I got the wobbles

V

v3bahumut

New member
Bought my 2001 a couple months ago, went for a test drive before the purchase and had a vibration in the steering wheel and front end past 60, figured it was the nearly bald and going flat tire so I bought the truck anyway.

Got myself a new set of freshly balanced Duratracs....same issue

Got myself a lifetime alignment from Firestone....same issue

Replaced my steering rack bushings with poly....same issue

Replace front and rear sway bar bushings with poly....same issue

So, here is the problem, I can accelerate onto the interstate up to 70mph and have the ride be smooth as silk, then after driving for a few minutes (slowing down, speeding up, lane changes....that sort of thing) I get a nasty vibration in the steering wheel that can be felt though the whole truck as well.

Problem goes away under 60, the weird part is it comes and goes on it's own accord.

So......suggestions?
 
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v3bahumut said:
Bought my 2001 a couple months ago, went for a test drive before the purchase and had a vibration in the steering wheel and front end past 60, figured it was the nearly bald and going flat tire so I bought the truck anyway.

Got myself a new set of freshly balanced Duratracs....same issue

Got myself a lifetime alignment from Firestone....same issue

Replaced my steering rack bushings with poly....same issue

Replace front and rear sway bar bushings with poly....same issue

So, here is the problem, I can accelerate onto the interstate up to 70mph and have the ride be smooth as silk, then after driving for a few minutes (slowing down, speeding up, lane changes....that sort of thing) I get a nasty vibration in the steering wheel that can be felt though the whole truck as well.

Problem goes away under 60, the weird part is it comes and goes on it's own accord.

So......suggestions?
Click to expand...

Outer tie rod ends, inners, lower ball joints
 
I have a set of inner and outer tie rod ends waiting in my eBay "to buy" list as well as lower ball joints......didn't want to pull the trigger on them until I had some insight from the forum.

As I'm reading more, most people leave the uppers alone....are they not as prone to failure or just a PITA since you have to get them pressed in?
 
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I had the same issue bugged me for years did everything I could think of balance tires, new tires, alignments, steering rack bushings etc etc. When I did my lift I tore the old boots after a few days driving and decided that I would just put in new axels as my truck was 14 yrs old. Whamo no more vibration!

Drives like a dream!
 
ReconCmdr said:
I had the same issue bugged me for years did everything I could think of balance tires, new tires, alignments, steering rack bushings etc etc. When I did my lift I tore the old boots after a few days driving and decided that I would just put in new axels as my truck was 14 yrs old. Whamo no more vibration!

Drives like a dream!
Click to expand...

never herd of cv axles making the truck vibrate! thats crazy!

has any one checked to make sure there rack is not bad?!
 
I'm just wondering if your front LCA bushings are shot? How's the tread wear on your tires on the front?
 
Since we are looking at the drive train, maybe its the drive shaft? One of my favorite pranks as a tech was to stick tire weights onto the driveshafts of friends trucks, ahh memories...
 
4yotaguy said:
Since we are looking at the drive train, maybe its the drive shaft? One of my favorite pranks as a tech was to stick tire weights onto the driveshafts of friends trucks, ahh memories...
Click to expand...

That would cause everything to vibrate at all speeds all the time increasing in frequency as speed increased, I can be traveling at 70 and have zero vibration one moment and a death wobble the next

Swede said:
I'm just wondering if your front LCA bushings are shot? How's the tread wear on your tires on the front?
Click to expand...

Tires are less than 1000 miles old, can't really tell.

Last set had terrible wear on the driver side but I attributed it to a slow leak, had to fill it up once a week.


I think I'm may go ahead and change out the lower ball joints and the inner and outer tie rod ends this weekend, if nothing else it may tighten up the steering on my 225k ride.
 
Well I ordered a set of OEM Toyota LBJs and 8 new bolts, if that doesn't solve the issue then I'll order myself some inner and outer tie rod ends.
 
I didn't get the vibration until after my lift. Mine seems to be worse in the 50-60mph range.

I have new LBJ, OTRE, ITRE, light racing UCAs

I suspect my driveshaft, LCA bushings, wheel bearings, rack bushings, and lastly Cv joints in that order. I need to get out there and check the easy stuff
 
My replacement Toyota LBJs came in yesterday and I put them in today.......wobble feels less intense but it is still present with the same symptoms.......ugh.
 
things that spring to my mind-I am no mechanic and not pretending to be-but let's keep the conversation going and narrow this down a bit:

1/ Have you swapped front wheels/tires to the back or side to side?

Even brand new tires can sometimes have a defect. See if you can narrow it down to one rim or one tire and rim.

I'm presuming the balance has been checked and re-checked on each mounted tire....

2/ Did you get the Firestone print out when the alignment was done? Does it show items out of spec? Review those results with them, since they do alignments all day long. What do they want you to spend money on with them to fix it?
My Firestone guys told me the steering rack was defective-I did the steering rack bushings and it solved the problem for about 3 years-I also have a wobble now-from about 55 to 67 then it smoothes out above that.

3/ Do our trucks have front axle bearings? I presume they do-so just as a rear axle bearing can go bad I would think it is possible you have a front one going bad.

4/ Guys-- any reason to think a (front) diff drop would help? I don't have one-there seem to be folks who think they are great and others think they are a waste of time and money.
 
I too have had the wobble issue. I balanced the front tires at work, took it up to 65-70 and all was great. Next day, got onto the highway and after a few miles, shaking in the steering wheel came on bad again at 70+, slow down and it goes away. I took it to a tire place last weekend, did the balancing with the Hawketa adaptor thing and a roadforce machine- textbook. The tech called me out to look at the fairly new front tires and there was chafing on the treads. The tires, although fairly new are defective. I drove it home and the shimmy was almost all gone for a few days. Today, again on the highway, out of nowhere, a severe shimmy only in the steering wheel at 70. I swapped the tires to the rear and the shimmy left the wheel and went into the seat- rear. A possible fix instead of replacing the tires is to dismount the fronts, swap them inside-out. It may fix it, or I need new tires. Just thought Id share this info as the F/E of my truck is rock solid, no worn parts and the come and go symptoms are really similar to yours....
 
Mine does the same thing. The wobbling isn't that bad and not that frequent so I figured it was the highway. I know these trucks will pick up and follow any cracks/bumbs in the road. I too am replacing the LBJ this weekend and getting the alignment on Monday. I'll report back if that helps.
 
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