Bad bad BAD shaking... Then it goes away.

A.Wilson013

A.Wilson013

New member
Yesterday the ol' Runner about fell apart on me... Or so it felt.

Took a hard right onto the freeway and something went amuck... Got on the freeway and my steering wheel was shaking BAD. Almost hard to control. It was the worst when I would brake, so I cruised I-5 at 35Mph smiling and waving at the folks passing me angrily. We both know they were in no hurry.

Anywho, got off the freeway (another right turn, this one is easy though) and then took a hard left to turn onto the road leading to Casa de Wilson.

After the hard left, it stopped. No more shaking.

Popped the front wheels off to have a looksee and could see nothing out of normal... Gave everything the ol' "grab and shake test" and found nothing loose...

Any ideas? Drove again today, and there is a bit of shaking when braking, but nothing like yesterday. Just feels like the rotors are warped. Yesterday was scary, not the bad brakes type of shaking but like... Taco'd wheel shaking. I wouldn't be at all surprised if my 4Runner were actually hopping yesterday. It was bad.

Opinions? Female dogs, gripes, or complaints?

Happy Thursday.
 
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Hows your rack and pinion looking? You do the test to see if anything is loose/worn out? Running spacers? Could be a brake thing, if you're steering wheel is wobbling when braking then yea, I'd say rotors are getting warped. Feel any wobbling in your brake pedal at all?
 
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ARKRWLR said:
hows your rack and pinion looking. You do the test to see if anything is loose/worn out?
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Is that covered in the ol' Grab'n'shake test? If not, then no...

To my untrained eye, literally everything looked fine... A bit dirty (Cleaned my calipers while I was at it) and all original, but fine...
 
i know this is like a give me, but have you changed out your LBJs? or are you still on the original set? almost sounds like you picked something up in the tire/wheel and made it super "out of balanced"... idk just guessing. how about your struts, how are they?
 
the kid said:
i know this is like a give me, but have you changed out your LBJs? or are you still on the original set? almost sounds like you picked something up in the tire/wheel and made it super "out of balanced"... idk just guessing. how about your struts, how are they?
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I have never changed them, and they're not in my maint. records from the dealer, so I imagine they're the originals. Literally everything on the 4Runner in regards to suspension, to my knowledge, is original.

How would I check the struts...? Like I said, everything looked normal, and nothing felt loose.
 
Possibly a bushing in the steering rack. I havent changed mine yet, but i believe i heard that they shake alot when going out.
 
if the struts are not leaking thats a good sign, but other than that its gonna be supper hard to test them with them in the truck. does the front seam like it could use some new struts...? i mean hows the handling?
 
the kid said:
if the struts are not leaking thats a good sign, but other than that its gonna be supper hard to test them with them in the truck. does the front seam like it could use some new struts...? i mean hows the handling?
Click to expand...

It handles fine... I have only driven one other 3rd gen, and it was for about a mile, so I am not sure what the norm is. I have no complaints though...
 
my point is that the story doesn't make a lot of sense (to me)

you can't turn that hard in a 4Runner, not enough to break something under normal wear and tear conditions.

perhaps it was already broken and the shift in weight caused the symptoms.
 
I know this sounds crazy, but check your rear axles/brakes for axle grease...

I blew an axle seal and thats exactly what happened for me... it throws the whole vehicle off cuz the grease gets on the rear brakes and it basically feels like the wheels are wobbly..

by the time I turned around (was headed to Breck to snowboard) and made it to the dealership they couldnt figure out what the problem was... til they did a visual inspection.

also lift one tire at a time and try and push on the bottom of the tire to test your LBJ... if there is any play in the tire they are shot. if you see that the seals on the lbj are cut or burst you need to replace the lbj...

if you havent done them by 180k you need to do them ASAP...
 
Could it be a sticky caliper? From your description, could it have been pulsating or just sticking? Were the rotors abnormally hot during your inspection?
 
U-joint? I don't think it's it based on the description, but still a slight possibility. Just figured I'd throw it out there.
 
Alex, go change your LBJs.

This probably wont fix your problem but with over 100k you need to get that done or risk running over your own tire. Also check your LCA bushings and see how tight your alignment cams are. If one of those got loose and started changing positions I imagine it would feel like riding an eggbeater.

Sounds similar to the death wobble I had in my TJ, and ive seen it happen on other SFA rigs, but I sold the heep rather than fix it. :flipoff:
 
Yeah I was worried about this bro.. I didn't really have a good idea of what it could be either. I thought It could be a bunch of things and reading through the suggestions only confirms it. I was thinking its something in your steering rack either bushings or tie rods. Sounds like it might be a tie rod now that I know the whole story. Because you turn one way and it could have pulled something loose and then you truned the other way it pushed it back together... Thats what I am imagining.. Check your inner tie rods. Thats my vote..
 
jmt2404 said:
Yeah I was worried about this bro.. I didn't really have a good idea of what it could be either. I thought It could be a bunch of things and reading through the suggestions only confirms it. I was thinking its something in your steering rack either bushings or tie rods. Sounds like it might be a tie rod now that I know the whole story. Because you turn one way and it could have pulled something loose and then you truned the other way it pushed it back together... Thats what I am imagining.. Check your inner tie rods. Thats my vote..
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Not sure how to check an inner tie rod, BUT...

This evening I crawled under there and had my wife turn the wheel left to right... There was a little bit of movement in the steering rack.

Then I jacked up the wheels enough to get a pry bar under it to lift up, no movement.
 
A.Wilson013 said:
Not sure how to check an inner tie rod, BUT...

This evening I crawled under there and had my wife turn the wheel left to right... There was a little bit of movement in the steering rack.

Then I jacked up the wheels enough to get a pry bar under it to lift up, no movement.
Click to expand...

did you check the back wheels/brakes for a blown axle seal?
 
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