I have a 2000 4wd t4r with 188,000 miles on it. My daughter was driving down a gravel road and ran into the ditch on the right side. It pushed the front bumper in and broke the seal on the front and rear tires on the right side.I took it to a local tire guy who balanced the tires and checked things out. The steering was perfect before her ditch incident, but now has a shutter that starts around 65 mph and continues at higher speeds. It isn't a constant shutter, but rather shakes about every second or.75 second. The rythm of the shutter speeds up at higher speeds. Also, it makes what sounds like a rubbing noise or a grinding noise that starts around 25mph, coming from the front wheels/axle. The noise occurance also speeds up as the 4runner speeds up. I thought it may be the right front tire causing the noise and the shutter, but I rotated the tires and it did not have any affect.
I believe the noise and the steering shutter are connected.
My question is, where do I start to try and identify the problem? From what I can tell, everything seems to be tight under it. But she could possibly have bent something.
Has anyone else experienced the same?
It has all original parts under it.

Take it to someone else to check the balance of all four tires

Would the tire balancing help solve the grinding noise I am hearing?

Grinding noises that go with the speed of the wheels is a common sound for a bad wheel bearing. I'm not sure how the ditch adventure could have damaged wheel bearings, but it's something to check out. Bent rims could explain the steering shudder, if balancing is good. There's a lot of bad balancing out there in the world...that is something to nail down before spending big dough.

How about checking steering linkages for play? I do not have steering shudder but i recently did that on my first-gen just as a routine check. Found some play on pitman arm and idler arm.

Balance and grinding metal don't really go together at all but "shaking that occurs specifically ~X mph" is tell tale balancing issue. It happened to me.

How well do the wheels free spin when off the ground?

The shimmy could very well be a tire balance issue.

However - while a bad wheel bearing can cause both a shimmy and a grinding noise - I cannot imagine how an imbalanced tire could cause a grinding noise.

Before I spent any more money on balancing - I'd jack up the front - remove the offending tire(s) - put a couple of lug nuts back on to ensure the rotor stays on flat (should do with rust anyway) - grab onto a post - and rotate the wheel hub. Engage earballs. Examine brake components. Is there a stuck caliper piston pushing on pads, etc? Is the grinding noise coming from the wheel bearings? If so - well...

FWIW - if you do isolate the noise to the bearings, I'd replace them soon. You might go another x-million miles before they seize or really decide to break cruising down the interstate. Can't say. I can say that whatever happens when they do will likely be worse than spending the cash in parts/weekend it takes to repair them...which you will eventually have to do anyway.

Advice worth price charged.

Both front wheels spin about the same-relatively free for a 4wd. Everything seems to be tight under it. I plan on replacing the LBJs soon as preventative maintenance.
I do wonder if the ditch incident changed the camber.

no grinding noise but started having a shimmy in my 07 tundra. thought it was balance. once I got it up figured out it was inner tie rod joint. Has just a little bit of play. Almost missed it. Actually heard it before I felt it, just a little tap.

Then before I could order parts went through a puddle that was hiding a huge hunk of missing road. Now shimmy is way worse. 250k miles, just going to get new ball joints and tie rods.

Update on my 4runner. I broke down and took it to the Toyota dealership today. They diagnosed the problem as-bent right rear axle shaft causing the steering shutter and bad bearing on right rear wheel that ties in with the bent axle, which is causing the noise.
Now I get to figure out what rear end I have and then decide whether I am going to replace the shaft and bearings or whether I may just buy a used rear end and swap it out.
Any suggestions out there?

Just go to a junk yard and pull a new axle shaft. It may even have bearings that are ok still.

Pulling the axle shaft is a lot easier than swapping the entire rear end.

Disconnect parking brake at the axle, disconnect brake line, remove the (4) 14mm nuts and pull the axle out. Install new (used) axle shaft, replace the 4 nuts, hook up parking brake, hook up brake line, bleed brakes and you're done.

If you want, you can replace the axle seal while the axle shaft is out too.

Crap. Hearing this makes me worried that my 4runner is suffering from a similar predicament. 2 winters ago, I lost control at an intersection and slammed into a light post directly with the RR wheel. There was no body damage, but it did break the OEM Limited wheel. I slapped my spare on (which is an unbalanceable but matching Treadwright tire that I kept as a spare). I've had a slight grinding noise since, but my mechanic checked the RR and said the wheelbearing sounded fine (there was apparently no grinding noise while rig was on lift), they chalked it up to the bad tire (it's plausible that it has a shifted or broken belt in it).

...but I still have my doubts. I think I may have a slightly bent axle shaft on that corner. Although I have been keeping a regular eye on it and so far there has been no sign of the axle seal letting go and the noise has never gotten any worse.

I'll know for sure once I put my new wheels and tires on.

I had a shudder between 60-70 mph (not at 75). Rebalanced tires using Hunter. Nothing. But a check at the dealer showed clearly there was a lot of noise coming from rear drive shaft. Replaced that myself ($300 part + 4 bolts tightened at 54 lb/ft), shudder is gone.

Fact is there are a lot of things that can cause this. Best to get it in the air and have someone qualified evaluate it. Lots of stuff can go wrong at 200k miles.

Another update-I tracked down a used axle shaft, pulled the bad axle shaft, replaced the inner axle seal and installed the "new" used axle. Wasn't too tough. Had a little trouble getting the seal to set properly, or exactly how I wanted it. I'll keep an eye on it.
I just drove it down the road and the rubbing/grinding noise is fixed. As a matter of fact, when I spun the old axle after removing it, I could hear the noise.
However, the shutter with the steering wheel seems to still be there. I wasn't able to get it on the interstate to get to 70, but I could feel it some at 65.
I guess I will see about balancing the tires and getting them aligned. Still fighting the battle.

How are your ball joints? Have you replaced them recently or checked them? Bad rack may be the cause of the shudder as well.