My buddy has a stock FJ60 with the four square headlights. (I don't know the year) The problem is that he is experiencing a bad vibration that shakes the whole vehicle. It does not appear to be wheel balance and the tires are new. The vibe only happens at 54 mph in Drive when he is accelerating. It will not do it in any other gear and will stop after you start going faster. What could this be??? Thanks for any help

Loose drive shaft bolts, bad Ujoint, drive shaft out of phase. Thats an FJ62 actually with square lights round dash auto and 3FE

Check the lugs

Has the driveshaft been out of the truck recently?

Ok, Its an '89 and no, the driveshaft has not been out of the truck recently. I am not seeing any wheel movement at speed but I will check the lugs. I will probably also pull the driveshaft today to see that too. But why would a bad u-joint only vibrate at 54 mph in Drive and not 3rd?

Just reach under there and yank on the drive shaft back and forth... it should be pretty obvious if there is play in it. I

if i had to take a guess i'd say it's the torque converter clutch chattering when it's going into lockup.

does it shake the steering wheel or the shifter?!

you can try an additive made by a company callen international lubricants. it's called "lube guard" and for toyotas you should use the one in the black bottle with the red top. most transmission shops use and stock this stuff. should cost $12-20 depending on how much they're marking it up.
i would service the trans and add this stuff with the new fluid. the fluid is designed to remove the varnish and clean the surface on the lock-up clutch surface to reduce/eliminate the chatter.
i would not put any other additives of any kind into an auto trans besides this.
hopefully that'll work for ya as long as it's the converter clutch.

The transmission shifter does not seem to vibrate. Its more like a console shaking side mirror moving shake!!! I'll try the fluid change method after I have eliminated the other possibilities.

You said the tires were NEW, could one be out of round?

Has anyone worked on the front end or steering stabilizer?

Thanks for all the replies. I am not sure about the front end being worked on recently. If i had to guess it has not been. I don't think that it could be a tire because of the fact that the vibration only happens in DRIVE gear and not Third.

the gear selection issue has me leaning towards the trans/converter.


either way, the first thing you need to do is to jack up the front and and do an inspection. check the wheel bearings and trunion bearings and then go from there....