Hey folks,

Ive been having front end steering wobble issues. Seems at around 50-70km/h my steering wheel gets pretty shakey as if my tires are out of balance. I got them balanced recently just to be sure and check that off the list of possible issues. They were close to perfect balance wise prior to my visit.
My next thought was potentially the steering stabilizer being worn out.

The front drivers wheel has had a pesky leak on and off from the valve stem being sticky and staying partly open. This resulted in my tire going completely flat a few months ago where it sat flat for probably 24/hours.
I hopped in the truck this morning to head to work and the steering was extra wobbly, more than its ever been in the past, (tire was a bit low)
i pumped the tire back up to proper pressure and headed back home. Was still pretty bad.
i rotated the front wheels to the rear after work today and went for a test drive. I can say it’s definitely a LOT better almost unnoticeable now. I might still getting some feedback from the ˟˟˟˟ tire at the rear.

anyways, what i am confused with is the tire looks completely fine, i see no signs of abnormal wear or bulging, could the belt or chord be busted but not visibly noticeable?
The fact that it appears fine makes me wonder if it is the tire, but considering the improvement after rotating all signs would point to the problem tire.

My tires are 235/15 nokian hakkalelitas and roughly 1.5 years old if that means anything.

 

8 out of 10 times, a bad steering wobble or "death wobble" on a solid axle vehicle is the result of one or more of your ball joints being worn out in the steering system from your pitman arm to the knuckles.
Bad wheel bearings could contribute but you'd be hearing those by now if they were that bad and you said you changed wheels around so I'm assuming you could tell if they were loose.
Changing your steering stabilizer might tighten things up but will actually just mask the real issue. Check the tie rod ends, the drag link ends, and the pitman arm ball joint.

 

Yes, your tires can look fine and even balance fine but still cause a vibration.
A slightly bent wheel can do the same.
About 90% of vibrations that begin around 35-45mph start with the wheels and tires, loose steering components or ball joints will just allow more movement of the vibrating wheel and by replacing them it hides the problem.
As a former "tire guy" I can tell you that if you watch the tire and wheel carefully when they are spinning on the balancer you can often see the tread of the tire moving side to side or up and down as it spins even after adding wheel weights and getting a perfect balance.
I would suggest that since you already rotated your wheels and tires and confirmed that the vibration has decreased you should jack up the rear of your rig (what are you driving anyway?), put it on jack stands and make sure it is stable (block the front tires). start it up in 2wd and put it in gear. let it idle and watch the rear tires very carefully while they spin to see if they are round or egg shaped and if the tread wobbles side to side. look carefully! Also look at the wheels and see if they are spinning true.
Food for thought:
While at a Toyota stealership in Alaska around 1995 we found that light trucks and low tire pressures combined with cold temperature created "cold flat spots" in the tires when the trucks were parked for a while. Due to their light weight the Toyota trucks call for pretty low tire pressures for the size and type of tire.
If we balanced the tires like that they would be out of balance again as soon the tires warmed up from driving. To fight that we started driving vehicles at least 5 miles or so to get the tires warm (longer in really cold weather) and immediately pulled them into the shop and got them up in the air before balancing the tires.
Our customers were then asked to make sure the tires had had a chance to warm up before making any vibration complaints.
We had very few complaints after that and most of them we could see the tread wobbling while on our balancer.

 

Thanks for the reply,

ill jack it up tomorrow and have a better look.
i want to be sure its the tires creating the wobble before i spend good money on another set.

With that said,
i cant say the front end is rock solid tight. The steering stablizer is old and worn. And there it definitely a bit of lateral play from left to right in the front end. Tie rod ends appear to be ok.. could be the knuckle or wheel bearings.
its an 81' pickup for the record.

 

Got the tires road forced balanced. They were fine, so no issues with the tires.
There is some play left to right in both front wheels. I cant tell if its wheel bearing related or knuckle bearings. Possibly both!?
Im going to start with replacing both wheel bearings and see how it is. I suppose once im half way in there its likely worth just getting at the knuckle too..

tie rod ends and pitman arms appear to be ok.

crossing my fingers the fresh wheel bearings help.

 

So i did my wheel bearings today. Just going through the front end and varifying everything is tight and solid.
one issue i ran into was the grease cover on the rear bearing wouldnt seat completely flush. It seems it bottoms out on a lip in the hub housing before it contacts the bearing, leaving maybe 1/16th of room. And a heavy 1/16th proud of being flush to the hub. Is this normal?

once i got everything buttoned up, i could still feel some play side to side with the wheels, car still jacked up. I disconnected the idler arm and steering stabilizer. The wheel bearings and knuckles feel tight and have no play from what i can see.
the tie rods seem ok. Could there by chance be slop in the ilder arm pivots? Is that a major wear point? Im not sure what else to look for.
it just seems oddly loose with everything mounted up when u grab the wheel and wiggle it left to right.

also, i set the preload to spec. First nut at 43 ft lbs, rotate back n forth, loosen off, torqued to 4 ft lbs. thrust washer, than second nut torqued to 43 ft lbs.
perhaps i should be checking the resistance?

if anyone has any insight that.d be greatly appreciated.