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Old 11-07-2019, 07:21 AM #1
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LBJ Failing??

I’ve been diagnosing an intermittent wobble issue for a year now, and I haven’t been able to pinpoint the culprit. It doesn’t help that I only put about 4,500 miles in the last year on the truck (I work from home). When I get on the freeway, the truck would intermittently develop a wobble between 55-70. The wobble isn’t consistent, so I doubt it’s a wheel balance issue, as unbalanced wheels would mean having the wobble consistently.

I don’t think it’s the U-joint, either, as it doesn’t have a harsh “clunk” when I shift into reverse or drive. I only mentioned this because when I did a search, some had previously suggested that a U-joint might be the culprit.

I have newer tires that were put on back in March, and the wheels and tires were balanced, and an alignment is done. The truck tracks straight when it’s not wobbling

Once the wobble stops, the truck is smooth as butter and an absolute joy to drive. Like I said, it’s an intermittent issue that only occurs at highway speeds.

What other areas should I look?
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Old 11-07-2019, 07:43 AM #2
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An unbalanced wheel can be intermittent. Maybeeee brake related. Probably not the issue but something to keep in your mind.

What does the wheel do when you apply the brakes? Stop shaking?

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Old 11-07-2019, 08:09 AM #3
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Unbalanced wheel or even a bent rim. I had 4 rims that wouldn't balance before on a 4 runner.

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Old 11-07-2019, 08:36 AM #4
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Take it to another alignment shop. Could be a wheel bearing (front). How many miles?

Ball joint or lower arm bushings on front wheels. There are two assemblies that can be purchased AM for cheap. Both have two new bushings each.
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Old 11-07-2019, 08:40 AM #5
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I had Les Schwab check the balancing of all four wheels, and they said the wheels are properly balanced.

I haven’t checked to see what the steering wheel does when I apply the brakes, but I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. It certainly doesn’t shake when I hit the brakes, so I know it’s not a warped rotor or drum. The shake was there before I did the TBU, BUT, I have not had a chance to take apart the rear brakes yet. I plan to overhaul the rear brakes in December when I have time, with new drums, shoes, and cylinders.
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Old 11-07-2019, 08:44 AM #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Captsolo View Post
Take it to another alignment shop. Could be a wheel bearing (front). How many miles?

Ball joint or lower arm bushings on front wheels. There are two assemblies that can be purchased AM for cheap. Both have two new bushings each.
It has 186k miles. When I picked it up last October, it had 180k miles and had the intermittent wobble already. During that time, I did the TBU, got all four new tires, and an alignment. Problem seems the same, no better or worse.
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Old 11-07-2019, 09:23 AM #7
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How about you lower control arm bushings? If the are warn out it would wobble but it probably wouldn't align if that was the case.

Your upper and lower ball joints within spec?

You CV joints dont have excessive play in them?

All your rear end control arms snug and not moving or wobbling in brackets?


Does this wobble happen at a certain speed?


Also if rotate tires from front to back does the wobble change?


The last few wobbles I had on vehicles turned out to be bent rims. What makes it bad is bent rims will sometimes still balance.. I noticed that it certain speeds it would resonate and really feel it.

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Old 11-07-2019, 09:43 AM #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RunningForNow View Post
I’ve been diagnosing an intermittent wobble issue for a year now, and I haven’t been able to pinpoint the culprit. It doesn’t help that I only put about 4,500 miles in the last year on the truck (I work from home). When I get on the freeway, the truck would intermittently develop a wobble between 55-70. The wobble isn’t consistent, so I doubt it’s a wheel balance issue, as unbalanced wheels would mean having the wobble consistently.

I don’t think it’s the U-joint, either, as it doesn’t have a harsh “clunk” when I shift into reverse or drive. I only mentioned this because when I did a search, some had previously suggested that a U-joint might be the culprit.

I have newer tires that were put on back in March, and the wheels and tires were balanced, and an alignment is done. The truck tracks straight when it’s not wobbling

Once the wobble stops, the truck is smooth as butter and an absolute joy to drive. Like I said, it’s an intermittent issue that only occurs at highway speeds.

What other areas should I look?
When you say "wobble" are you referring to the steering wheel shaking, the vehicle shaking, or both?
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Old 11-07-2019, 10:32 AM #9
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When my driveshaft u-joint(s) was (were) going out, it sounded and felt like something major was about to explode in or outside of my engine. It would come & go at certain speeds (usually between 40-50, IIRC). It was extremely troubling to my mind. It didn't feel like a wobble, but more like a deep rumbling. Because your wobble may not be like that doesn't completely rule out u-joints.

