Steering wheel wobbles at 50mph

[7seanc]

I have a 2001 runner with tundra bilstein 5100 front coils, 1.5 wheel spacers, 285/75/16 procomp xtreme terrain. just had the alignment and balance done after lift and tires, so thats all good there. but at around 50-60mph the steering wheel starts to shake/wobble, left and right. i thought maybe the tires where not balanced right, so i had the shop rebalance the tires but i still got the wobble. then i thought maybe my rim was bent cuz there was a large gash in one of the spokes. i got some new rims but im getting the same wobble. anyone have any suggestions?

 

[the great him]

when was the last time you looked at you tie rod ends or lower ball joints? have they ever been replaced? how many miles on your rig?

 

[004runnerLtd]

Also can consider Steering Rack bushings and guide.
Have you changed these out yet?

 

[7seanc]

Yeah that was the next place i was gonna check, tie rods, ball joints, steering bushing. im sure they are all over due. its got 209k! i got it with 190k and donno if they have ever been done. thanks for the suggestions guys. ill keep ya posted. ill be doin it in the next few days cuz i have to drive to long beach and back next week.

 

[TheDurk]

Be aware that wobbles are additive; you may need more than one fix. I did rack bushings, TRE's, new tires/wheel balancing, shocks and finally alignment. It seemed like each fix raised the speed at which I got vibration between 5 and 10 mph. Now I'm solid up to 95, which is as fast as I care to drive even in the interest of science--and the truck can't do much more than that, anyway.

 

[004runnerLtd]

Yeah that was the next place i was gonna check, tie rods, ball joints, steering bushing. im sure they are all over due. its got 209k! i got it with 190k and donno if they have ever been done. thanks for the suggestions guys. ill keep ya posted. ill be doin it in the next few days cuz i have to drive to long beach and back next week.

Just to save you some time, here's everything I used:

Steering Rack Bushings: Link
Front and Rear Sway Bar Bushings: Link
(You'll already be under the car, and if you haven't replaced your sway bar bushings yet, this makes a HUGE difference in terms of handling).

You'll need these 04 tacoma steering rack guide parts:

http://www.partswebsite.com/1sttoyotaparts/index.php?i=2&type=parts&multiple=yes

GUIDE SUB-ASSY RACK
Make: Toyota
4550435031 $41.72 $41.72

SPRING COMPRESSION
Make: Toyota
9050126074 $1.85 $1.85

CAP RACK GUIDE SPRING
Make: Toyota
4552437010 $16.39 $16.39

NUT
Make: Toyota
9017948003 $1.08 $1.08


And the TUTORIAL

 

[ReconCmdr]

I had a very similar problem for years and changed out all those parts to still have the issue. I would constantly get my tires balanced thinking that would solve it and if I didn't the tires would start to wear very badly in a matter of a few thousand miles. When my cv boots ripped the shop suggested new axles with the boots on them instead of replacing just the boots. The cost difference was negligible. I am glad I did!!! I have not had a hint of a wobble in 20,000 miles since I had them changed.

 

[7seanc]

So i checked the ball joints, tie rods and rack bushing, all seem very solid. no play at all. I'll replace them when i get some $$. But after reading what ReconCmdr wrote im thinking it could be my axles. Stupidly i havent done the diff drop yet. Ill be doin that in the next few days. the axles are pretty steep. no tears in the boots though. When driving, everything feels great, other than the wobble, it hold straight, feels good in turns. I forgot, when they did the alignment they said it was maxed out but still in specs. maybe that has somethin to do with it.

 

[7seanc]

Thanks 004runnerltd for the info!