Loud vibration in the rear end when going over 50 mph

3rd gen 96 4runner, I'm getting a loud vibration past 50 in the rear end and it's riding rough also when going from park to drive i get a clunking

 

About the vibration, try to rotate the tires first.

 

I'll start with that first and go from there ill post update

 

Welcome!

 

A clunk sounds like a bad U-Joint which would potentially also be the source of the vibration.

 

+1

 

+2

Pat☺

 

Rotated tires and now I'm getting a lot of vibration when I let off the gas above 40 50

 

That's classic wheel balance. You could have thrown weights, but the steady banging is odd.

 

Probably 2 issues. Get the tires/wheels balanced first. Take it to a good tire shop and they should be able to locate the clunk for you too.

 

+3

 

Got tires rotated and balanced, it fixed the vibration going past 50 but now it does it really bad when I let off the gas

 

When you let off the gas, the drive train is no longer tensioned and it vibrates because somewhere something is loose. Most commonly it is a u-joint. Especially if you have a clunk when shifting into drive or from drive to reverse.

 

Would a bad u-joint cause it to vibrate really bad when letting off the gas but stops when I get back on gas?

 

Of course. You are applying tension to all parts of the drive train now and things aren't loose.

 

Also is it bad to drive with a bad ujoint

 

When changing the u joint is there anything else that I should change out? This is my first rwd vehicle so I'm kinda new to all this

 

If the rear ujoint lets go, and the rear of the driveshaft drops...there should be no real damage as you will be dragging the end of the driveshaft on the pavement.

If the front of the driveshaft drops down, it drops to the road and acts as a pole vault. Not sure if it will flip a 4Runner, but I've heard of stories of catastrophe in other cars.

You need the drive line inspected if you don't know what you are looking for. Get an estimate and just do the repair yourself if you think you can do it (it's usually not too hard).

 

I appreciate it,thank you this forum has been so helpful. Is there a write up on how to change out the u joint, I've never done one before

 

Youtube has lots of 3rd gen videos from Timmy the Toolman. Check there, I am sure he shows how to do it.

It sounds like it is a ujoint but may not be it. Diagnose it if you can or have a shop do it.