Calin

On my recently purchased 2004 4Runner V8 limited I sometimes hear a strange noise while in drive and releasing the breaks. Previous to it, I beaked normally, not too rough not too slowly. The wheels where straight. The road was clean. The car was in H4. It happens few once every 4-7 breaks and does happen tens of minutes after driving. The noise reminds me the sound of a rusted hand break pads that just release when driving a car for the first time after a while.

Is this normal ? Do you know what this can be?

khaug

Does this happen after you've come to a stop when you release the brake (note - not "break") pedal? And is it sort of a "thud" that you feel as much as hear?

If so, this is a classic symptom of a slip yoke binding in your driveline. When you brake, the rear axle rotates slightly (called "axle wrap"), and the slip yoke is designed to accommodate the change in driveshaft length that occurs. If the slip yoke hasn't been greased for a while, it'll stick, and will relax to its normal position only when you release the brakes. That creates the "thud".

4WD 'Runners have six Zerk fittings in the drive shafts - four for the U-joints and two for the slip yokes. These need to be lubed at each oil change. Toyota has recommended NGLI-2 grease with Moly Disulfide for use in the slip yokes, and it'll work just fine in all your Zerks.

If your slip yokes are really dry, give 'em each 3-4 pumps of grease. You may need to repeat this after driving a few miles to get grease where it's needed. Don't go wild with the greasing, though, as it'll cause other problems.

Regards.

toy_tek

Khaug, I've posted about that before and searched 100 times (i swear) and never found an explanation for that. I always thought maybe the ball joints or something were loose. Thanks for the explanation

Ironically I installed a Sonoran Steel lift two weekends ago and in the process changed a bunch of bushings and lubed everything. No more thud when stopping, but I never guessed it was lubing the driveshaft that fixed the problem.

khaug

Hi Jon.

This is a well-known problem which (I hate to say it) can be avoided by RTFM! Which says to grease your driveline Zerks at each oil change. It seems that most dealers (and owners) these days are simply oblivious to Toyota's published maintenance recommendations. We've been lulled by the marketing people promoting contemporary vehicles as "maintenance-free'.

I learned about this the hard way on my '98, which, thereafter, got several shots of grease in the Zerks at each oil change. End of "thud"! Alas, I've been lazy with my '03, and the "thud" is starting to rear its ugly head once again, so it's time to get down and dirty and pump the grease gun!

Regards,