Hey all, to start off I have a 1990 4runner with a re-manufactured 3VZE with about 4k miles on it and 210k on the body. Last weekend I went camping and drove for 15 miles or so on the most potholed trails I've ever seen. Once we were at camp for a while I went to move my truck. It was in 4 high and I had to give it a lot of gas to move it and it would only move a couple feet before feeling like a wheel was locking up. Having had a few beers by then I figured the morning would be a better time to figure it out. In the morning, I tried a couple times to move it but no luck, I walked away then came back, tried again and it moved no problem.
Now fast forward to yesterday. I was on a slight downward slope in line to get on the freeway. When the car would roll forward a little I could feel something resisting and the car would stop rolling with no brake applied. I tried this a couple times and it kept stopping. Today I noticed the same thing when leaving my house. When I got to work I rolled down the window and could hear a high pitched whining noise coming from the front right of the truck. That's about all I know.

So does anyone have a clue what could be the problem? It drives fine on the freeway. I can't tell if it's taking a little more throttle than usual to get it going or if I'm being paranoid.

TLDR: Went wheeling, couldn't move the truck after being parked for a while. Now it won't roll on small hills and there is quiet whining sound coming from around the front right wheel.

 

Could be a lot of things. Brakes, wheel bearings, spindle/knuckle bearings to name a few.

Were the potholes full of water? Does it have ADD, or manual hubs?

 

Lide said, could be any number of things. Assuming you have open front diff? I'd jack up the front end and start poking around. Try rotating tire by hand with it off ground and see if you can pinpoint it further

 

Sticking right caliper? Check the condition of your rotors......make sure they don't have deep "ruts" in them. Check that right front brake pad to make sure it's not down to the rivets.

 

Quite a few of the holes had at least a foot of water in them. I believe I have ADD hubs.

 

I do. I'll give that a try when I get home from work and get back to you with what I see/hear. Regarding what ZUK said, I'll also take a look at the rotors and pads. My brakes work great but it's definitely worth a look.

 

If your CV to spindle/knuckle seal(s) are shot, then you probably got water in the spindle/knuckle and maybe the wheel bearings too. It sounds like water washed wheel bearings to me. Been there done that.

But with ADD your CVs are always turning, and the spindle/knuckle bushings(or bearings) might be contributing to some of the noise. Not very likely the wheel drag though...possibly...but I doubt it.

 

If there is water in the wheel bearings could that cause the drag? How can I check on the seal? I took a look at the assembly behind the hub and it's looking pretty gunky, hard to see anything going on down there...

 

Yeah...I let mine go a little too long and it started locking the wheel up completely. On top of the horridly loud squeal.


You take the CV shaft out and take a look at it. If they're(1 on the CV shaft and 1 one the rear of the spindle/knuckle) letting stuff get by into the spindle/knuckle you'll know. Should be nothing but clean grease in there.

What do you mean behind the hub? Like where the CV plugs into the back of the spindle/knuckle?

 

Sorry I didn't mean actually behind the hub but just the whole area around the spindle and CV. I just went and took a look with a flashlight in the parking garage. I don't have a lot of experience working on my truck, is this simple enough that I can probably do it myself? I looked through a few DIY's on replacing wheel bearings and such and it looked easy enough to disassemble everything.

 

Oh...it's not the easiest thing to do. The removing the CV half shaft part sucks. Good practice for replacing your CV boots though.

Replacing wheel bearings is pretty easy. And you should be taking them out and repacking them every so often anyways. Every 36 months according to Toyota. When was that done last? Dare I ask?

 

I'll have to go check my receipt folder when I get home but I believe the previous owner did it right before I got the truck a little over three years ago. He may not have replaced all of them though. Sounds like now may be a good time to figure out how to do it myself