Have a 97 4runner limited 4x4 with 183,000 mi. I recently started hearing a vibration on the floor board of the driver side. This was also followed by wobbling sound when off roading or going over a bump in the road. I replaced the rack and pinion and put on new tie rod ends. This fixed the wobbling sound and tightened the steering greatly. However the vibration from the front is now louder and even sounds like a mild grinding noise at times. I notice more when Turing left at a stop light and when driving at low speed under 45mph noise does not change with gear shifting or if car is put in neutral. Brakes also do not effect. Put car in 4wheel drive and turned in circles on dirt in both hi four and low four could not hear any noise. Must be going 10 to 40 miles per hour most of the time. Seems to get worse when car is heated up after driving on freeway. I feel the vibration/light grinding dont really hear it.... Thanks for any help out there!!!!!!

 

Just a suggestion but black font on a grey background is really hard to read

 

Wait. Your background is gray? Mine is black..

 

[COLOR=white] Changed font to white

 

Possible wheel bearing?..Jack it up and do the 12'oclock-6o'colock check...do 3-9'Oclock check as well while you are there...also spin wheel with hand on wheel...feel anything abnormal?...

another check is drive it and heat it up good then stop quickly feel the LF and RF wheel if one is much hotter than the other could be a caliper binding as well.........

 

Thanks for the response! I have tried the 12-6 and 3-9. I noticed heavy movement from 3-9 and replaced rack and tie rods. No more movement now. However the 12-6 seemed to show no movement. I will try the caliper test on wed or thurs and let you know what happens. Nice reply good info thanks again.

Garrett

 

Check your CV joints.

 

Any updates on this? My 99 is doing the same thing...

 

Same problem still never fixed, Had 4ruuner checked at a Toyota repair center. They could not find a problem. I still believe it to be the front bearings. Only feel the grinding/vibration feeling when at low speed and under acceleration. I have not checked cv joints, However I do not notice the problem when in 4weel drive?

 

Had another mechanic tell me, it could be, out of adjustment hub. Waiting to see if problem becomes worse. So it can isolated better.

 

I couldn't find anything wrong with mine either. But the noise is definately worse now. My CV boots are good and everything else that I can see... Keep us updated!

 

Similar issue on my 99. Brand new CVs didn't help and replaced the various bushings, etc. Mine is more of a vibration/grinding feel at less than 10 mph and when I'm slowing down, even without the brakes applied.

 

Any more ideas guys?

 

Mine turned out to be a rear wheel bearing.

 

check to see if all your tires are moving freely. Check your two back tires as well. I had a similar problem. My rear brake was sticking and was causing a vibration. Good luck.

 

Hmm... I'm getting some of this starting to creep in to my '97 w/ 152K miles on it. Noticed it the last few months.

I've been suspecting front wheel bearings as I tend to notice it more when turning, and hence cetrifugally side-loading the bearings...

-sc

 

bumping this thread because my 96 has started to have this problem. I've replaced all tie rods and lower ball joints... anyone have any luck fixing this?

 

Check your carrier center support bearing on the rear driveshaft. Mine caused a grinding till I fixed it. Found the old bearing had axial play probably causing the noise.