Clunk sound when braking

I won't be able to look at this until this weekend so I thought I'd post here first and see what type of responses I get. And my shop is also booked this week so I couldn't get an appt until next week.

So I noticed my truck makes a clunk sound when I quickly tap on the brake pedal. And when I say quickly, I mean not enough to engage the brake, just a very light and quick tap on the pedal. It doesn't happen if I brake normally where I initially feather the pedal and gradually press harder as I come to a stop.

It only happens when the truck is moving forward. It does not happen in reverse. It happens in succession (e.g., if I'm coasting and tap the pedal in succession I hear the clunk each time). I can be at a crawl (even in neutral) or driving normal street speeds, and it happens even on a turn in either direction. While coasting I tap the brake I hear the clunk, and if I start to engage the brake like normal to slow down then release the pedal and tap it again, I hear the clunk. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe I heard a similar sound a few times from dips in the road, but it doesn't always happen.

The sound mostly comes from the passenger side front. I was thinking maybe a bushing or even the strut especially given the age of the truck which just crossed 100k mi a few months ago, but the tap on the pedal isn't enough to shift any weight forward. The brakes otherwise operate fine when braking normally, and I don't notice anything off with the steering and suspension while driving.

 

Check if your brake caliper bolts are tight. I went wheeling a few weeks ago and 1 of the 2 brake caliper bolts came right out, lost on the trail somewhere. It was making noises prior but I could never pinpoint it.

Don't even need to remove the tires. 19mm

 

Just to eliminate em', check your lug nuts. Once upon a time I had a case of an attempted wheel theft I think. Took off down the road and noticed some clunking at times. Some lug nuts had been loosened without my consent. Could have easily made for a bad day!

 

Unauthorized loosening...reminded me of the drive home from Moab last year. Driving on the freeway. Something was off. Truck was vibrating. Decided to pull over to look around.

4 lugs were missing:


But it was actually 4 wheel studs that had snapped off and I was driving around with 1 lug nut doing 80mph

 

Lucky!!!

 

That was it! Both bolts were a couple of turns loose. Just hand tightened it with a wrench for now and test drove it and clunk is completely gone. I'll torque it down tonight.

Thanks! Saved me from having to troubleshoot!

 

Man, glad it held up for you! More evidence at how awesome Tundras are?

And speaking of unauthorized loosening, we had an issue in my neighborhood with some punks loosening up lug nuts a few years ago. It was reported in the neighborhood Facebook community page. I hate FB, but it's stuff like this that makes it worth keeping. My next door neighbor got hit if I recall. Fortunately we park in the garage and I rarely if ever leave our vehicles out overnight. Nevertheless I was still checking our lug nuts regularly for a while there.

 

IIRC these are one use bolts. Kinda crazy I sort of agree, but unless I am mistaken they have a thread locking compound applied to new ones to help secure them. Drove my 4Runner about 3 month ago and I was being pretty rough on the drivetrain when all of a sudden I heard dragging and clunking. Sure enough both bolts had completely fallen out somewhere in my travels. Luckily only a mile from home. Still need to get some factory bolts put in it now that it's getting warmer. Anyway, call your dealer parts, pretty sure they can see on the diagram where it specifies one use.

 

Bought a shit ton of new bolts since I'm always taking the calipers off. Adding red loctite on them now, not taking any chances.
https://parts.toyotaofdecatur.com/p/63539618/90119A0277.html

 

The new bolts I got did not have thread lock on it.

 

So I just torqued the bolts down and also decided to check the other side. They were tight, but not torqued to spec. The bolts are new and I'm guessing were part of a spindle kit I had installed last Spring, so they probably weren't torqued to the right spec. It makes me wonder about my local off-road shop now, or at least the technicians there. The owner is awesome, really knows his stuff, but some of the techs tend to be flakes. Stuff like this makes me think I should have just done it myself. I'm just lazy these days.

Thanks, yeah I'm gonna get a new set even if these are new bolts.

 

If its any of the bolts the hold the front calipers or the rear one to the hub assembly put red lock tight on the treads.

 

Dang. Talk about cutting it close.

 

Old thread but I am having the same clunk. Can someone show or tell we where to check these brake caliper bolts and tighten them? I assume they are on the inside of the wheel.

My noise sound like a plastic blend / vent door would if you flapped it shut in that it is a plastic dull thud. Mine is only when moving forward and a little after braking but not every time and not if I brake fairly hard.

 

What's rolling around in your storage boxes.?

 

Nope, I checked those and looked all over the truck in and out.

 

Turn your wheel so that you can see the back of it and check these 2 bolts.

 

Resurrecting this....did the rear brakes myself 2-3 months ago and had the front brakes and suspension done by a shop about a month ago...I've been getting some awful vibration, pad squeal and an intermittent clunk, which all seems like it's coming from the front end. Lugnuts are tight, trim rings (Rock Warrior) are tight...everything looks good and connected, but I didn't check the tightness (it was late, cold, and dark last night). Does anyone think these two stupid bolts could be the culprit(s)?

 

Maybe check the brake caliper bolts? I was getting a clunk that turned out to be the passenger side brake caliper. I had some general service done including the brakes, and they must not have tightened/torqued the caliper bolts as they were 2-turns loose, so they were shifting when feathering or initially applying the brakes.

 

Checked quickly this morning and everything felt okay. The only potentially loose bolt was the sway nar end link but I don't think it's supposed to be super tight and wouldn't cause these issues?

I might have to jack off up and pull the wheels tomorrow to see if there's annoying I missed.