Gohawks63

Guys, are you sure that this isn't the drive shaft that needs to be greased up?

The reason why I state this is that my old '98 LC used to do this and so did my '04.

When I noticed it with my '98, the service manager said that it's just a characteristic of the full-time 4wd system. I couldn't accept that. One day I went under the truck and noticed the grease fittings on the U-joint and on the shaft itself. Once I pumped grease into the shaft fitting, the thump went away. It will last approximately 5K-7K miles before you need to do it again.

I tried telling the dealers when I took it in for service, they said they greased it, only to have it still occur. I think they were just greasing the u-joint. Once I would go underneath and do it myself, it would go away.

When I bought my '04 LC, the exact same thing happened after approximately 5K miles. Again, I told them to grease the shaft when I took it in for service, and again they failed to address the problem. Again when I went underneath and did it myself, the thump disappeared.

I'm absolutely convinced that the dealers don't know all the places that required lubrication on these units.

I post this here because these symptoms are identical to what I experienced and I can't imagine all of these SUVs are defective.

I hope that helps.

Rx900

hmmm, interesting. I just tell them that the clunk is here, and they do it. It disappears for a couple thousand miles till it gradually creeps up on me again. This is so strange, if this were to happen to all rear-wheel drive SUVs, then imagine all the SUVs with this (have tried several SUVs and none of them had the clunk)

Gohawks63

If it keeps disappearing, then they are greasing the shaft. Maybe their just not putting in enough grease.

As far as it not happening in other SUVs, I'm guessing it's specific to the drive train layout. I assume that the AWD system in the GX is either the same or a derivative of the layout in the LC/LX.

There might be some play designed into the driveshaft to account for extreme off-roading (my guess) and the grease keeps the clunk from being noticeable.

I'm reaching here.

<VENOM>

My 03 V8 4Runner had the clunk, never greased a thing, after 10k it went away, nomore clunk, I'll get it greased when I hit 30k, just a few shots, my uncle has an 04 GX that had the clunk I told him it will wear in and go away after 10k, it did and nomore clunk.

Rx900

so what ur trying to say is just wear in the driveshaft and it'll go away after awhile??

<VENOM>

The driveline needs to wear in and it will stop thumping, the Lexus fix was nothing more then a driveline that was almost identical to the driveline they removed but they said it's suppost to wear in faster and reduce the thump sooner.

Both the 4Runner and the GX had the thump and by 10k it was gone, once or twice it happened between 10k-20k but after that it never happened again, and I can hit spots that it use to thump at and it nolonger does it.

GXPrado

there are about 6-8 zerk fittings in the drivetrain that are to be greased on a regular basis. It's normal maintence, like an oil change. That is like a 5 minute job with a grease gun.

<VENOM>

They don't need to be greased, most GX owners who use their vehicles for daily driving and do nothing more then drive on the street can get the driveshafts greased every 15k-30k and they only need a few shots.

Rx900

or you could just forget about it, like what i'm trying to do! lol

<VENOM>

what thump

98Nav400

Funny topic:

I recently had my 5,000 oil change and was given a list of the items done...They included oil change, tire rotation, check fluids, etc. When documenting the service in my manual I noticed that the service also calls for the driveline flange to be retorqued and lubed. I called my advisor to ask if this had been done and I could tell he had no idea what I was talking about. I figured it is no big deal but perhaps I should go back and insist that it's done??

Gohawks63

My point exactly. It's scary that you got that reaction.

<VENOM>

scary that they don't know what their doing but Toyota trucks don't need it like you think, the shaft is not gonna fall out, from what I read and talk to other owners, the 6-8 bolts that need to be retorqued are right on even if they have not been retorqued for 60k, they don't loosen up like you think, 1 guy I talked with said he checked his LC at 80k and 1 bolt was slightly off

spwolf

yep, it is there for preventive purposes, just in case you off road your truck all the time. It would be needed for any car/truck thats in heavy use...

gs400jon

According to the footnote, re-torque of the flange is only needed if the vehicle is operated primarily in the desert, on dirt roads or while towing.