Steering Wheel Shimmy

[wakeboardwhan]

I know this has been beaten like a dead horse on here an every other 4Runner website. However, it seems like nobody has a straight answer. I figured if I give all my vehicle specific issues and what exactly I am experiencing maybe it will help solve my problem.

2005 Toyota 4Runner Sport:
-117,000 Miles
-V6
-1" Daystar BB Front Leveling Kit (Installed by Reno Toyota with Alignment)
-285/50R20 Sumitimo HTR Sport Plus
-20x9 KMC XD Monster Wheels
-6 times wheels balances. Two of those being road force with the haweka adapter.
-Extended thread lug nuts

What's Happening:
-Car pulls left and wanders like crazy in 2WD
-Steering wheel shimmy usually from around 45-60 and sometimes in the 60-75 range.
-Shimmy 90% gone when switched into AWD

What I've done:
-Checked steering components while jacked up. SEEMS pretty solid
-Like I said above way too many wheel balancing in the last year. Wheels and tires are balanced and round.
-Electrical tape around the hub trick.

What's up next:
-Getting another alignment done soon
-Considering the Lexus TSB. I can install the parts no problem. Just don't want to spend $750 on the parts.

When I bought it almost exactly 1 year ago I didn't have this issue. Then it was completely stock. I can't remember when I started noticing it. I don't wheel this one. I've had my lifted rigs and I decided to have a street friendly rig and an of road rig long ago. I hate beating my daily driver. I wheel hard for a DD. when the leveling kit was put on the suspension didn't have time to settle before they aligned it. Maybe a issue? I've heard of people asking to change the specs? What should I tell them to change the caster to? Any other suggestions? If I don't get this fixed I'm considering selling and taking a major hit in the money I've put in to it. Other than this I love it.

Thanks

 

[kai920]

I dealt with wheel shimmy/vibes for a long time. The haweka adaptor has to be used. Discount Tire had no idea what they were doing and even replaced my tires after 6 balances including road force only to have the issue return at my first rotation in the new set. I went through 4-5 balancing tries on the second set in a matter of 2-3 weeks.

Finally I went to a local tire shop and all was well for a couple of weeks and it returned. I only had to go back once and it's been fine since. I won't lie, I'm afraid to rotate/balance them again. I might not to be honest. I've owned the car for a year and been through at least 12 tire balancing attempts. I almost sold mine too.

My advice, find a new shop, not a chain like Discount Tire, and see if they can help you. The tire shop I went to was very helpful. They guy showed me that Discount Tire wasn't even using the correct weights for the wheels.

I also experience some wandering but it has improved a little since my last alignment, or I have gotten used to it. The way I understand it, have them max out caster. Caster controls handling.

Good luck!

 

[kai920]

BTW, what is the Lexus TSB for? Wandering or vibration? Got a link?

 

[ClockWork]

I dealt with wheel shimmy/vibes for a long time. The haweka adaptor has to be used. Discount Tire had no idea what they were doing and even replaced my tires after 6 balances including road force only to have the issue return at my first rotation in the new set. I went through 4-5 balancing tries on the second set in a matter of 2-3 weeks.

Good luck!

This! The tire shop MUST used a Hunter GSP Road Force balancing machine with the LUG centric Haweka adapter. If there is no play at 3/9 and 12/6 then it is most likely a balance issue.

 

[wakeboardwhan]

When I got it done the last shop I went to I told them to use the adapter am asked if they had one. I got the "yeah, sure" and I'm kinda skeptical if they even knew what I was talking about. When they got done they said they used the adapter on the road force and it was ok for about a day. Then went bad again. The more I call around the more I realize how hard it is to find a shop with one in Reno. And even if a Les Schwab has one I refuse to go there. Been treated way too poorly too many times for them to ever get my business. Maybe Reno Toyota?

 

[kai920]

Yeah, I understand, I had a hard time finding shops with it also, or some even knowing what I was talking about. You would think Toyota would be able to balance their own wheels, but you never know right? Keep at it, you'll find a shop.

 

[wakeboardwhan]

So I'll try that. My CV joints have been leaking and tomorrow I'm finally going to take a day to repack them with the special marine rounded hose clamps people are using. Then hopefully an alignment next week and I'll have them max out the caster. Then in a couple weeks I'll try for another rotate and balance. Not getting many hours in at work lately so trying to space out everything the best I can.

When I get my alignment done and they max out the caster what am I looking to get? I was reading for the 5th gens with stock suspension people getting around +3 and some people even +4 caster. I have the stock front suspension other than the 1" leveling kit giving me 1.8" of front lift. Kinda want to know what I'll be looking for when I get the alignment specs back.

