Wobble

[superc_1]

Any suggestion on why my truck shimmeys a little about 45 mph? I put new tires on yesturday and that helped alot, but I still feel a small wobble when I reach 45 mph. They hand checked the front and they thought the front end was tight. Should I have the frontend aligned anyway? I don't want to ruin a new set of tires! Later

[goofie872]

i would have it done why waste more money on tires :rolleyes:

[]2eDeYe]

They 'thought' it was tight? I personally would like to know if it 'is' tight.

[fiveNdime]

I had this same problem....my tires were just out of balance. Here are some suggestions though. Your ball joints may be and probably are worn out, Your wheel bearings may be shot or loose, U- joint is bad or going bad, tires could possibly be out of balance or have a broken belt in one or more, carrier bearing could be bad, drive shaft out of balance???? Just some things to think about. Let me know when you find out!

 

Even though they "hand checked" the front end Its not as good as "making sure"

[superc_1]

I had brand new tires put on and they hand checked them at that time. Tires should be balanced. I think I will have it aligned just to make sure. The truck only has 80,000 original miles on it. The tire guy thought the new tires would fix the problem. I had one tire that was seperated. I'll do some more lookin thanks for the suggestions.

[datzenmike]

Assumed you balanced when you put them on. You don't know? find out. Get them balanced. If it runs smooth and straight you could put off the expensive alignment for a while.

If balanced, make sure the front steering and suspension parts are good or it's a waste of money trying to align it. The front could be 'tight' and still out. Get someone who knows.

[fiveNdime]

I totally missed alignment, which is probably the most obvious. I also think it could be a shock or two....who knows.

[moparvwfreak]

bad shocks will cause a vibration and i have had tires balanced and they screwed it up. so it needed to be reblanced 20 miles later. so yeah. ahve the front end rechecked, shocks checked, and the tires rebalanced.

[datzenmike]

I totally missed alignment, which is probably the most obvious. I also think it could be a shock or two....who knows.

 

Yes! Good shocks will absorb and cancel out harmonic vibrations that will happen whenever there is a spring involved. Good point. Also have your steering box checked for slack and adjusted and check tire pressure.

[superc_1]

Thanks everybody for the help! Tires were balanced. I think I will have the front end aligned ($39.95). I'll put some u-joints in also. The only other thing I might need would be the rubber around the carrier bearing. Now that the tires have settled in there is really not a wobble like there was (the whole frontend shaking really bad) but a small vibrations around the 45-50 mph speed? Up around 60-65 smooth sailing!

[fiveNdime]

Great just keep the wheels spinning at 62.5 and its all good:lol:

 

Glad to hear its better!!

[Guest DatsuNoob]

Jack your front end up, grab your pass side tire and give it a good shake, listen for a clunk. Don't rule out worn steering components, just ask Pumpkn210 about that.

[datzenmike]

Noobb's right. With it in the air grab the tire at top and bottom and push/pull on them. If any movement check the wheel bearing is snug (not over tight) If there is movement look at the ball joints (if applicable) and all steering linkages and try to locate the sloppy parts. Have someone gently turn the steering wheel back and forth while you observe any movement. Take a real good look at the idler arm... there should be no movement except turning from side to side. Check all steering ball joints at the pitman arm.

[///FiveOneOh]

alignment won;t cause a shimmy, if the wheel shakes at the speeds you are talking it IS balance or out of round wheel/tire.

 

have them rebalance the fronts theres a change you chucked a weight.

 

Theres the chance of worn out steering components but normaly that will contribute to strange handling or clunking/clicking sounds. however worn parts will exagerate an out of balance wheel.

 

(I work for an alignment shop. deal with this all the time. people coming in to fix a vibration with an alignment..then wonder why it still vibrates)

[ggzilla]

My alignment man used to check it all: wheel bent, tire out of round, steering components worn. Even on-car wheel balance. Don't they still do that? (I haven't needed an alignment in over 20 years).

 

I doubt that U-joints/carrier bearing could cause the steering wheel to shake. For sure it is something up front. Often it is the 'new' balance job needs to be done over (it's happened to me too).