever when I still had the tire on, and it all sounded good when I had the rotor off. Put it all back together, and move on to the passenger side.
Suddenly, now I'm hearing a 'thunk thunk thunk' noise as I spin the passenger side rear hub. Ah-ha! Let me just go back to the driver side to confirm I don't hear it there - WTF, it's louder over here on the drivers side! This is what it sounds like:
I will swear with every bone in my body that noise wasn't there 5 minutes prior, nor was it there every single time I've checked the rear wheels. It's 100% coming from right where the driver side rear wheel bearing sits! There's not gear oil all over the back of the rotor shield, nor did I see any upon taking a (albeit quick) look through the ABS speed sensor hole. But man, that sounds like a knarly bearing.
So, ordered a bearing kit from @cruiseroutfit , the special press tools from the guy on Ebay, and will pick up a 20 ton harbor freight press next week I guess... I really hope this takes care of it. I think I should win an award or something for the most failed parts that all contribute to the same problem...
I've got the front prop shaft out at the moment (RWD only), so I jacked up the rear axle on stands & ran it up to speed (using the 'old' tires + wheels that were roadforce balanced). You can definitely feel something shaking when you hit 45-50mph - not in the steering wheel (front wheels on the ground, not spinning), but definitely in your butt. Sorta felt exactly what I would expect an unbalanced tire to feel like. OK, so that tells me something is amiss. If I left the transfer case in neutral (so only spinning the transmission at speed) I didn't get anything, so I think the trans is OK.
So I started measuring runout on my rear hubs/spacers (BORA). I started on the driver side, measuring about +/- 0.005" of radial runout - got that down to about +/- 0.003. I couldn't detect any play in the rear wheel bearing whatsoever when I still had the tire on, and it all sounded good when I had the rotor off. Put it all back together, and move on to the passenger side.
Suddenly, now I'm hearing a 'thunk thunk thunk' noise as I spin the passenger side rear hub. Ah-ha! Let me just go back to the driver side to confirm I don't hear it there - WTF, it's louder over here on the drivers side! This is what it sounds like:
I will swear with every bone in my body that noise wasn't there 5 minutes prior, nor was it there every single time I've checked the rear wheels. It's 100% coming from right where the driver side rear wheel bearing sits! There's not gear oil all over the back of the rotor shield, nor did I see any upon taking a (albeit quick) look through the ABS speed sensor hole. But man, that sounds like a knarly bearing.
So, ordered a bearing kit from @cruiseroutfit , the special press tools from the guy on Ebay, and will pick up a 20 ton harbor freight press next week I guess... I really hope this takes care of it. I think I should win an award or something for the most failed parts that all contribute to the same problem...
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You’re my man! Have a problem, get the tools you need, do it when everyone else is sleeping and solve it!
Love it!!!
Reminds me of the times when a friend brought his wife’s Passat CC over for battery drain. Bought my first multimeter. Started measureing… 2 weeks and tons of beer and BBQ later we found the rear passenger window actuator draining the battery
While she was annoyed and laughed she told her friend. She had a Ford escape with battery drain. 3 new batteries, 2 new alternators. That time it took us 2 days to find the ebay $70 display unit draining…
Love it that you don’t give up and bring it to a shop! The tools and knowledge you gain are priceless!
Love this! Dude you might consider going in to this as a business. I've got a few little items you'd be just the man to track down and cure 
Good move on the shop press. I also suggest, if you're able to, spring for the upgraded air- over- hydraulic jack they sell. Omg, made such an improvement on using the thing.
Good move on the shop press. I also suggest, if you're able to, spring for the upgraded air- over- hydraulic jack they sell. Omg, made such an improvement on using the thing.
- Thread starter
- #149
You’re my man! Have a problem, get the tools you need, do it when everyone else is sleeping and solve it!
Love it!!!
Reminds me of the times when a friend brought his wife’s Passat CC over for battery drain. Bought my first multimeter. Started measureing… 2 weeks and tons of beer and BBQ later we found the rear passenger window actuator draining the battery
While she was annoyed and laughed she told her friend. She had a Ford escape with battery drain. 3 new batteries, 2 new alternators. That time it took us 2 days to find the ebay $70 display unit draining…
Love it that you don’t give up and bring it to a shop! The tools and knowledge you gain are priceless!
View attachment 3742302
Hahaha - things (usually) go so much quicker the second time! I thought about taking it to a shop to have this rear wheel bearing done... then realized that #1) I don't trust any shops arounds here to do that well (just from other's experiences), and #2) I'd probably be waaaay further into it than the $200 in specialized press tooling that I had to buy.
I've got a saying, 'I can figure this out, because dumber people do this everyday'. So far that statement has allowed me to remodel a house, engineer & build a 100 ton boulder retaining wall, move nearly a quarter million pounds of dirt/rocks/etc around my property to make room for my shop, build/insulate/finish said shop, install my own grid-tied solar array, and rebuild this LX470 from nearly the ground up [among many other projects].
I'm not saying that I could make money doing any of those things for a living (because being able to do something, and being able to do something efficiently enough to make money are two very different things), but with the internet, a technical background, and a drive to make things the best they can be you can certainly learn some new skills!
