Little Front End Shimmy on Highway

[bluecollarjock]

Hi, Im about a month in with my "new" 98 4runner, 5 speed, locker, Racerunner coilovers in front set at 2", OME springs in back with Bilsteins. 265/70-17 BFG ATs on Tundra rims. Love it....on the highway though every once in a while there is a slight shimmy I can feel in the wheel, its not horrible, and doesnt effect the trajectory of the vehicle like its an alignment issue or anything. Ive never owned a Yota....no clue about the front ends.....if it were a Jeep TJ Id be worried it was the start of potential minor death wobble, hah, but its not death wobble at all. Im thinking maybe getting the front two tires balanced to see if thats all it is. Or, at 150k miles, is there a chance the lower ball joints could need replacing? I tried reading up on the lower ball joints, and upper control arms aftermarket stuff lots of folks have on here, but really if Im not going to hammer it off road often, and since Im broke living off a medical disability pension and paying for grad school full time, I want to keep it running low budget....I have broken CV boots which I know I need to replace, probably will be over Thanksgiving break when I can let the vehicle have downtime I dont need it for commuting. So Im thinking of ordering the CVS axleshaft upgrades from Colorado (I think thats the company)...and was wondering if whomever I have do the work, would it be wise to tell them to replace the lower ball joints, and if so whats the typical cost...and are there chinese versus American brands to look into etc...or whats the really general generic explanation to upgrading upper control arms, would that help anything if in fact there might be an issue with mine?

Sorry to sound so clueless, I know nothing about IFS and nothing about Toyotas other than being on here a few months trying to slowly educate myself!

Thanks!

 

[Full_Throttle]

I would be changing the LBJ

I know what I would do if I were you....

see this thread: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...ll-me-balljoint-disaster-pictures-inside.html

 

[Stick Figure]

The front shake could be from a few different things, my truck was rock solid when i got it but after racking up some miles this problem has come back a few times, each time with a different fix:

first time was the steering rack bushings

followed by the inner tie rod on the passenger side

Next time was the steering rack guide "bushing" This i just re-greased and tightened for the time being.

The final time was the lower ball joints. At that point I also had the leaking rear axle seals as well, so I just bit the bullet and replaced almost everything: wheel bearings, seals, upper and lower ball joints, remaining inner tie rod, outer tie rods etc.

Basically there are a lot of factors that can cause this, but i would highly recommend checking things out before something breaks and really causes damage.

 

[bluecollarjock]

Wow, this was informative thanks. I got the tires balanced this morning on the Hunter thing someone in another thread suggested I found searching late last night...and it seems to have worked, put 100 miles on it today without the shimmy or shake.

My CV boots are broke, and Im planning on new axleshafts from some Colorado company (slips my mind) which has beefier boots on it for folks with a lift. Might try to schedule this over Thanksgiving break week, or worst case early December. So according to that scary thread, I might as well have them do the lower ball joints too while they put in the new axleshafts? Upper ball joints too? How much generally we talking to do upper and lower balls joints, and people are saying only use Toyota parts, so is there a good place to order them at a decent cost? Phew sounds like it will cost a lot of cash, but I dont want to die with ball joint failure...Im at 151k miles