[mossman77]

Out of curiosity, do you still have the stock wheels? I would slap them back on and see if that solves your problem. I've had front end vibrations since I installed aftermarket wheels, but am still not certain if that is my problem and I unfortunately don't have the stock wheels any longer to make that determination. I also have a leaky steering rack but don't think that would cause the shimmy in my steering wheel and the vibrations I feel at highway speeds when turning the wheel left/right.

 

[mossman77]

I switched from the stock 17x7 rims to aftermarket 18x8's and I've had vibrations/steering wheel shimmy ever since. I may flag down the next Tundra owner I see and ask if he would allow me to borrow his front wheels for a bit. Come to think of it, I have a neighbor with the same truck and wheels I used to have.

 

[mossman77]

and in the end it turned out to be improper balancing and not using the Haweka adapter when doing the road force balancing for the stock wheels.

Are you saying that some special adapter (Haweka) needs to be used with the Hunter road force balancer in order to balance wheels properly? I've had mine road forced three times now and still cannot get rid of the steering wheel shimmy.

 

[mossman77]

All four of my aftermarket wheels road forced under 7 lbs. Steering wheel still shakes! I will be getting another alignment to see if that helps, at any place other than NTB.

 

[mossman77]

Yes, aligned to DJs specs, at least according to the final printout. 2" bilstein lift and just put on New rotors which didn't help. The firat set of aftermarket wheels I put on is when the shaking started, installed by nth a week after the alignment. Everything was fine with lift, ntb alignment, and stock wheels

 

[mossman77]

I've been through four sets of tires over a month's period because of problems getting acceptable road force numbers and all due to their being a shimmy in the steering wheel. I thought we finally solved the problem with the current set, but the shimmy is still there--sometimes worse than others. FYI, I was just rotating the tires and noticed that the passenger's side front tire is excessively worn on the outer edge. Definitely need to get the alignment checked out.

 

[mossman77]

I apologize if I hijacked this thread and what I'm about to say has been said in a previous post months ago, but I am too lazy to search for it...

Something I just thought of this morning--I'm wondering if the LCA bushings could be causing my problem. To bring you up to speed, my problem (steering wheel oscillating left/right) is intermittent, but happens more times than not. When lifting my truck (2" Bilstein 5100 lift in front), I noticed that the LCAs were very stiff and I had to wedge a floor jack in between the LCA and strut in order to get enough clearance to install the Bilsteins. The LCAs were completely disconnected from the spindles/knuckles so I expected them to drop to the ground but they did not. I could actually stand on them and they would hold me up. They did move an inch or so, but would immediately spring right back (as if the rubber was sticking and springing the LCA back into position). I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but if not then it seems like the control arm bushings may be seized up and not allowing the LCAs to move freely, thereby causing issues with the alignment and steering. Does this make sense? A couple more reasons I feel this is possible is the tech that did the last alignment said "things were getting a little tight" when trying to increase the caster to DJs spec, and I had the front end jacked up for a couple hours a month or so ago while replacing the brake pads and when I went for a test drive afterwards, the oscillating in the steering wheel was completely gone. However, on my way home, it started again. This behavior is indicative of something seizing/sticking (causing the oscillation) and freeing itself at times (no oscillation). When seized up, the alignment would be out of whack and cause issues, but when the bushing frees itself, the alignment is back in spec. Or maybe its a combination of worn bushings and seized bushings. Thoughts?

 

[mossman77]

Based on a private message from Jack, I think my bushings are probably fine. What is curious is that after rotating one of my best tires (1 lb. of road force) from the rear to the front, the steering wheel shakes worse. Sounds like a bad alignment to me. My theory is that once the other tire wore down on the outer edge, the problem got better, but now that there is a uniform tire on their it is worse again and will likely get better as that tire gets worn down too. Driving me nuts. Gotta get to the shop soon, but just haven't had time.

 

[mossman77]

He said "driveline vibration gone", not steering wheel vibration. Don't stop investigating Spencer. I have been following this thread for quite some time and am waiting for you to make a break through in hopes that I can finally rid my '04 of the shaking wheel. I'm sure there are countless others.

 

[mossman77]

Only problem with on-car balancing is that it has to be done every time you rotate the tires. Not a big deal I guess, as long as you can always take it back to a shop that offers this service (likely far and few between).

 

[mossman77]

I know very little abou racks, but there's usually this big 'ole flat nut opposite where the steering shaft comes in. It's usually very flat. It's also one of those things that we are not supposed to ever touch! But from what I understand, it has something to so with rack tension. Might be worth a READ to see if it could have something to do with this. It certainly sounds like it might, since there's more vibration on decel.

Exactly why do you say "since there's more vibration on decel"? That is when I experience a vibration. More like a gentle hop/bounce actually.

 

[mossman77]

Find a local Gen1 owner and swap wheels/tires for a few hours and you will at least be able to confirm or rule that out.

Tried that. Nobody responded. My steering wheel shimmy is gone now, so I'm pretty happy. I can still feel the out-of-roundness of the tires, but at least I know what it is now, and with a proper alignment it no longer affects my steering wheel. I'm going to drive a couple thousand more miles to be sure my camber setting is spot on, then upgrade to some Michelin LTX AT2s. BTW, I had the bare rims measured on a GSP9700 and virtually no measurable runout. I think one was off by 0.004".

 

[mossman77]

^...and worn lower control arm bolt and/or bushing--that is what caused my shimmy.