What would cause an inconsistent shake in the steering wheel???

[Jeff T]

I've been blessed my 4R has been as trouble free as it has, but little things annoy the heck out of me. I had a minor shake/vibration in the steering wheel and contributed it to the Dunlop tires with over 80k on them.

So here's what I did:

*Installed Firestone Destination LE2's
*Had the front end aligned

Vibration/shake gone!!

After about 8k of smooth driving I just rotated the tires and the shake/vibration is back. Ugh...

I'm assuming it's a balance issue? Weird thing is as the car is driven the shake/vibration tends to go away...

Any thoughts?

 

[zopperman]

I've been blessed my 4R has been as trouble free as it has, but little things annoy the heck out of me. I had a minor shake/vibration in the steering wheel and contributed it to the Dunlop tires with over 80k on them.

So here's what I did:

*Installed Firestone Destination LE2's
*Had the front end aligned

Vibration/shake gone!!

After about 8k of smooth driving I just rotated the tires and the shake/vibration is back. Ugh...

I'm assuming it's a balance issue? Weird thing is as the car is driven the shake/vibration tends to go away...

Any thoughts?

wheel balance and check tire pressure

 

[asahi4runner]

Check to see if the tires are choppy.

 

[Jeff T]

No chop in the tires, pressure is fine. Taking them in tomorrow to be rebalanced.

 

[asahi4runner]

Hope that will cure the problem. Will you post if its other things.

 

[LTDSC]

sounds like a wheel needs to be rebalanced. Especially because you stated it started after rotation. You may not have been able to feel it prior to the rotation because it was on the rear. Id bet that will fix you up.

 

[Jeff T]

Thanks guys, kinda what I thought as well. I'll post up tomorrow night.

Thanks Again!

 

[oljedi11950]

Went thru this the other day went to have front 2 rebalanced , 2 wheel bent outta 5 those 2 on rear good 2 on the front search on for new wheels , had all 4 balanced fine now all 5 fj wheels . Very bad shake at 55-57 after rotation

 

[4RChappy]

I get a very minor oscillation in the steering wheel that I most notice at highway speeds. A slight grip on the wheel and it goes away. A few miles of driving and it goes away. I can go several weeks without an issue. Happened today for the first time in awhile. I attribute it to a slight flattening of the tires over night. My Destinations are at 7/16. I've noticed since I bought the vehicle 18 months ago. Two months ago I replaced the wheels, originals had flaked real bad. No change in the symptoms.

 

[RPS13]

How old are the tie rods (inners and outers)? I'm willing to bet they're toast, as they usually have a life span of about 70-150k mi depending on how the engineers sized them and if you've put bigger tires/wheels/towed a lot etc.

At higher speed the tire tends to vibrate back and forth on the worn joints, so your steering wheel starts shaking.

Rotating tires can bring it back or make it lessen just due to how they were worn previously, but if the tires are recently balanced it almost surely points to a worn steering component (or even potentially your upper/lower balljoints, but usually it's steering related unless those are just trashed).

 

[oljedi11950]

I'm gonna say check for a bent wheel 1st , then you can move up the ladder . I thought all of the above too , but NOT ! Then when they have your wheel off for balancing , air pressure check . I couldn't believe how F-d up mine were , course I did buy them used on ebay , now that I have the BETTER ones up front very smooth , 40$ later discount tire .

 

[ghostridr]

In addition to the above advice from the other members, while moving up the troubleshooting ladder; If the rims/tires are good, see if you can get a stealership to "road force" balance the wheels as toyota aluminum rims tend to be a PITA to balance right.

 

[wyanrard]

Mine ended up being a bent wheel. And then my cv axle was also bad.

 

[V8Man]

I have replaced worn out and floppy sway bar links. Certain road conditions can really make the wheel feal funny.

 

[daka320]

I've had similar problems. Did the road force balancing and it took care of it 95% of the time. Every so often it seems like the front is out of balance but goes away after some time, especially at highway speeds. I'm sure there are some components of the front end which are slightly worn with almost 160k miles.

 

[Johnny4runner]

My 4th gen has always had a very slight vibration felt through the steering wheel. It's been consistent over the 100k miles, 3 sets of tires and multiple alignments I have had over the years. It has never bothered me much.

That said I have seen a number of threads over in Tacoma World about a loose bearing in the 8" clamshell differential. OFFICIAL 2nd gen 4x4 front differential bearing vibration thread - Tacoma World Forums. The 2nd Gen Tacomas have the same front diff that 4th gen 4Runners have. But I have not seen much talked about problems with the front diff here.