Odd Vibration In Floor And Gas Pedal

I have an 18 Limited with just under 70k miles. Between 30-50mph I’ve noticed this slight vibration/droning in the floor board and gas pedal. Sometimes it’s more profound when turning and sometimes it is a little less profound. Also, when going over bumps it gets more profound. It only happens when pressing the gas pedal. When you take your foot off of the gas it goes away. Steering wheel is fine and the tires have plenty of life. I’ve been searching the forums for weeks and most results point to the needle bearing, but the sound actually gets a little worse when I turn on the 4H system. Would be greatly appreciated if anyone can point me in the right direction.

 

I would start by checking CV boots. Then grease all your driveline zerks. If you really want to be diagnostic, do one zerk at a time and drive it, in case you have a U joint that is particularly loud. Dont put too much grease in the the actual driveshaft slip joint/yoke (whatever it’s called). Too much and you can pop out the seals.

Also, do you have a lift or other drivetrain mods? Probably best to check over those components first.

 

Matt, could you attach a photo of where exactly you're talking? 2013 4R has developed what you described you went through. Mine began after a full brake job. Thank you!

 

Rear tires might be out of balance?

 

Sorry man, I spoke too soon. Didn’t fix my problem and I’ve had a local shop say everything is fine. I’m not outside at the moment, but the nut is at an odd angle above the parking brake pedal, to the right. There is a lock nut in front of the nut you can tighten. Need a 10mm to adjust it.

 

Dealership balanced them and they were balanced within 10k miles before I bought it. Also got into a minor accident recently and they balanced and aligned again.

 

Sounds like the needle bearing in the front diff?

 

Possibly. I had been considering that, but it goes away completely when I coast. Still present when I activate the H4L. I’m getting the transfer case and dif fluids changed Monday. Thought I did it when I had the tranny drain and fill when I bought it with 63k miles, but paperwork says I didn’t, and I don’t think it has ever been done. Have 73k on it now. Wondering if dif is low maybe?

 

I’m bumping this to see if anyone has any other ideas. A couple months back, the dealership said they didn’t notice anything and offered a new front drive shaft. I declined since they were just offering to throw parts. A few weeks back I took it to a local shop and they said they don’t notice anything and their mechanic says it rides great. They said they checked everything and nothing appears to be wrong. At this point I thought it might just be me. Had a buddy drive it the other day and he could feel it, so I know it’s not just me. A lady I work with has a Limited and says she has no vibrations at all.

Vibration might not be the best way yo describe it. It feels like the bottom of my foot is tingling, and I can feel that through the floorboard and through the gas pedal. It only happens when accelerating, but goes away when coasting. I could feel it in the passenger floor when I let my friend drive it too. It’s not audible either. Can only feel it, especially under heavier acceleration. Tires have been rotated and balanced multiple times since this has started. I have probably tried to Google this 200 times and keep getting the same results. Inner CV Joint, exhaust leak, unbalanced tire, defective tire, wheel bearing. Also, I had the driveshaft lubricated, dif and transfer case fluids changed. Had a tranny drain and fill several months back. Still there. Boots have no tears that I can see. It’s driving me nuts and I’m about to get rid of the car, because it ruins what little bit of pleasure I get out of driving.

Oh, and one other thing I have noticed is when driving down the road, it becomes more pronounced when the vehicle rocks to its sides, but immediately goes back to the regular vibration when not rocking.

 

Edit: didn't read

 

I work on helicopters, and when the driver's feet are tingling, it is vibration. In the case of a helicopter, it is the tail rotor that is out of balance. I noticed you thought about the bearing in the diff - the test for that is if it goes away when you shift into 4H. I'm assuming you have tried that.
Even though the drive line was lubed - take a very good look at the universals. It only takes a little bit of wear, or needle bearing issues inside those, and you will have vibration especially under load. Did you purchase the truck new?

Who lubed the drive line? If it wasn't you, lube it yourself. Look at the color of the grease that is pushed out. If it is black, and the grease you are using is a different color, I would be suspicious of that. The color of the grease coming out can indicate something wrong - wearing - inside.

 

Does the standard "test" for the needle bearing work on the full time 4wd Ltd?

And / or is the Ltd affected by the needle bearing issue?

I know nothing about the full time models.

 

Very good point.

 

A local shop did the driveshaft. I didn’t watch them do it, but when I look under the car, I can tell that they took the dif plate off, so I’m assuming they did everything. I took it to this same shop a few weeks before that, and when I was dropping it off the mechanic’s first guess was the u-joints and said it is not uncommon for it to happen. A couple of hours later he called and said the u-joints were fine and everything else looked fine too.

I did not purchase it new. I bought it about a year ago with around 63k miles. One thing I did notice was there were black dots under the doors where running boards would be, on both sides. Didn’t think about it at the time, but it could have been grease, but also tar specs. It would only come off with a little bit of turtle wax on a microfiber towel.

 

That was one of the first things I tested for. The vibration doesn’t seem to go away when I put it in H4L.

 

Long ago, I had a Toyota truck that had a drive shaft problem. The truck had been in an accident before I bought it. The truck always had vibration at highway speeds. The drive shaft on this truck was bent ever so slightly. This affects the balance and caused the vibration. That is why I asked if you bought the truck new, because while your truck may not have been in an accident, it is possible for drive line contact while 4 wheeling in an extreme environment - such as rocks.

 

I’ve thought about the driveshaft, but isn’t it always spinning, even when coasting? The vibration goes away completely when I coast, even at 40-50 mph. The “buzzing” I feel in my feet does get more pronounced the harder I accelerate though. I’m moving to another state in a couple of weeks and don’t have the equipment to really do this myself, but my buddy who lives where I’m moving suggested we try taking one of the driveshafts off and driving it to see. Just might have to wait a few weeks.

