Hello my fellow toyota brethern!

I have a 98 4runner limited with 130k miles on it exactly.

It was raining pretty good here the other day and some streets were flooded so my wife put her in 4wd because she wanted to be extra safe with our new one month old daughter!

So last night we pull to a stop and I hear kinda of like a thudding sound as we slowed and you could feel it in the floor beds.

After freaking out all last night today I threw the runner up on jackstands and crawled under and gave the whole front suspension a once over.I shook the tires bearing seem fine the rack and pinion looks good the cv joints look good front diff had fluid everything checks out!
So after that I hop in and do some tests it only makes the sound on deecelartion and I also found some mud and checked if it made the noise while in 4wd it does not.

Sorry for the long post I just wanted to explain everything that happened so that you folks would be able to give the best advice.Take care Russ!

 

when was the last time you lubricated your drive shafts and U-joints?

 

Mine does this as well. It only happens on deceleration like you stated and only when not in 4x4. It feels like something slides up to the front and produces a thud feeling. I had my driveshaft lubricated last oil change and it did not make a difference. Maybe they didn't put enough grease in or my second thought is that my shocks and suspension are overdue to be replaced and I wonder if it has something to do with that.

 

There is only one grease fitting on the drive shaft correct?I havent greased it up in a while.Is there a way to lube up the front drive shafts just pull the boots back or what?Thanks for the replies take care Russ!

 

You could be describing the very common drive shaft slip yoke lube issue.
It will happen when you come to a stop from speed. Then as you let off the brake, you will feel a thump. If you look you will also see the shifters move.
If that is the case, you will need to lube the zerk at the rear of the drive shaft. Dump a TON of grease in there. Pump it so that the shaft pushes all the way out and grease starts gushing out, then rock the car up/down, back/forth to work the slip joint. It may even take more than one of these treatments. Mine needed two. It has been thump free for four or five months.

 

I will try that and lube up the drive shaft see what happens.

 

There's 3 on the front drive shaft
http://www.4runners.org/writeups/zerk/index.html