buying a toyata is not going to solve anything i have worked on a lot of toyotas and i find they have the same or more problems as any other manufacturer

 

Kjun,
No it didn't start with the tires. New tires were on it when I bought the truck and all was right with the world. There was a shifting problem that developed and I also noticed a come and go vibration at low speeds which I thought was a u-joint. I took it into the tranny shop and they fixed the trans. problem and found a bad u-joint. Well the tranny is fine now, but the vibration is now at higher speeds. The tranny shop guy says the drive shaft needs to be re-balanced. But if I didn't have the high speed vibration before, and the shaft is not missing any weights, how could that be? Something just doesn't add up here. I am going to take it back to him after new years for another look.
No 5 speed,buying a Toyota will not solve all my problems. It won't make me rich or handsome or younger or irresistable to the ladies. But I am pretty sure I won't be going through all this BS on a Toyota with only 85K on the clock. Yes Toyota has lost some of their edge. Comes with rapid growth. But they are still good for at least 200K with few if any major problems.

 

Toyota has been having the BIGGEST problems with their new trucks, but hey, go ahead...

We won't stop ya.

Not sure what year you are looking at, but don't be surprised when you find out, their trucks aren't built liek their cars...

 

I felt the same way with my 2000 until I drove my 02 ram. I could immediately tell the quality was light years ahead of my 2000. I would try out a newer Dodge. Toyotas are great vehicles but nothing is perfect just don't buy from Riverside in Marquette lol!

 

1988 Dodge Dakota 3.9 5speed 249,000 miles starts up every time and has ran great during the year my best friend owned it and the year since i bought it from him. When i'm out driving around i see a ****LOAD of old dakotas on the roads. rarely do i ever see an old toyota truck. hate to say it but it sounds like your truck was wrecked... carfax doesnt know ****. you shouldve looked at it closer. dont tell me dodges are junk. you should probably think before you post something like that on a DODGE FORUM next time.

 

Well wink I guess you haven't actually read my posts. Nowhere did I say Dodges were junk. I have owned one or more Dodge vehicles for over 30 years. I have lost count. All I am doing here is pointing out the many problems with these trucks. All you need to do is look in the forums and read about the problems with engines, transmissions, ball joints,etc.... If you can't tolerate a different opinion then that's too bad. Sometimes it's good to take a realistic and harsh look at what we are dealing with.
And yes I know all about Riverside in Mqt. I wouldn't go there if they were free. He would still find a way to screw you. GO CATS!!!

 

Moe in Wichita Kansas
My dad had a 1982 ram that had a vibration, it wasnt the tires, driveshaft, it was the front breaks hanging on the rotor. it had plastic pistons in the front breaks, and they would hang up touching the rotors, causing a vibreation. as to what a person expects from a vehical, this is what happened to me. i drove almostly Chrysler cars with torshion bars, starting in 1965.and i thought that there was nothing better. in 1976 i bought a 77 half ton ram, it had coil springs on the front. i thought i could tell the differance but it road as good as torshion bars.

 

if you read posts you would realize that i frequently help people out with my knowledge of common problems these trucks have. like i said, your truck has probably been wrecked, thats the only reason i can think of why a driveshaft would unbalance itself. these trucks arent perfect, but most of the problems they do have can be fixed pretty easily especially trucks with the old LA block engines. 4.7's are another story and something i dont claim to know anything about.

 

Sorry. Interpretated your original post to the vibe started after the new tires. You are right in that something doesn't add up with the d/s. Something maybe worth trying is re-indexing the drive shaft. In my limited experience, you always wanted to mark the drive shaft and flange before you remove it for balancing purposes. You might try re-indexing it to see it the vibe changes.

Also I know how you feel. I had a Corolla once that was the biggest POS around. I knew the brand wasn't bad, but that car turned me off of Toy's for years.

 

Well I just came in from crawling around under my truck. No sign of being wrecked. all sheet metal is original with no repairs. I think I may give kjuns answer a try. The trans. shop did install a new front u-joint and the D/S is marked "front" where it should be. I am not sure how re-indexing the D/S would help but it is worth a try. Thanks for the tip Moe. The vibration does seem to be coming from the mid to rear area and I just had new brakes put on the front and they are working good. Yes Wink these trucks do seem to be pretty simple to work on and easy to access the engine area. Not like my Exploder which can be a real PITA sometimes... Well O.K. ALL the time!