 

Yes, always spinning, but might be more pronounced under load. Mine was.

 

Okay, thanks for the info. I’ll start there. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for the input everyone. I’ll still welcome other suggestions, if anyone has them.

 

Okay, a little update. I’m not back in Ohio yet, so I can’t drive with the front driveshaft off yet, but I think I’m on to something. So I had the car aligned and balanced in October, then after a fender bender in July, had it done again. Took it to NTB for alignment and balance on Friday. Noticed immediately it was 80% better. The next day it started vibrating again, but it went away coincidentally after highway driving that day. And I’m trying not to jinx it, but it seems to be even better today, to the point I’m barely feeling it. Should I take it back for a road force balance? I have the low profile wheels and I keep reading that those need road force balances more. I’m almost reluctant to even fuck with it at this point. That’s how much better it has been since Friday-Saturday. Anyways, does anyone know why it would seem to be getting better instead of just being better? If a normal wheel balance helped it, but didn’t fix it, would it make sense that it’s possible it needs road force balanced?

 

Matt, thanks for updating your journey. The feeling you have is exactly what I’m experiencing in my 13.

Have you had any brake work done recently? The only reason I ask, mine really reared it’s head after a complete brake job.

 

I have not. According to the Toyota app, the previous owner had the front and rear pads done about 2k miles before I purchased it. Odd time to gets brakes done if you’re selling it, but I have no clue what the vehicle drove like before the brakes were done.

 

Going to take another crack at this, because it is still driving me nuts. Still feeling vibrations in the floor, gas pedal, and center of steering wheel only when accelerating. When I take my foot off of the gas and coast at any speed, it completely goes away. Have had the wheels balanced 4-5 times since July and aligned twice since July, most recently a few days ago. Last week I had the spark plugs changed and fuel injection system cleaned. Have had the transmission drained and filled, transfer case and dif fluids changed, and driveshaft lubricated. The harder I accelerate, the more intense the vibrating in the center of the steering wheel becomes. However, it is also worse when I try to maintain speed while pressing the gas (usually around 35-40 mph). Also have noticed that I can duplicate the issue when revving in park or neutral, but usually closer to 3k rpm. When I say vibrate, I mean like your phone in your pocket. It doesn’t shake or shimmy or rattle. The vibration is felt more in the steering wheel than in the floor or gas, but this could be because I have shoes on. Last night I was looking at the steering shaft that is behind the gas and brake pedals, but I don’t really know what to look for. There is a boot that is at the bottom of this and I noticed a blue ring inside of it that I could move around, but I don’t know if this is anything unusual. The weird thing about the steering wheel vibration is that it’s very noticeable if you hold your hand on the horn, barely noticeable on the actual wheel, and cannot feel it at all on the rest of the column behind or under the wheel (where the cruise control and blinkers are attached). I know that this forum probably isn’t filled with mechanics and it’s difficult to diagnose through text, but I’m hoping that someone reads this and recognizes the issue. I apologize in advance if my posts seem wordy, but I don’t know how to explain some of these symptoms any better. Thanks in advance.

 

I was gonna say wheel bearings, but it makes the vibe in neutral.

Kind of a tough one. Do you have the ability to pull the skid plates off and have a good “look-see” underneath the engine? You never know of something is wedged in the plates making contact with part of the frame, or if something is wrapped around a driveshaft, or if something is loose. Or you might discover evidence of collision repair, which could potentially alterntge harmonics of the vehicle. For example, even forgetting to reinstall some of the harmonic damper weights that are on some engines could possibly cause something like that (they usually look like rectangular metal weights on a bracket).

Not sure… but having a really good look around with your own eyeballs might be the next step.

 

I’ll see if I can get under there and take a look. Thanks for the response.

 

Good luck, it sucks when you have to chase ghosts! Maybe also you could try having someone rev the engine in neutral while you stand outside. You dont hear noise inside, but something might be audible if you listen from the wheel well area.

 

Few weeks ago had an interesting steering wheel vibration at idle and low speeds on our Titan truck that even wife noticed but no CEL, put a bottle of Redline fuel system cleaner in the tank and about a week later the vibration was gone, must have been a dirty injector. I usually run a fuel system cleaner through every couple months.

 

So I am still having the issues and am sort of at a crossroads. Either live with it, continue to try to figure it out, or get a different car. The stubborn side of me wants to figure this out. Anywho, I was looking at the invoice of the shop that I paid to change my dif and transfer case oils and I noticed a few things. First, it says “both diffs” on the right. Doesn’t the Limited have 3 of them? Then below that it just says “front differentials.” This is making me wonder if they didn’t change the oil on all of them? At the top, they listed it as an SR5 Premium. Not sure how I missed this, but could be auto generated by the VIN? I know the title doesn’t always specify the trim. Finally, they used 5.50 units of 75W90. Not sure what measurement 5.50 represents, but does this sound right for 3 difs and a TC?

 

I think the transfer case and the center diff share the same oil? Not sure. I used about 6qts for the front and rear diffs together. Probably could do it on 5.5 quarts (assuming that’snthe unit referred to).


Whether or not they did it depends either honesty, unless you watched them do it and knew what they needed to do.

 

My two cents. It almost sounds like it could be an exhaust vibration. Under power, the engine rocks a small amount in one direction, and returns when coasting. What if the exhaust contacts something under load, and not while coasting? Could be something near the engine or farther downstream. Maybe you can get something soft and flameproof that you could safely wedge into a spot to dampen any possible vibration, just to test.