If I have learned anything while owning this vehicle that I love dearly for 10+ years, but has giving me tons of serious trouble, it is that things are often not at all what they appear to be. That is very often the case in electrical problems, too. I learned that I must rule out something completely before I can't consider it anymore. My failing fuel injector taught me that. At that time, every single symptom I was experiencing seemed to be a blown head gasket. I ruled that out by doing 2 things: A coolant test for exhaust gas and swapping things around in my ignition system. I was extremely relieved to find that all I needed to do was replace one injector, and all of those symptoms went away.

Since you said that you aren't getting a harsh clunk while shifting into drive or reverse (I wasn't either), to completely rule out a u-joint, have you tried crawling under it and giving all of the u-joints a good shake with your hands? If not yet, I would suggest doing that. If you can wiggle any of them, then I would strongly suspect that is the problem (or maybe also a problem, being that you could also still have a suspension problem). But at least you could rule out most all possibility of a u-joint.
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Old 11-07-2019, 11:13 AM #10
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Like others have mentioned, 9 times out of 10 when you get a vibration at highway speeds, it's a wheel balancing issue. I've had my wheels balanced, taken it for a test drive on the highway and gone right back to the shop because I know the balance wasn't right based on the shaking I got.

Try to find a shop in your area that does "Road Force Balancing". People have had good results getting there wheel balanced in this fashion. What Is Road Force Tire Balancing & Match Mounting? | America's Tire

By the way, is your rig lifted? What kind of tires are you running?
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Last edited by mtbtim; 11-07-2019 at 11:16 AM.
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Old 11-07-2019, 02:22 PM #11
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Quote:
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When you say "wobble" are you referring to the steering wheel shaking, the vehicle shaking, or both?
The steering wheel shakes, which makes the entire truck shake.
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Old 11-07-2019, 02:24 PM #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtbtim View Post
Like others have mentioned, 9 times out of 10 when you get a vibration at highway speeds, it's a wheel balancing issue. I've had my wheels balanced, taken it for a test drive on the highway and gone right back to the shop because I know the balance wasn't right based on the shaking I got.

Try to find a shop in your area that does "Road Force Balancing". People have had good results getting there wheel balanced in this fashion. What Is Road Force Tire Balancing & Match Mounting? | America's Tire

By the way, is your rig lifted? What kind of tires are you running?
It’s all stock, Tim. No lift and no other mods to the suspension. I want to go to a 2” lift with new springs and shocks soon, but I’m trying to track down this problem and solve it before I do the upgrade, so I’m not adding another layer of possibilities when I tackle this issue.

I will look into getting a road force balancing done on the wheels. Probably the easiest and cheapest thing to try, before looking into replacing the other parts. I don’t know how long the LBJs have been on the vehicle, and I do plan to swap that out around thanksgiving, when I have some time off from work. Our production schedule is absolute bananas right now all the way going into the third week of December.

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Old 11-07-2019, 02:41 PM #13
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Quote:
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It’s all stock, Tim. No lift and no other mods to the suspension. I want to go to a 2” lift with new springs and shocks soon, but I’m trying to track down this problem and solve it before I do the upgrade, so I’m not adding another layer of possibilities when I tackle this issue.
I would try out the road force balancing before doing anything further, because like I said, many many guys have had their tires balanced and thought they eliminated that possibility to only find out after they spent more time and money replacing everything under the sun on their front end that it was improper tire balancing after all.

If the road force balancing doesn't fix the issue, I'd start looking at your lower control arm bushings, upper control arm bushings, front differential mount bushings, check for play in your wheel bearings, check your inner and outer tie rods for play, and check your steering rack bushings.
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Old 11-07-2019, 02:50 PM #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtbtim View Post
Like others have mentioned, 9 times out of 10 when you get a vibration at highway speeds, it's a wheel balancing issue. I've had my wheels balanced, taken it for a test drive on the highway and gone right back to the shop because I know the balance wasn't right based on the shaking I got.

Try to find a shop in your area that does "Road Force Balancing". People have had good results getting there wheel balanced in this fashion. What Is Road Force Tire Balancing & Match Mounting? | America's Tire

By the way, is your rig lifted? What kind of tires are you running?
second this. i had the same awful wobbling steering wheel and vibrating truck a week or two ago. wheel balancing is really hard to get right without that machine. Most Discount Tires have that specific machine. you can search for stores that have it on the americastire website I believe.

once they were re-balanced properly everything is smooth as butter.

Just to mention, my wobble was also intermittent. It was hardly noticeable up until 45mph, then got worse until 65mph, and got better above that. It also changed based on the angle of the road, even which lane I was in...

last owner had them mounted and balanced at walmart... they did an awful job...
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Old 11-07-2019, 02:50 PM #15
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Thanks everyone! This is all very good information. I will do a road force balancing like Tim said when I have time to get to it. Meanwhile, I’ve got a few things to check, so once I have time, I will crawl under the truck to start poking around.
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