Oh - and having a wife who's super supportive (like, out there shoveling gravel with me at 10PM for the engineered drainage system behind the retaining wall with work coming up the next day level of supportive) is key too. She's also never once complained about any of the (many) tools that we've accumulated the past three years.
Love this! Dude you might consider going in to this as a business. I've got a few little items you'd be just the man to track down and cure
Good move on the shop press. I also suggest, if you're able to, spring for the upgraded air- over- hydraulic jack they sell. Omg, made such an improvement on using the thing.
Haha! LumberjackEngineering Toyota 4x4s...
What's funny is that among all the work I've been doing on this LX470, I've also done a bunch of work on some family 2UZ vehicles as well (brother's V8 2004 4Runner and my dad's 2003 Tundra) - timing belts, brake booster, suspension stuff, etc. We've got a family friend with a 2003 V8 4Runner that sounds like it's got a brake booster going out too - that vehicle is 2 hours away from me, but I keep telling them that if they can get it up here, I'll work on it!
I'm not sure there's much demand for that sort of specialized Toyota shop here, but at this point I've got most of the experience and tools...
Good info on the upgraded jack - looks like for inside track members it's $90 (instead of $150) right now, and the actual press is $199 instead of $250. Guess I'll have to cave finally and get a membership...
Dude it's funny you say that because I have been considering taking my side Toyota/Lexus repair work into something more serious. I'm in NWFL so I'm not sure how much business there is here either, but I wouldn't want to be high volume anyway.
Such an interesting thought because there's no one anywhere close to me I know of or trust to work on my Toyota vehicles.
Also, amazing work on the rear wheel bearing discovery! Probably frustrating but fixable, for sure
- Thread starter
- #152
Still waiting on my press tools, but got the axle shaft pulled today. I didn't have gear oil slung all over my parking brakes (or any external gear oil), but you can see it was slowly leaking past the seal - maybe that's what nuked the bearing? Could have sat a couple years like that diluting the bearing grease.
Got the new seal installed (after screwing up the first one, as is Alex SOP...). Ordered another 3x seals from Partsouq just now in case I *do* need to end up doing the other side.
I wish @cruiseroutfit would offer an 'Ih8oilseals' option where they include duplicate seals in their kits, hahaha. My issue here was my 72mm seal driver is larger than the seal - I didn't realize that it would still fit in the housing up until the front of the lip where the seal sits, so I attempted to drive in the first seal with a 65mm seal driver and it immediately went sideways. Ugh. Lesson learned - the bore diameter is just big enough to use a 72mm seal driver. The seal will then seat nicely when your 72mm driver 'bottoms out' against the lip. Measured depth around the perimeter of the seal, and it was all within 0.2mm of itself - I figure that's good enough for the girls I go out with!
Just have to wait in my press tooling to arrive to dissemble the axle shaft and swap the bearing out.
Got the new seal installed (after screwing up the first one, as is Alex SOP...). Ordered another 3x seals from Partsouq just now in case I *do* need to end up doing the other side.
I wish @cruiseroutfit would offer an 'Ih8oilseals' option where they include duplicate seals in their kits, hahaha. My issue here was my 72mm seal driver is larger than the seal - I didn't realize that it would still fit in the housing up until the front of the lip where the seal sits, so I attempted to drive in the first seal with a 65mm seal driver and it immediately went sideways. Ugh. Lesson learned - the bore diameter is just big enough to use a 72mm seal driver. The seal will then seat nicely when your 72mm driver 'bottoms out' against the lip. Measured depth around the perimeter of the seal, and it was all within 0.2mm of itself - I figure that's good enough for the girls I go out with!
Just have to wait in my press tooling to arrive to dissemble the axle shaft and swap the bearing out.
- Thread starter
- #154
I'm pretty sure I'm the chairman of that club...
- Thread starter
- #157
Hahahha. I sure hope so! Seems like my press tooling should get here this afternoon... So hopefully I'll know soon. To be fair, most of the things I've done in this thread have helped/were things that needed to be addressed, so hopefully this is the final straw.
- Thread starter
- #158
Long story short: I'm an idiot. Bearing was fine. No change.
Still get a "whhoOOOOOMMmm" about once a second or once every other second at 60mph or so. Again, doesn't matter what set of wheels/tires that I use.
Getting closer to giving up - I'm really not sure where to go from here.
Still get a "whhoOOOOOMMmm" about once a second or once every other second at 60mph or so. Again, doesn't matter what set of wheels/tires that I use.
Getting closer to giving up - I'm really not sure where to go from here.
Dude... I'm so feeling this for you.
Assuming I make it to COTR, want me to hop in it and feel it out some? Maybe a second set of eyes (ears? Spidey senses? ) from someone with lots of miles in 100s may help?
Maybe it's your transmission. Seems to be going around
Assuming I make it to COTR, want me to hop in it and feel it out some? Maybe a second set of eyes (ears? Spidey senses? ) from someone with lots of miles in 100s may help?
Maybe it's your transmission. Seems to be going around
Ugh, dude! You're a beast for pushing this far. So much work for no resolution yet. I'm bout to dump this thread into chatgpt for other ideas cause I'm out of them lol
