front end shaky on freeway

[4runnerBrett]

So I have been having a issue with my front end being very shaky at about 60-70mph. The steering wheel shakes a little but you can definetly feel it In the whole truck.

My tires have some cupping but i don't think it would be that bad.

I have had tires rebalanced recently the idler arm replaced and alignment. Is their anything else I should be looking into on the front end to help?

 

[KidVermicious]

Ball joints, wheel bearings, tie rod ends, control arm bushings, etc...

Did it start before or after you had the tires balanced? Have you tried rotating them to see if that clears or changes the trouble?

 

[wallytoo]

what ^^^ he said.

if your tires are cupped, you've got at least one issue, which is manifesting itself at high speeds. could be more than one thing out of spec.

does it shake at 50? 80? or just 60-70?

any mud caked on the inside of the wheels?

my cj has alignment issues. front end is terrible at 45, but clears up above that and rides smoother. probably will get worse if i don't address it, though.

 

[4runnerBrett]

I did the front brakes less then a year ago and the bearings still looked perfect. It was before the tires being balanced and the shop said balancing may not help because of the cupping of the tires.

 

[nevada]

its something with the tires. they aren't balanced correctly.


cupping will usually cause an issue when going slow, a high speed vibration will be a tire/balance issue.

 

[Robmills72]

I'm having a similar issue, my truck is shaking in the front from side to side at about 50+ mph. Looking into ball joints and steering components today, what else should I look for, I have fresh meats with not even 100 miles on them and the alignment was just done. Sorry to thread jack but I was about to post an identical thread lol

 

[77'911]

First, I would say there are few shops that can balance these wheels properly as they don't purchase the special adapter needed for the balancer (preferably Hunter). Having said that, I found our truck did much better on the highway after the following:
1) new motor mounts
2) installed urethane rear control arm bushings, moog springs
After this, the drive line stopped twitching around and the truck was vastly more stable and tracked straight as an arrow.
The rebuild I did on the front end (control arm urethane bushings, ball joints, torsion bars) of our truck improved the handling immensely. Things like the tie rod assemblies and the wheel bearing will effect the steering feel, so it's always worth checking those through. I repacked our front wheel bearings a while back which tightened up the steering feel (ie better response, etc.), but nothing to write home about. Best of luck with it.
regards

 

[4runnerBrett]

It seems to start around 50 ish. The steering wheel kind of shakes back and forth a little. Then at 60-70 truck gets a little shaky.

 

[ToyotaMudRunner]

I had that same type of issue with my T4R at like 55-60mph. Tires were fine, ball joints, tie rods, idler arm etc was all replaced and still kept getting vibration so bad my rearview mirror would vibrate enough youd think I had bass in the dam thing. Well turns out the PO replaced the driveshaft... with one from a T100, and it was like 2" too short, go figure after I got the right one put in + a new U joint, the shaking completely disappeared. Not sure if that helps or not but I figured it was worth mentioning since it was def something that looked normal when you were under the truck but was just not the right size. hope that helps some

 

[4runnerBrett]

So I finally fixed my issue!!!!
Three shops and brand new tires didn't fix it. But found out yesterday one of my front shocks had no bushing and was basically just flopping around on the bolt. Put new shocks on and it feels great on freeway so far.

 

[airdreams1]

Im hoping that a balance job will help mine....... it has more of an up & down motion than a wobble.....

 

[maco33]

Thanks for the update!!