Violent shuddering and clunking

My truck has been shuddering violently when applying the brakes. It feels like its coming from the front (maybe from the wheels).
Also, when stepping on the gas from stopping, the truck'll hesitate and clunk from the rear.
Anyone have any theories?

 

Braking from what speeds? Low speed or high speed? Is it immediate or do you have to really lay on the brakes for it to happen?

 

Any speed. It's not terrible at first, but gets worse the harder I brake.

 

My guess would be the front brakes provided the rears aren’t stuck and dragging. You’d know from just feeling the rears drums (with a thin glove or spit to protect your finger/hand) to see if they’re hot.

I’d get the rotors turned and a new set of break pads to break in to see if it fixes it.

After that, it could be out of round drums, I’ve heard that mentioned in the past. A more expensive solution since most here recommend OEM unless you’re able to get those turned as well.

However, if it is your front disks and you fix it, please make sure to adjust your rear brake shoes to engage properly. Failure to do so puts a lot of the work on the front brakes which will eventually heat up and warp with hard braking. I went through that rodeo before.

 

I would jack the truck up and spin each tire to see if your brakes are sticking.

Your truck is now 22 years old. Have you done any preventative maintenance to the braking system?

 

Have you looked at or felt the surface of the rotors to see if the surface is smooth, edge to edge?

 

I changed the rear brakes (drums, shoes, components) a couple months ago. At the same time I replaced (most of) the brake fluid. I'm thinking maybe the rotors are the issue.

What would that entail?

 

For the clunking, lube up the drivetrain- there will be some zerk fittings in the driveshaft.

For the brakes, pull the wheels and see what is going on. Recent brake job, so something is amiss with pads/pins/rotors. You did lube up the brake pins well?

 

Nope. 2WD.

 

Also curious about the rear brake change/refresh. Whether the rear brakes may be mal-adjusted and grabbing too much.

 

After I replaced them, I made sure they could rotate freely without any rubbing from the pads. I also made sure they actually worked.
Edit: The shuddering did start after the brake change, but I only really feel it up front. I hadn't been able to drive it since I changed them, up until last week anyway, so I can't really see it being the rear brakes.
I'll double check them anyway.

 

Well there is my guess. Someone in the past had this issue I think. Rear drums caused pulsating.

 

Several posts in here with non-OEM rear brake drums causing vibration. Front brakes came factory with this feature and an upgrade came with the 03 and up models to address it. If the issue began when the rears were done, I would suspect those first.

 

I have first hand felt brand new aftermarket 1st gen brake drums be warped/out of round.

If your front brakes are anywhere near needing to be done I'd say just knock them out to make sure. If problem is still there then check out the back. I'd say just buy new rotors and don't deal with getting them turned somewhere. Yeah definitely get new OEM drums if you do replace. Or take the ones you have and get them turned of problem persists after doing fronts.

 

So taking another drive, the shuddering does seem to actually be coming from the rear, so I'll probably just get the drums turned.
Now that that's out of the way for now, any ideas on the clunk?
Also, anyone know a good LBJ? I need to replace my passenger side and don't want to get crap that I'll have to replace in another 6 months.

 

I wouldn’t bother turning the drums based on what I’ve read here. Go OEM and be done with it. OEM for the LBJ as well. Aftermarket parts are almost all cheap chineesium these days.

 

If 2wd doesnt have zerks, could be due for u-joints (with zerks).

 

I suspect brakes vs. driveline.

@OP there's an easy enough test for this.

Slap your old drums on. Click star adjuster to set shoes on both sides, you'll probably get an extra click or two. Drive around.

Does it continue? If not, you got shitty aftermarket drums, have them turned. If it does, search elsewhere for your problem.

This should take you 20mins tops if you have the old drums. Longest part is jacking up the truck and taking off wheels.

 

As other members have stated go with OEM on the LBJ. Stevinson Toyota out here in Golden Colo is having a 10% off parts plus free shipping on orders over $75. https://parts.stevinsontoyotawest.com

 

Here are the LBJ part numbers for my 01 4x4 AC I believe yours are the same. Bolt part numbers in there as well. Usually good to replace bolts too. OEM parts for LBJ only.


You'll need an allignment afterwords so good time to knock out any other front end stuff while you're there.

 

Turning the drums seems to have fixed the issue. It still wobbles, but it's only. about 10% of what it was.