wheel wobble?

[mendozer]

My wheel wobbles over 60 mph since I got the vehicle a couple weeks ago. I took it to Firestone for them to do my alignment and had them do balancing as well. They said one rear wheel was off .5 oz and another 2 oz. They fixed it, but guess what...it still wobbles! maybe more.

They did a shat job on the alignment bc my wheel is still off a good 10-12 degrees too. Any other reasons it would wobble?

 

[W4R123]

It could possibly be the front lower ball joint.

 

[mendozer]

Well I know my mechanic mentioned a tie rod having slightly more play (I think outer). He didn't mention ball joints. How do I evaluate that?

I know outer tie rod play is by moving the wheel 9-3 right?

 

[IsaiahC]

For ball joint, jack up the vehicle and see if there is play in the tire/wheel from the top or bottom. Not sure about tie rods but I can't imagine it being hard.

 

[01thunder]

check tie rods by grabbing wheel/tire and moving it side to side. if there is play. replace all of them, inners and outers. the steering shaft is a slip joint that wears excessively over time causing steering problems. not saying this is your case, but check that. moving the steering wheel side to side while the truck is off. guarantee there is play there. a really bad wheel bearing will cause wobble.

 

[IBallEngineer]

My wheel wobbles over 60 mph since I got the vehicle a couple weeks ago. I took it to Firestone for them to do my alignment and had them do balancing as well. They said one rear wheel was off .5 oz and another 2 oz. They fixed it, but guess what...it still wobbles! maybe more.

They did a shat job on the alignment bc my wheel is still off a good 10-12 degrees too. Any other reasons it would wobble?

I don't think you can have a wheel off by that much, unless you are referring to the steering wheel. And when you say your wheel wobbles, do you mean the steering wheel?

 

[mendozer]

Yeah sorry, the steering wheel wobbles and is off 10-12 degrees.

I'll have to check the wheels for tie rod and ball joints. I'm quite disappointed I shelled out all this money for this truck with great mileage and I'm now overwhelmed by several issues in need of repair.

 

[D Farms]

so ideally both tie rods should be screwed in the same number of times, then you would want to correct the steering angle by loosening the splined slip joint on the steering rack and moving the wheel to center, then reattach the slip joint. then you adjust the tie rods to get the steering wheel straight. if you just use the tie rods you can get strange steering characteristics.

 

[mendozer]

hmmm. is there a tutorial somewhere about this? I'm not familiar with the other parts you mentioned.

 

[dwmckeehen]

Yeah sorry, the steering wheel wobbles and is off 10-12 degrees.

I'll have to check the wheels for tie rod and ball joints. I'm quite disappointed I shelled out all this money for this truck with great mileage and I'm now overwhelmed by several issues in need of repair.

When you buy a used car, even with good miles, it is rare not to find several issues that need addressed. Wobble was an issue for me so I got on this forum, studied up, and replaced inner and outer tie rods myself, along with the LBJs. Problem solved. It was not as easy as some here made it sound, but it wasn't that hard either. Biggest problem I had was insufficient tools to deal with frozen and difficult bolts.

I am going to be doing the Tundra brake upgrade next, as I still have wobble when I brake, and have pretty much ruled out anything but the rotor.