2big4arunner

I am starting to think that it is in the power steering pump/rack. A lot of times a shimmy or shake can be something absolutely stupid and even though nothing looks wrong there is something hidden inside.

Personally I would be calling back to Toyota's customer service. Ask to arrange a time to talk to a supervisor or manager and have them fix the issue completely. A lot of times they will give you a new truck with upgrades from what you got... or a slight rebate if you got the best. If this is an issue in their steering system they have to know about it and they have to hear from their customers. The service department doesn't report issues like this to them the same way you do. The fact that they are shrugging it off makes me a little nervous.

Hope things go well for you. BTW... I wouldn't take the truck back... I would have them start with the steering rack, stabalizers and links (whatever your truck has up front) and all ball joints and axles. If they dont want to do that then you know the service department is just delaying the job.

BluYot

Yet another update:

After being at the dealership for 2 weeks, they couldn't trigger the shimmy. They checked everything they could think of, engine/tranny mounts, driveshaft, front end components etc.

I met up with the service manager to see if I could trigger it and within seconds I had it vibrating and you could visibly see the steering wheel flutter back and forth. It was mild but enough. Anyway, long story short, they are revisiting the idea that it's the R&P assembly and so parts and possibly whole unit is being ordered. The dealership is also racking their brains as to what this could be as they've exhausted all other options.

I've done more research the last couple weeks too and it seems this is common on FJ's and Taco's although I've been told they have different steering systems. It seems to be coming back to the steering rack and that little preload spring. Either way, we are at our wits end.

KZN185W

iTrader: (1)

they didn't offer to give you a new unit? maybe you can request for a replacement unit

BluYot

Since I last posted they called and said there is a new steering assembly coming in. They looked into getting a stiffer spring (like the Lexus TSB) but it turns out the 4Runners have a completely sealed unit, i.e. unserviceable. The service manager even looked into an SST to crack it open but it was a no go.

The theory is that for Lexus there are many less units sold compared to 4Runners not too mention they cost about 20k more and is the luxury brand after all. Pretty ridiculous. I'm hoping the new unit will represent that other 50% that aren't experiencing this shimmy...or perhaps these people are oblivious to it and/or don't mind their hands going numb after a 2 hour drive.

RunningWriter

BluYot: Your thread (much appreciated) ends 1-29-2013. Was there any progress after that date? The reason I'm asking is because my wife & I just took delivery of a 2013 and it has the exact same shimmy/feeling of imbalance in the steering wheel at 100km/60mph, plus or minus a bit.

With thanks for any additional insight.

4runnerPaul

I am also wondering if you have an update to your situation. I also just bought a brand new 2013 sr5 4runner and am having the same exact issue as you. after 2 days of ownership I had it in the shop for the wheel shimmy and I also had a pull to the right. dealer drove it and agreed and did a wheel balance and alignment. got the truck back and all seemed well until a few days later the shake came back. the pull has seemed to be fixed. took it back to the dealer a week or so later and insisted they do a road force balance, my previous experience has had better results with road force balancing. got the truck back and for a longer period of time this time it was better. right now about a week later ive had a small shimmy in the wheel intermittently. I am trying to do my own research a bit before I go back because im getting pretty annoyed here and don't want to keep wasting my time sitting at the dealer.

BluYot

RunningWriter/4runnerPaul:

This indeed deserves an update however no progress has been made in eliminating the shimmy.

Mid-February a brand new rack assembly went in and they went over every component possible to ensure it was buttoned down to spec.

All-seasons Bridgestone Dueler H/T got a roadforce balance during this time (paid for by dealership) although we were running winters, Yokohama Geolander IT GO72.

The dealership had assured us that after the new rack went in, they put the newly balance all-seasons on (these were being used as the baseline) went for a test drive and all was dandy. Great, we thought....

We drove the rest of the winter season on the Yoko's experiencing the shimmy consistently and on a road trip. Driving long distance with the shimmy is extremely annoying not to mention potentially dangerous as we're thinking premature wear is likely. We didn't have a choice though to drive another vehicle. Spring rolls around, we install the all-seasons and first drive out we were able to trigger the shimmy.

After that discovery, we've kind of lost steam but still need to pursue this further. My thinking now is to go directly to corporate and skip the dealership all together. The dealership was admittedly frustrated too as they were left with a product that no one can seem to diagnose. I'm not blaming the dealership for not fixing it as it seems to be an engineering flaw. We do however expect a new vehicle to perform to a certain standard and if this means doing everything in their power to have a satisfied customer (including giving us one that doesn't do this...in salsa red of course!), they should be acting accordingly.

