Grab the bottom of your steering wheel for me

A bad alignment or worn components will not cause a wheel shake. A wheel shake is cause by a rotating mass that is out of balance. Examples are tires, rims, brake rotors and drive axles. The most likely cause is the tires. Try moving front to back and see if it gets better.

 

Yes,
I understand that. Thank you for the input I appreciate it.
That's my next move I am going to move them this weekend and see how it does.
Maybe it just gives me an excuse to get new wheels and bigger tires.

 

Airn890 - You’re explaining my exact issue. Almost a buzzing in the steering wheel that definitely gets worse in 4wd, and even more so with a load on the engine in 4wd, like when accelerating up a hill. 2020 crewmax TRD Pro, and it’s been there since the first mile and now I’m at 13,000 miles.

I’m about to take it to the dealer but wanted to have some more detail about when it’s happening to help pinpoint the issue when I take it in. Seems like it’s getting worse over time.

 

I’ve taken it to 2 dealers and got corporate Toyota involved. Dealers say it’s totally normal. I haven’t been able to come up with a solution. Please update if you do

 

What does corporate Toyota have to say about it?

 

If they are saying it's normal ask them to take you for a test drive in a new Tunda to duplicate the noise.

 

The dealer has to say there’s an actual problem before Toyota can send a rep

 

Exactly what I would do.

Worst thing about Toyota is the dealers.

 

Your mistakenly thinking that the dealer is Toyota. They are an independent business that happens to sell and service Toyotas.

 

I’m not confusing anything. But for clarity’s sake, what I’m saying is the worst part about owning a Toyota is dealing with the dealers, which as this thread illustrates can be an obnoxious pain in the rear end when one actually has an issue.

 

As the old saying goes, a picture (or in your case video/audio) is worth a thousand words. Post up a video with audio from your phone with your hand on the wheel as you have described so we can see and hear what you are talking about. It will help the rest of us understand your problem.

 

There is no audio or video. It’s a buzzing in the steering wheel

 

It's the way it came across in the way you worded it.
Not all dealers are bad. Find a good dealer and stay with them. My local dealer is terrible and I travel 100 miles to get to a fantastic dealer. A pain but worth the trip.

 

Sounds like the tech will have to drive your truck to troubleshoot something that subtle. I'm driving a '20, an '18 and '02 before that. I had a vibration once after a tire change. Turned out to be a bad KO2 BFG. America's Tire replaced and problem solved.

 

I guess I’m feeling extra confrontational today...

“Worst thing about Toyota is the dealers.” Nowhere in that statement is anything beyond the exlusive working relationship they enjoy with Toyota implied. You are mistakenly inferring it.

All four around me that I’ve dealt with are less than honest. One of them, whose name rhymes with SCHMOYOTA OF POOL STINGS is appallingly so.

 

I think I see why your having so many problems with Toyota dealers.

Well, good luck with all that.

 

I’m a nice guy. I’m sure you’re a nice guy. You called me out, and you happen to be wrong. Nothing more.

Regarding the dealers...

—One lied to me about their fees. Standard stuff that somehow we come to expect when shopping for a vehicle.
—One lied to me about the tax rate (here, it’s 7% on vehicles but regular sales tax is 9.25%. Lots of dealers here calculate it at 9.25% on their sheets and pocket the extra 2.25%.)
—One added “nitrogen filled tires” to their invoice for $1000 over Toyota invoice. I got them to remove it and actually worked out a deal with them. They’re the closest to what I’d call a good dealer.
—The last one, in Cool Springs, literally added $1200 to my loan for no reason. The finance guy was trying to move me through the signing process really quickly before I could figure out what had been done. I had to ask him to look at the first page again. I know a lot of people on the forum used to get parts from them and have had good experiences, but I will never go there again for anything.

 

Stock tires

I believe what he’s trying to say is “ there’s a high frequency vibration in the steering wheel.”

Perhaps we should play the process of elimination game and see if we can’t narrow down what’s vibrating at high frequency and what isn’t. Then link whatever would be attached to those components to the vibration.

What are the “exact” circumstances of the frequency?

Are there effects elsewhere? Dashboard, shifter maybe?

High frequency would be brought on by rotational force I would guess.

Things that spin at engine RPM and are slightly off balance will certainly cause such things.

A torque converter
A drive shaft
Wheels
Tires
Brakes
Engine internals

narrow it down from there. What’s moving when parked? Anyway I’m going to bed but some food for thought.

 

Well, I'm not the OP, but I do have the same issue. Here's what I can tell so far.

1. 4wd makes it worse
2. At cruising speed, if I put it into neutral, the vibration is still there
3. Sitting in park, revved to 2,000 RPM, I feel the engine is there, but not the vibration we're talking about here
4. Maybe it's my mind, but I think it's worse at cold startup
5. When it's at its strongest, I can feel a "pulsating", but most of the time its a constant vibration
6. Braking doesn't make any difference, not better or worse
7. I can feel it at RPM's from 1,000 to 2,000 and starting at pretty low speeds (this is not just a high speed vibration)
8. I'm on the stock Michelin's. Its done this to some extent since brand new, although it's getting stronger.

Thanks for thinking through this with us.

 

I believe it to be tire related. BFG, Goodyear, Michelin, all of the MFGs have put out tires that could not be balanced satisfactorily. Try getting them road force balanced first, if that doesn't work, buy new ones and take it back to the dealer and show them it is fixed, then ask for compensation.

 

Tire balance is certainly the first thing I'll ask them to do, and then go from there. It's the easiest and most likely candidate, but I haven't heard a lot of reports of the stock Michelin's having balancing issues.

 

Same issues as you
Wasted time dealing with Toyota
If anyone ever figures out anything it would be great to know.
Also we aren’t the only ones, the Tacoma has the same buzzing RPMs around 2K. There’s 130 page thread over on a Tacoma forum and nobody has a solution. Some guys tried adding exhaust damper, as did I and it did nothing.

The only thing I wonder is if puttting on a different exhaust like DIrty deeds would change this issue

 

It's really pretty sad that you had to trade in your Tacoma because of bad service. A wheel shake is a pretty easy thing to diag.

 

With stock tires , initial couple of miles My truck had the same vibration. After the tires warmed up a bit then vibration was less pronounced.

50 k miles switched to nitto tera grapplers, didn’t feel the vibrations

 

4runners I think all are guilty of this shake and I believe it's the spring in the steering column.

 

What spring are you referring too?

 

I believe I read in the 4runner forum when I had mine that Lexus had the same issue and they beefed up the spring in the steering column and it eliminated the shake. I'd have to search again.

 

I've never seen a spring in the steering column that could effect or eliminate wheel shake.

4Runner column

 

Post# 36 last paragraph. It's the only one I can find at the moment.

 

Unfortunately that isn't an option because the rack and pinion in not serviceable. If there's an issue it's simply replaced and on the Tundra there is a fair amount of labour for the R and R. Maybe a rebuilder of steering gears may be able to do it but it would be easier to address the issues causing the shake in the first place.