A little shimmy in her step

[theside00]

Got my 84 with stock steering and 33x10.5 BFG AT and a 4 inch spring lift to lay down the basics.

About 35-45 MPH there is a terrible shimmy but at about 50 it goes away. Sometimes it isnt that bad and sometimes it gets so bad I have to slow down to keep things from falling apart.

I torqued the U bolts to 90 pounds and the shackles to 70 pounds. Going to rotate the tires when I get a chance what else would cause this shimmy. I am saving up for cross over steering in the future.

By shimmy I am talking about side to side action. it can get pretty violent if the conditions are right.

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

That's the death wobble.... You probably need caster correction shims, to turn the front axle back to it's stock orientation. Check out 4Crawler.com, I know Roger sells them.

[theside00]

but it just started probably within the last two weeks, hasn't done it before and the lift has been on there a long time. I thought you only needed castor correction shims if you went with longer shackles?

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Lift springs can change the caster too, usually not as much as a shackle lift though... What has changed in the last 2 weeks, death wobble doesn't just show up.... Usually....

["N8"]

You probably need to rebalance your tires, or driveshaft. (tires are more likely less you struck something off road in your drivetrain) Also if your running ifs check out wether or not your driving with your hubs locked, if so check the bronze bushings that bear the front axle shafts. You can do so just by reaching in and shaking the axles, there should be very little play in there (millimeters not centimeters) check all your universal joints on the driveshaft. and your rear axle bearings. ( this is done by lifting the wheel off the ground and shaking the tire up and down there should be no play whatsoever) after all that is checked grab ahold of your pinion flange and try to wiggle it. same goes for your tranny main output flange again there should be no wobble in them whatsoever. if you do all that and cant find a thing ummm yahidono =P

but thatll start yah off pretty well in tracking down the vibration.

[theside00]

I dont know what happend but everything has stayed the same in the last 5 months since I bought it but it is just now showing up. It happened right after I got the transmission and head issue all figured out and running perfect again this shows up.

I am hoping that rotating the tires will take care of it but I thought it was weird that it just started to happen.

["N8"]

if your gonna have someone else do the work for you make sure that they balance the tires when they rotate them. its not uncommon for a tire to go out of balance due to a number of issues that may include rust on the inner rim, kicking off a balancing weight, dented rim... and the list goes on im just too tired to think of any more.

[EVILSPOTTER]

You need to look at every component that moves with a turn of the steering wheel, from the rod ends on your drag link to the king-pin bearings on your axlehousing, any slack in this system will give room for the cyclic movement of death-wobble to get started. If you have not had this problem before, then you may be able to band-aid fix it with a steering stabilizer, and some steering maintenance. Slack and tire problems can allow the movement that gets death-wobble started, but where there is enough caster death-wobble can not exist.

[Hilux]

Did you check the mid-shaft bearing?...since you have one....

[KLF]

I would also start by checking all the steering components. Make sure your tie rod ends are good, and the drag link ends are tight. I would actually pull the draglink off and tear it apart, go all thru it, make sure the springs and socket parts are all OK, I've seen those sockets crack in half.

Is your steering stabilizer OK?

Have you checked your caster angle and toe-in? You can do this all with a basic angle finder and a tape measure on a level floor.

Rotating the tires is also something to try.

[theside00]

She is back on the straight side now. All it took was rotating the tires and it goes dead straight and smoothe now. Thank god that it wasnt any of the steering parts dont have the time and money right now to figure it out.

[Toyrunner87]

You guys seem to know steering so let me ask this. My 4runner has a hug dead spot in the steering, i mean at some points i have top dead center ot the wheel at 6 oclock and the truck is going straight. The truck is sas'd and has a crossover steering setup. I have rebuilt the knuckles, had it aligned, replaced the steering box with a Marlin rebuild and put a new drag link and still the steering is sloppy, Could it be something up in the column, the connection to the box is good. Anyone have ideas i'd be glad to hear them.

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Have you checked the rag joint in the steering shaft? If you have a tilt column, the U joint in there could have some slack, but I've never heard of that....

[KLF]

Ya, if you're absolutely sure the rag joint right at the steering box is good and tight, I would slip a bar thru it so it can't move, then see if there is any play in the steering at the wheel. Could be something at the tilt joint.