Bucking from 50-70 mph. Mostly while acceleration.

Hi all. I've got a '03 4Runner SR5 and I've been having an issue with my acceleration for the past month. While going 50+ mph my vehicle is jerking/bucking mostly while accelerating and very prominent while going up a large hill. I've read some forums saying it may be a bad fuel filter or MAF. Changed both and honestly it feels like it's gotten worse. Really hoping it's not the torque converter going but I figured I would reach out to the internet to see if anyone has had the same issue or just knows of a fix. Thanks all.

 

Hard to troubleshoot over the interweb but a clogged cat maybe? Could use a temp gun or just a quick but not 10% accurate test is try see if you can feel the exhaust coming out of the pipe.

 

Don't have a temp gun but I had my girlfriend lightly hold the gas pedal and the exhaust was pretty darn hot

 

Did you ever figure this out?