Skrillah

Can someone please help me out with my annoying steering wheel shake, for some reason, some days are worse than others but when i'm driving at 40+ mph, I get this steering wheel shake. Its very slight, but its just enough to notice and be annoying especially when you are traveling at higher speeds like 60 mph.

The truck tracks straight for the most part, maybe a slight pull to the right but thats it. Wheels and tires were just balanced and I wouldn't think an alignment issue would cause this but obviously please correct me. I'm thinking now of maybe getting some poly steering bushings for wheelers but not sure if this is the true problem. This is not a warped rotor problem, it happens just with normal driving.

Ideas? Ideas? Ideas?

Nismo Convert

How many miles on it since you had the wheels, balanced? Go around and retorque them, this should be done after 100miles anyways.

toy_tek

Wheel balance. Notorious problem, many many posts and threads regarding this. do a search for lug centric or haweka adaptor.

Swap your front tires to the rear and see if it dissipates a bit.

Skrillah

Thats the thing, the wheels were balanced maybe two weeks ago so no more than 4-500 miles ago, I hate to think this is it as there was a slight vibration prior to the balance, although it seemed to be worse after this last balance.

I did try a search but apparently I just searched the wrong key word, I guess I need to take it back to these guys who did my last balance and make sure they do it lug centric...?

Anything else it could be?

Nismo Convert

What I meant by that was check to verify the lugs are still tight, they can work their way loose, if the vibration was there after they balanced they either didn't tighten the lugs enough, or the wheels aren't balanced right.

Sandman

I'm having a similar problem and I've order the energy suspension poly bushings for the steering rack. I've only had this truck for 2 weeks, so I'm not sure if it's the problem yet. I rotated the tires, but they're looking pretty worn so they're probably not helping. Could also be the lower ball joints, and shocks. I don't think it's the tires because it's not constant - it seems worse after hitting rough road spots. I will post my findings on here after I install my bushings. Please post your solution when you fix it!

97Limited

I second that one!! Check your steering rack Bushings!!

86toysr5

my 97 tacoma shakes and about 60 but it only happens half the time i hit 60

norcalsvx

i see about 5-10 bad balance jobs a week ( from other tire shops)here at our tire shop a week have it rebalanced and see if it helps

3RDnVB

Have them rebalanced. I had this shake when I put on my 275/75/16 BFGs. The first shop only put weights on the inside but they needed counter weights on the outside as well. With the new balance its perfect.

DirtyDeeds/DirtCheap

I agree, re-balance before spending $ on steering bushings.

Skrillah

Thanks for the responses guys! I'm going to call the shop that did it tomorrow and get something scheduled for next week.

My truck has 136k miles so I'm guessing the steering bushings need replaced anyways, not sure how to tell but I figure for $20 some bucks it can't hurt anything...well unless I break something installing them.

It bugs me though that they're out of balance, the shop I took it to is a pretty reputable shop or so I thought. Must just have some moron working there or they dont' know Toyotas. I've found it funny how much I've learned from YT, when I talk about my truck to mechanics or really die hard truck guys, they're amazed how much I know about Yota trucks. Cool stuff...i'll tell the guys they need to make sure its lug centric and use a haweka adapter!

Sandman

I replaced all 4 shocks last weekend and I found one of the front shocks to be totally shot. That improved things quite a bit. Today I got the wheels balanced and highway shakes are gone. I'm still waiting for my bushing kit..it's on back order.

Ron Helmuth

I had similar symptoms Skrillah. I have lifetime alignment with Firestone so it never costs me money to have them check all the suspension related pieces. Their conclusion was the tie rod end (sorry I forget if it was outer or inner) had too much play. I was skeptical but allowed them to replace it, about a $30 part as I recall. Now I have no shaking whatsoever. In my case it was the driver's side tie rods. I am not a mechanic, so I have to trust folks to be honest when doing the work. I was so impressed I phoned the shop that same evening to tell them they did great work and made my Runner fun to drive again!

gpcollen1

Replaciing the bushings anyway is a good idea.

As for the balance, it is amazing how many places either screw up the balancing or do not have the equipment for our wheels. Definitely bring it back or have someone else do it.

Another problem could be your drive shaft/ujoints. Drive shafts can throw a weight or your ujoint can be going. This usually shows up at 40+ MPH.

Search a bit so you can get 'brought up to speed'.

Beartracker

Dynamic balancing will make a big difference. Most people don't like to see weights on the outside but I could care less if it makes your wheels run smooth. After they did it to mine it runs so smooth it's unreal.
Bad balance jobs are not unusual. If the guy doing it is tired or it's close to his break time of lunch he will just say "that's good enough" when it's not even close to being balanced.
Bad shocks will really cause it to shimmy and so will the bushings or just bad tires that were not rotated right from the beginning. Mike

jfond

I have this same issue, though it seems like it is better right after it is rebalanced, but then 1000-3000 miles after a rebalance it comes back. Any ideas why they could be coming out of balance so quick?

mokai

It may not be a balance issue..When I first got my BFG AllTerains 265/70/R16 Load D i was getting this vibration in the front and rear..I had them rebalanced time and time again and even at different shops..No help either..So I started thinking air pressure..I called BFG and they told me to run 45 psi front and 50 psi rear and that would solve the prob..I had been running 35 psi front and 30 psi rear as per tire shop recommendation..The problem went away first time out with the higher pressure..

So check your air pressure and see what happens..

Skrillah

Actually the tire pressure thing might make sense, as some days it seems worse than others, which may have something to do with weather? That is, higher temps make my psi levels go up....?

Nimrod

I have this problem too. The whole truck shakes. Some days it is worse than others. I have new tires and they were balanced when they put the tires on. The shake showed up after just a few hundred miles.