Hello all, first post so I'll dive right in with something that's really bugging me on my 96' tacoma 4x4. To give a complete picture, (if my custom avatar works) The tacoma is a 5speed, running 32" AT tires on American Eagle 15x10's, 3" body lift kit. These are fairly new tires (I got new tires thinking the shaking was bad tires.. <sigh>) I've had the rims checked, had an alignment done, brake job. The shaking in the steering wheel and bounce on the front passenger side still persists. One thing I do know, my front struts are in need of replacement. The vibration is not always present, but it is irritating and I need to find a solution. Any ideas?

Craneman

 

First off, Welcome to the forum, Hopefully someone will be able to help you out. As for me I'm not really sure since I'm more technology inclined than mechanically. Anywho, My Dad had somewhat of a similar problem on his dodge, but it was fixed with a tire replacement because something about the way the tire wore down was causing it to shake. By the way does it shake when you hit the brake or all the time?

 

thanks for the reply, braking is very smooth. no bounce from the front passenger side except when in motion. The wierd thing is its not constant. Sometimes it is really noticable, sometimes barely there. Ok here's another possible clue. A friend of mine noticed that the tire is wearing to the inside slightly. Anymore ideas are welcome!

Thanks

 

Well, if thats the case I personally would have the shocks replaced and see if that helped any. To me that would trigger a suspicion about the suspension. Thats just me though, I would run it by my dad and this forum too before I did anything major cost wise.

 

Could be one of several things or all of these things. Struts need replacement, loose wheel bearings (does this model have bearings that can become loose?) New tires (as well as the old) not perfectly balanced, out of round tires, warped rim, under inflated tires. My 94 truck with 31" BFGs will shake and bounce bad sometimes at about 70 to 80 mph. Sometimes they are smooth up to 90. Just depends on how they feel.

 

I had a similiar problem once with my car it turned out to be an out of round tire. Took it back where I bought them and got a new one for free. You could rotate your tires around and see if it changes to test that theory.