Gen. 1 Vibration only while braking, further diagnosis required

Vehicle: 2006 Tundra Limited 4x4 Double Cab, 147k miles

Problem: significant vibration in front right only while braking. Uneven tire wear on front right tire

Additional factors:

• No unusual noises (no noticeable wheel bearing oscillation, squeaks, clunking)
• No major play in steering, vibration while accelerating or normal driving
• Pushing on tire/wheel with car raised did not show symptoms of bad wheel bearing
• Brakes (Front pads and rotors, rear shoes and drums) were changed about 15k miles ago. No signs of significant wear.
• Tires are Yokohama Geolandr 275/70/R16 with approximately 50k miles on them (need replacement)

Attempts to diagnose:

• Swapped rotor from front left to front right to see if vibration would change sides, no change.
• Swapped tire from right rear to right front, no change.
• Tested front right caliper for seized pistons, all pistons moved.
• All visible suspension components (ball joints, sway bar end links) appear in reasonable condition and have minimal play.
• No difference with 4wd Hi turned on

Next steps:
I’d like to get an alignment and replace my tires and reassess. However I believe this could be a bad wheel bearing, despite no noticeable noise.

Any further diagnosis options for a wheel bearing or just bite the bullet and replace?

If I am removing the knuckle for wheel bearing replacement, what other components are worth replacing while it is disassembled?

Thank you.

 

How can you tell which side the vibration is coming from? I don’t think you have successfully ruled out a brake rotor being the issue.

Definitely need an alignment for the tire wear.

Wheel bearings usually make noise when they are going bad.

 

The vibration is felt significantly more on that side. I swapped in the rotor on the opposite side as a test to see if the vibration changed/improved at all and had no change. My assumption being that if I had a warped rotor it would vibrate on the opposite side.

 

I understand, but I also feel that doesn’t rule out the rotors. Thats just my unpaid, unprofessional opinion without having driven your truck.

The tire is wearing likely due to alignment. Maybe a ball joint has some wear or control arm bushing is shot. These are things that a good alignment shop would be able to diagnose.

Good luck.

 

When I had a front bearing going out in my '05 at about 300k miles, it made a whomp-whomp noise when I turned the steering wheel to the right while going between 20mph-50mph. There was no failing bearing related front end vibration while braking as OP describes.