Overlook

I was out offroading a couple weeks ago. We climbed some crazy hills with the new 4runner. One hill I did not make it up. When I got to the top, I lost traction in the front on a rut and the front left axel starting making a noise that sounded like a spring poping out (kind of like a door stopper spring noise).

This has happened several times since and I would like to know if anyone else has had this occur. Is this normal when you lose traction? Seems to happen no matter if the center diff is locked or not...

Thanks for any replies! ~Overlook

Good Times

Good description of the sound but I've never encountered that b4. I have taken my 4runner to some interesting places and even on hills that I couldn't conquer . Maybe you might have some parts that are loose? I'm not sure but have you checked all your bolts/nuts to ensure everything is secure?

Whenever you offroad, you give alot of stress to the suspension so you should always check all the key sections to make sure everything is okay. I do it after I wash my 4runner so you might want to try that. It might just be something that's loose or maybe it's really nothing. It could just be dust between some metal that's making the awful sound.

Hope ya find out what it was...

Lanec

BT17R

I've heard a vaguely similar sound when the DAC activates, but of course that's downhill only so no help. But, the DAC uses the same sensors to trigger individual braking action of the TRAC system. I'm guessing what you heard is normal and something associated with braking a slipping wheel. The electro-hydraulic brake pump is mounted close to the driver's side firewall and is very audible when working the TRAC and DAC systems, less so with VSC and ABS. My 2¢.

Sac State

There is a lot of noise generated by the VSC. Did you have your diff locked, which would deactivate the VSC? I had my diff locked and in 4LO w/DAC yesterday and it sounded like a pinball machine. My only beef is it takes numerous tries to go from 4LO locked to 4H locked or unlocked. That has always been a beef of mine with the fully electric lockers/transfer case...never seems to engage/disengage quickly. It was a problem with my '02 Sport 4WD also, so it must be Toyota.

Overlook

Thanks for the replies! Yes, the pinball noise is a good description of the sound. I was in 4LO when climbing - I am 99% sure that I had the diff locked when I heard the sound since I'm usually locked when offroad and I know for a fact that I have heard it without the diff locked in both 4HI and 4LO... I may need to test it out again to confirm it happens when locked up.

So any idea if that is normal or not? It doesn't seem like it should be normal. I might call Toyota on it to see what they say (I'll be sure to post anything I find out on it.)

If it's not normal, could be a serious problem - I had to back down a very steep incline which ain't much fun