I wish I could have provided a solution based on our experience, and I'll try to keep this updated as more information comes up. This dialogue is critical as the dealership themselves were coming across these forums/threads in their search to find the cause/solution. It also shows coporate that we aren't being picky customers and that this is REAL as more and more people experience this.

BluYot

We have this too...just a slight pull to the right. Apparently the factory preset is to have the truck aligned to pull slightly to the right in case the driver passes out. The preset is set so that in 50 yards the vehicle would theoretically move to the shoulder and out of harms way. I would think the crowning in the road would be sufficient enough to do this. Either way, we've left it for now but the dealership said they could put it to center. Apparently the newer Corollas were really bad and the pull was so ridiculous where the dealership had to realign them all. Are they not testing these things before going out to the public?

4runnerPaul

that sounds like something the dealer might have made up because that seems absolutely crazy to me. do the cars sold in Europe come preset to pull to the left? haha what if I bought a used vehicle from there and had it shipped to me to be driven here? would it then pull me into a head on collision? my 11 venza is not like this? is that vehicle missing this awesome safety feature? lol

4runnerPaul

I want to give Bluyot a big thanks for creating this thread because now I know im not the one unlucky person to receive the only lemon of the bunch. I am taking a road trip with mine this coming weekend and really curious to see how it performs. I think I will contact my dealer next week after my trip. wouldn't it be weird if runningwriter ends up having a salsa red sr5 too. also wondering if your truck has the shake/shimmy if you slightly swerve back and forth? if I swerve mine back and forth, nothing drastic staying in my lane while doing so, i get a shake very consistently at that point.

RunningWriter

BluYot/4runnerPaul:

BluYot, thank you for the update. Sorry there has not been more progress. All of us having this problem will be grateful for subsequent updates. 4runnerPaul, sorry to hear you are experiencing the same thing. Let's keep each other posted.

Update re: my 2013. We're at 1,500 miles now. I took it back to the dealer for re-balancing factory Dunlops, along with an alignment check, last week. Two wheels were out-of-balance; alignments were OK. So far the shake/shimmy between 55-65 is significantly better. But I haven't had a chance to try it over any distance on the road, just 3- or 4-mile tests on the freeway around town. Have a 6 hour road trip coming up early September. Will update then.

Meanwhile, not happy to hear it may come-and-go, but grateful to know in advance that may happen. Will watch for the circumstances mentioned and let you know if anything specific seems to re-trigger the shimmy in mine.

KZN185W

iTrader: (1)

Hope it's just the out-of-balance wheels.

4runnerPaul

an update.
I took the 4runner on a trip this past weekend. I was able to get it to speeds up to 100 mph. On this trip I didn't have much shake in the steering wheel but at speeds above 85 or so it did not feel very smooth in the front end. My brother who rode in the back seat said everything felt fine to him back there but me and my wife felt something in the front. After returning home I got the steering wheel shake/shimmy intermittently to and from work in the 60-65mph range. Phoned the dealer and after calls back and forth between my dealer and the field service engineer, the FSE said my dealer needed to drive it and see what was up. My dealer has been pretty good with this situation and I don't feel like im getting brushed off but sure enough he drove it 19 miles and didn't notice anything. Took a brand new one of the lot and took the same route and said that one drove identical. So called me and told me my truck was normal. I then told him I wanted to take him for a ride when I picked it up. So I did and what do ya know it didn't do any "shaking" with him in the car. Now on my ride into work this morning I had some minor wheel shimmying, nothing major but not anything your used to having in a vehicle. At this point im not sure what to do but pretty tired of dealing with it. I wish I had another set of rims and tires to throw on to see how it performed. I really wanted the limited edition 20's but they for some reason aren't even an option. Ive been looking aftermarket but it would end up costing 1500 to 2000 for a nice brand new set.
Like most of these posts this is not a great update and no real solutions just letting you guys know where I am currently at. My word so far is disappointed, I really like the truck but it just bums me out when it starts shaking. Im hoping at some point we can figure something out.

shoff95

[QUOTE=BluYot;52016139]True. I'm hoping the '13s will have this issue ironed out as they've just been released here a couple months back from what I've heard. They were rolling in as we picked our '12 up. I'd entertain the idea of a '13 Trail if they can't fix our issue.

My 2013 4Runner has a very slight vibration at times around 60 to 65mph. I have always been told that Toyotas are very sensitive to tire balancing. It has to be just right. Best of luck, hope they can fix it for you.

