Hello all. Long time lurker. I have a problem with my lx470 and for the life of me cannot make progress. This is going to be a heck of a first post.
My 2002 lx has a 2 inch lift from the previous owner with AHC removed. 142,000 miles in general very good condition. I have had it two years and this issue for about 4 months. For the last year I have had nothing but trouble, mostly self inflicted. It all started when both CV axels inner boots ripped within a month...
My first mistake was replacing with Oreily’s discount CVs. They immediately developed shake upon acceleration. I removed, and replaced with one more Oreily’s that also shook. Then removed both and used one of my original Toyota CVS but rebooted and also another good condition Toyota that I bought used. Shake gone. All is well for a couple months until the one used boot starting leaking grease. I then took that out and rebooted. All is well but then an upper control arm ball joint starting clunking- having been wrecked by multiple removals for cv axels.
I then used cheap upper control arms (I am still learning my lesson) which I found didn’t allow for enough caster with the lift. It was shortly after this that I developed my current issue.
In the mean time I have also installed a slee diff drop, new front diff front bushing, new steering rack bushings. I have also checked and repacked the wheel bearings (They feel good). I recently added SPC upper control arms thinking the cheap UCAs were the cause since it developed shortly after installing them. After SPC control arms and alignment there was no change to this pop. Still the exact same.
The pop happens primarily with either hard braking or hard acceleration- basically with the change in momentum. I will say “pop” but it can be two pops as it really seems like both the general drivers side and passenger side can pop and sometimes seem to do so independently.
Clue #1 Once it pops in one direction it will not pop again until the momentum switches back. So for example if I hit the brakes hard it will pop, but then as long as I accelerate slowly I can pound on the brakes all I want and it will not pop again until I accelerate hard. The reverse is also true though, if I put the car in reverse and accelerate hard it’ll pop on reverse acceleration as long as it hit last popped on forward acceleration. The same would be true if I go forward and hit the brakes hard it would pop, but then I could put it in reverse hit the gas hard there is no pop because no change in momentum direction, however when hitting the brakes to stop rearward momentum it would pop with just the brakes. I also have gone on a hill put the transfer case in neutral put the transmission in neutral and I found the exact same behavior when free rolling either forward or backwards. So I can pop it with only brakes or only acceleration. This leads me to believe it really doesn’t have anything to do directly with the brakes or the driveline since the behavior is identical when either system is removed. This behavior also occurs identically on either loose or sealed roads.
Clue 2- The one situation where I can get it to pop with very little or even no change in vehicle momentum is if it has last popped on rearward momentum, in this case it will sometimes pop if I am at slow speed turning sharply and I go over a bump. Leading me to believe that when in the “rearward state“ there is some stress somewhere in the suspension that prefers to release. I do not believe that if there has last been a pop on forward momentum it will pop with just slow speed turning but I could be wrong, I have done that testing but can’t guarantee it has been enough.
The popping does not seem to be getting worse or better over time but again I could be wrong.
Motor mounts look solid. I have not done extensive tests on them but with the reverse, forward and start up procedure they seem rock solid. Everything underneath seems solid. Going straight or turning while going over bumps doesn’t produce any odd noise whatsoever. The pop in either state really does not seem to have a noticeable effect on driving except the possibility that it feels a little better after a “forward pop”- that might be my imagination though.
So there it is. I talked to a local mechanic and he didn’t have any real idea yet. I don’t want to keep throwing parts at it without actually knowing what is actually going on.
Help me Ih8mud- you’re my only hope.
My 2002 lx has a 2 inch lift from the previous owner with AHC removed. 142,000 miles in general very good condition. I have had it two years and this issue for about 4 months. For the last year I have had nothing but trouble, mostly self inflicted. It all started when both CV axels inner boots ripped within a month...
My first mistake was replacing with Oreily’s discount CVs. They immediately developed shake upon acceleration. I removed, and replaced with one more Oreily’s that also shook. Then removed both and used one of my original Toyota CVS but rebooted and also another good condition Toyota that I bought used. Shake gone. All is well for a couple months until the one used boot starting leaking grease. I then took that out and rebooted. All is well but then an upper control arm ball joint starting clunking- having been wrecked by multiple removals for cv axels.
I then used cheap upper control arms (I am still learning my lesson) which I found didn’t allow for enough caster with the lift. It was shortly after this that I developed my current issue.
In the mean time I have also installed a slee diff drop, new front diff front bushing, new steering rack bushings. I have also checked and repacked the wheel bearings (They feel good). I recently added SPC upper control arms thinking the cheap UCAs were the cause since it developed shortly after installing them. After SPC control arms and alignment there was no change to this pop. Still the exact same.
The pop happens primarily with either hard braking or hard acceleration- basically with the change in momentum. I will say “pop” but it can be two pops as it really seems like both the general drivers side and passenger side can pop and sometimes seem to do so independently.
Clue #1 Once it pops in one direction it will not pop again until the momentum switches back. So for example if I hit the brakes hard it will pop, but then as long as I accelerate slowly I can pound on the brakes all I want and it will not pop again until I accelerate hard. The reverse is also true though, if I put the car in reverse and accelerate hard it’ll pop on reverse acceleration as long as it hit last popped on forward acceleration. The same would be true if I go forward and hit the brakes hard it would pop, but then I could put it in reverse hit the gas hard there is no pop because no change in momentum direction, however when hitting the brakes to stop rearward momentum it would pop with just the brakes. I also have gone on a hill put the transfer case in neutral put the transmission in neutral and I found the exact same behavior when free rolling either forward or backwards. So I can pop it with only brakes or only acceleration. This leads me to believe it really doesn’t have anything to do directly with the brakes or the driveline since the behavior is identical when either system is removed. This behavior also occurs identically on either loose or sealed roads.
Clue 2- The one situation where I can get it to pop with very little or even no change in vehicle momentum is if it has last popped on rearward momentum, in this case it will sometimes pop if I am at slow speed turning sharply and I go over a bump. Leading me to believe that when in the “rearward state“ there is some stress somewhere in the suspension that prefers to release. I do not believe that if there has last been a pop on forward momentum it will pop with just slow speed turning but I could be wrong, I have done that testing but can’t guarantee it has been enough.
The popping does not seem to be getting worse or better over time but again I could be wrong.
Motor mounts look solid. I have not done extensive tests on them but with the reverse, forward and start up procedure they seem rock solid. Everything underneath seems solid. Going straight or turning while going over bumps doesn’t produce any odd noise whatsoever. The pop in either state really does not seem to have a noticeable effect on driving except the possibility that it feels a little better after a “forward pop”- that might be my imagination though.
So there it is. I talked to a local mechanic and he didn’t have any real idea yet. I don’t want to keep throwing parts at it without actually knowing what is actually going on.
Help me Ih8mud- you’re my only hope.