On a side note I wish I had gotten alignment specs from Reno Toyota when they installed the leveling kit and did the alignment all at once. See what they sent me home with.

 

[wakeboardwhan]

Ok, so Sunday morning I got up and prepared to do my CV Joints. I was told it would take 8 hours to repack them without removing the axle. No Idea what they were talking about because it took me less than an hour per joint. I'm going to go back and re-do the 2 I already did and then repack the 2 I didn't do and put the better bands on in a month or so. That way I know I have 100% fresh grease in there.

My question here is this. I drove all day yesterday and not once did my steering wheel shimmy as before. The only thing I did was grease the CV joints that were leaking. I'm trying not to get my hopes up but would this do the trick?

Here is what my CV's looked like. VERY glad I finally got around to repacking them...

 

[ClockWork]

Lovely.

 

[wakeboardwhan]

BTW, what is the Lexus TSB for? Wandering or vibration? Got a link?

Missed this the first time around. Ill find and post a link when I get off work.Basically the 4Runner and one of the Lexus vehicles has identical steering setups from top to bottom. The Lexus guys were getting the same issue the 4Runner guys get. Lexus got a recall to get all of the faulty parts replaces. The 4Runners didn't. So people end up buying the Lexus TSB parts (around $750 in parts alone) then either installing them their selves or paying a shop to ($$$). The parts are a direct fit. Supposedly this 100% fixes any issues and the issues never return. But I would like to try other options before I drop $750 on my steering.

 

[wakeboardwhan]

Haven't driven it yet. Waiting for them to one back from the test drive. Here is my readout on the alignment.

Edit: Disregard the "Before" specs. They took those right after they set the camber and caster and before they adjusted the final toe.

Final Alignment Spec:

Left Front
Camber 0.30*
Caster 3.01*
Toe 0.04*

Right Front
Camber -0.09*
Caster 2.90*
Toe 0.06*

 

[Sungod]

Haven't driven it yet. Waiting for them to one back from the test drive. Here is my readout on the alignment.

Looking at the numbers your alignment was fine. They just centered the steering wheel. That won't fix a pulling problem unless you considered it pulling because the steering wheel was not centered.

 

[wakeboardwhan]

Looking at the numbers your alignment was fine. They just centered the steering wheel. That won't fix a pulling problem unless you considered it pulling because the steering wheel was not centered.

the before numbers on there are wrong. they took the "before" specs right before they adjusted the toe.

 

[Sungod]

the before numbers on there are wrong. they took the "before" specs right before they adjusted the toe.

What did they adjust? If they adjusted camber or caster the toe numbers would have been way out. As it was your total toe looked good at .08 (if that is what it is, it is hard to see).

 

[wakeboardwhan]

Didn't realize how hard the picture was to see on a computer. They adjusted everything but I never got the origional alignment specs. The tech had to double check with me to make sure i wanted my caster pushed out that far. So when he brought the specs to me the first time was after he adjusted the caster and the camber. That is where it shows the "before" specs. Then he did the final adjustment (toe).

Final Alignment Spec:

Left Front
Camber 0.30*
Caster 3.01*
Toe 0.04*

Right Front
Camber -0.09*
Caster 2.90*
Toe 0.06*

 

[wakeboardwhan]

To add a note, maxing out the caster seemed to make a great improvement on highway handling. Doesn't wander like it used to. Also doesn't seem to affect any other driving aspect or make the steering too tough.

Still not trying to get my hopes up but its been 2 days now and I have yet to get a shimmy or wobble...im still crossing my fingers.

 

[wakeboardwhan]

Here are 2 links to people who performed the Lexus TSB and solved their issues:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/probl...ion-highway-speed-revisited-5.html#post753763

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/probl...ion-highway-speed-revisited-4.html#post223814

 

[Sungod]

In actually taking the time to see what you have done, I would guess that the lift lowered your caster, and the tech that aligned it after your lift was lazy and just did a toe set. Higher caster impacts steering much like moving weight back in a wheel barrow. The further you move it back the heavier it gets, but tracks better. When you move the weight forward steering gets lighter, but it also wanders more. With power steering you won't notice the added force, but you will see the improved tracking. It sounds like you got it done right. That should correct most pulling and wandering issues, but it won't correct your vibration issues. That sounds like either bad balance or your wheels are not centering on the hubs correctly.

 

[wakeboardwhan]

I still haven't ruled out a good balance with the haweka adapter but I'm almost positive that my toe and or camber was way out. It was pulling pretty hard left before and my tires were scalloping. Now it tracks straight and true. But so far between the cv joints and fresh alignment I haven't have any signs of the wobble yet. I'll wait a couple weeks to say for sure if it did the trick.