Hey, it's been a while - I've been off forums for the most part over the past couple years.
In 2023/24 I sold all my trucks, and consolidated to one rig that I thought would be trouble-free and minimal maintenance:
A 2024 Tacoma TRD Offroad, premium package, auto trans, longbed.
It was great for 14 months and 9,700 miles. Then a weird vibration popped up pretty suddenly mid-December. It's been 1,000mi and the issue is still there and a bit worse now.
Buckle up, this will be a lot of information...
Best definition of the problem:
Low-ish frequency, rumbly vibration - like I'm driving over closely-spaced expansion joints or widely-spaced rumble strips.
Worst between 20-40 mph, but can be felt at all speeds to some degree.
Worst at light to no throttle, at constant speed or deceleration.
Felt through the seat and floor, barely felt in the steering wheel.
No codes, no error lights, truck still gets the same fuel economy.
I think I've narrowed it down to the transmission, rear driveshaft, or rear axle.
Diagnostics I've tried:
No change between 2wd and 4wd (not front diff or driveshaft related).
No change while coasting and shifting into N (likely not engine related).
Occurs in all gears that I could test.
No change with 500lb in bed, rear suspension squatted ~1.5" (drive shaft/u-joint angle).
Carrier bearing on the rear driveshaft has no play and spins smoothly (unbolted and lowered the driveshaft down to check this).
No change with different wheels and tires (additional details below).
Worse in the afternoon, but that may have to do with my commute (morning is 50-70mph, afternoon is 20-50mph, right in the sweet spot for this issue).
Ring gear teeth look good (inspected with a camera probe).
Suspension is all torqued to spec.
I removed the tonneau cover and bed mat and everything else in the truck to test - no change.
Checked running board torque.
Wheel mounting and hub faces are clean.
Some nerd level stuff:
Ran vibration sampling and frequency analysis with a phone app - no direct correlation to wheel rotation frequency or drive shaft rotation frequency (or any harmonics of those frequencies).
Frequency was somewhat related to engine RPM as a ~1/2 order subharmonic, but it's likely not the engine - Transmission input shaft, clutch pack, or first planetary gearset?
Tire details:
Vibration started while running my Method wheels and Falken tires (58lb per tire). I swapped back to the OEM wheels and tires (36lb per tire), and it's still there but less intense. The OEM tires are soft and really lightweight so whatever is happening is either damped by the soft OEM tires, or amplified by the heavier Falken tires. I've rotated both sets of tires to different positions few times, with no change to the vibration. None of the wheels or tires have any damage or missing weights.
And before everyone says "take it to the dealership because it's under warranty"...
Yeah, I've been trying that. The response has been "it's a truck, it's not supposed to drive smoothly" and "this is normal for new Tacomas". BS responses.
I have a case open with Corporate Toyota and I'm meeting next week with the regional Field Technical Specialist. If he has a repair solution we will try that. Otherwise, I'm going to push for a buyback.
I've found some other owners who have similar issues with their truck. One guy had the rear driveshaft replaced, but the issue remained. Most of the trucks with similar issues are longbeds with the 2pc rear driveshaft, but there are shortbeds acting up as well.
Does anyone have any other ideas? I'm at a loss at this point.
In 2023/24 I sold all my trucks, and consolidated to one rig that I thought would be trouble-free and minimal maintenance:
A 2024 Tacoma TRD Offroad, premium package, auto trans, longbed.
It was great for 14 months and 9,700 miles. Then a weird vibration popped up pretty suddenly mid-December. It's been 1,000mi and the issue is still there and a bit worse now.
Buckle up, this will be a lot of information...
Best definition of the problem:
Low-ish frequency, rumbly vibration - like I'm driving over closely-spaced expansion joints or widely-spaced rumble strips.
Worst between 20-40 mph, but can be felt at all speeds to some degree.
Worst at light to no throttle, at constant speed or deceleration.
Felt through the seat and floor, barely felt in the steering wheel.
No codes, no error lights, truck still gets the same fuel economy.
I think I've narrowed it down to the transmission, rear driveshaft, or rear axle.
Diagnostics I've tried:
No change between 2wd and 4wd (not front diff or driveshaft related).
No change while coasting and shifting into N (likely not engine related).
Occurs in all gears that I could test.
No change with 500lb in bed, rear suspension squatted ~1.5" (drive shaft/u-joint angle).
Carrier bearing on the rear driveshaft has no play and spins smoothly (unbolted and lowered the driveshaft down to check this).
No change with different wheels and tires (additional details below).
Worse in the afternoon, but that may have to do with my commute (morning is 50-70mph, afternoon is 20-50mph, right in the sweet spot for this issue).
Ring gear teeth look good (inspected with a camera probe).
Suspension is all torqued to spec.
I removed the tonneau cover and bed mat and everything else in the truck to test - no change.
Checked running board torque.
Wheel mounting and hub faces are clean.
Some nerd level stuff:
Ran vibration sampling and frequency analysis with a phone app - no direct correlation to wheel rotation frequency or drive shaft rotation frequency (or any harmonics of those frequencies).
Frequency was somewhat related to engine RPM as a ~1/2 order subharmonic, but it's likely not the engine - Transmission input shaft, clutch pack, or first planetary gearset?
Tire details:
Vibration started while running my Method wheels and Falken tires (58lb per tire). I swapped back to the OEM wheels and tires (36lb per tire), and it's still there but less intense. The OEM tires are soft and really lightweight so whatever is happening is either damped by the soft OEM tires, or amplified by the heavier Falken tires. I've rotated both sets of tires to different positions few times, with no change to the vibration. None of the wheels or tires have any damage or missing weights.
And before everyone says "take it to the dealership because it's under warranty"...
Yeah, I've been trying that. The response has been "it's a truck, it's not supposed to drive smoothly" and "this is normal for new Tacomas". BS responses.
I have a case open with Corporate Toyota and I'm meeting next week with the regional Field Technical Specialist. If he has a repair solution we will try that. Otherwise, I'm going to push for a buyback.
I've found some other owners who have similar issues with their truck. One guy had the rear driveshaft replaced, but the issue remained. Most of the trucks with similar issues are longbeds with the 2pc rear driveshaft, but there are shortbeds acting up as well.
Does anyone have any other ideas? I'm at a loss at this point.