RunningWriter

I promised to update this thread (see 8/16/13 post below) re: front wheel shimmy on our 2013 4Runner — particularly for BluYot and 4runnerPaul, who have had problems similar to the vibration/shimmy our 4Runner exhibited on delivery.

The balance seems to have corrected our problem. Over the last four days, we drove 12 hours at various highway speeds, including 55-65 mph, which is where the vibration/shimmy was most evident the day we took delivery. We were fortunate to find major sections of I-75 that had just been repaved (smooth asphalt, not concrete with seams). That gave us a good "test bed." At 55-65, as well as higher road speeds, everything was almost glass-smooth. We weren't babying the condition, either, if it was going to recur. There was no shimmy induced by sharp acceleration or abrupt swerves either.

In our case, at least, I'm starting to think shoff95 hit it on the head: for those of not experiencing the genuine shimmy of BluYot and 4runnerPaul, it may be the 4Runner's suspension system is unusually sensitive to wheel balance; as shoff95 said, it has to be just right. Could that be because of the body-on-frame construction? Comparing the road feedback we get in the 4Runner, with our early-series AWD Highlander and the BMW X5s we've driven, bumps in the 4Runner seem to resonate (think "jello") rather than be damped (think "a brick"). But someone who knows more about the body construction and suspension systems of all 3 could speak to that more intelligently. I may be completely wrong.

Sorry for this good report, to those still experiencing problems! If our shimmy returns or anything changes, I'll update again. Just as an aside, I recently received an advertisement for the Lance Towable 2185 (a reprint from Feb 2013 issue of Trailer Life). The cover of that same issue of Trailer Life also features an article on "Fixing Truck Steering Shimmy." I tried finding the info on Trailer Life's website but had no luck. Don't know if there is anything helpful in that article, but wanted to at least mention it here. If anyone else finds it, perhaps you could post the full URL to this YotaTech thread.

Sincere best wishes to all who are still fighting with the frustration of front wheel shimmy that hasn't yet been corrected! :-(

KZN185W

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the update. glad to know that the shimmy was caused by unbalanced wheels only and not other mechanical issues

Robh2000

I went thru this and was so annoyed I had to come here ans share what fixed it. Had my car balanced 9 times at 3 different shops. Last one at the 3rd time referred me to their other shop that had "Road Force Balancing" taddahhh, balanced and drives good as new. Hope this helps guys and good luck.

Rob Hernandez

BluYot

Thanks for sharing Rob. Ours is still doing it after a year now. Perhaps I'll demand that Toyota keeps balancing and balancing until they get it right...or give us some FJ or similar rims to see if that smooths it out. My letter to Toyota Canada is being drafted...

EricM

Sorry to revive an old thread but I'm considering rejoining the ranks of 4Runner ownership (used to have an 03 Sport V8 that I traded in for my Avalanche). Have you been able to get this shimmy problem resolved? How common is it? My 03 had it and I was never able to get it resolved.

BluYot

No problem at reviving an old thread....again, I've been meaning to update it. Our visit at the dealership where they roadforce balanced the Bridgestone Dueler H/T they told me things were fine and this wheelset was good to go. In fact they were blaming it on my steelies that I bought with the tires saying they were the culprit and I should have gone with FJ rims...

When we did take our Yoko winters off and put the Dueler's back on Spring '13, we experienced the shimmy immediately. A busy summer didn't afford us the time or patience to be dealing with this and most of our driving was on country roads below the shimmy trigger point but it still did it all the way up to November '13 when I swtiched to the Yoko winters again.

After the Yoko's were put on, there was maybe a week where there was very very mild shimmy....then poof, gone. I drove just under 8500km (5200mi) from November until a week ago on these with pretty well no issues. If there was a vibration/shimmy it was hard to distinguish from the regular road feedback. Point was, it was good for us to ease our minds.

Consistent warmer weather arrives a week ago, I swap the tires over to the Dueler's and guess what...it's back. This time it's from 110-115km (70ish mph). Experienced it every time going in this range. I'm curious to see if it goes away on longer hauls but to me I'm starting to think again it's the stock rims and/or tires.

I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier but I found threads where guys were putting mild suspension lifts with new rims and rubber and the shimmy disappeared.

Anywho, I'll wait a couple weeks and report back but all in all we still love this vehicle. Drove it back in April on our unmaintained snow covered/washed out road to the cottage and it was a monster. Dropped the Yoko's down to 20psi, 4Lo and whoa! The DAC works amazingly well to down icy snow covered terrain.