Shake in steering wheel (1 Viewer)

[TTO5]

I have a 2000 cruiser. I get a shake in my steering wheel around 68 to 75 mph. I just replaced all 4 tires and the condition is still there. It shakes a little back and forth but if I turn the wheel very slightly when it is shaking I feel it get a little worse. It feels like a plunging feeling if that makes sense. If I move over to the right or left lanes it feels better as the road is crowned and I suspect it loads the front end a little on the crowned road. Most noticeable in the center lane of a 3 lane highway. My front brake rotors were replaced about 20 k ago as well as a bearing repack. All feels tight in the front end. I have an aftermarket cv shaft in the right front with about 60 k on it and the original cv axle on the drivers side with 240k on it. The boots are still good on both front axles. Any ideas?

 

[TXLX100]

How bad of a shake is it? Is it shaking the steering wheel or can you just feel it in the vehicle. What kind of tires did you replace with?

I'd start looking at ball joints, tie rod ends, and possibly the aftermarket CV.

 

[TTO5]

Yokohama geolander ats. Felt the same with the michelin ltx ats. Not terribly bad. Just enough to be annoying. Tires have been on about 200 miles now. I rotated front to back and it's still the same. Shakes the steering wheel. Not so much felt in the seat of the pants.

 

[dnp]

OEM wheels? Hard to tell in the photo.

My 2000 shakes a little after I changed over to 305/60s on an OEM 18" wheel. I'm thinking mine is due to worn steering rack bushings

 

[TTO5]

Yes oem wheels. OEM size tires as well. Wheels were spun on the balancer before mounting tires and checked out ok

 

[GaFJC]

The rotors may be warped. Mine did the exact same thing at that speed and turned out to be crappy Powerstop pads. Had the rotors turned and used OEM pads. Problem solved in my case.

Also remember that even news tires can be less than perfect.

Before you throw money at it, try a road force balance.

 

[mrbigboy]

^^^^Yep, get your tires balanced again.

 

[TTO5]

Ok. I'll try that. Thanks. I will report back

 

[ton504]

So the shake was there before and after brake rotors/bearing repack?

 

[TTO5]

Yes

 

[ton504]

Try finding an oe axle to replace that aftermarket unit.

 

[mr111]

I have the same problems and symptoms. I replaced the front bearings and changed all the rotors. Improved but not gone. I strongly suspect tire balance even though they've been rebalanced twice by two shops. I have cooper at3s. I'm throwing mounted snow tires on it this weekend and I suspect the issue will be gone or worse confirming the wheel balance problems. I think that the shops just don't fixture the wheels properly in the balancer, these wheels may need a dedicated adaptor that no one has. That or they just don't take the time to balance to the appropriate level of fidelity.

 

[ton504]

I have the same problems and symptoms. I replaced the front bearings and changed all the rotors. Improved but not gone. I strongly suspect tire balance even though they've been rebalanced twice by two shops. I have cooper at3s. I'm throwing mounted snow tires on it this weekend and I suspect the issue will be gone or worse confirming the wheel balance problems. I think that the shops just don't fixture the wheels properly in the balancer, these wheels may need a dedicated adaptor that no one has. That or they just don't take the time to balance to the appropriate level of fidelity.

Very possible. I guess I over look that since I balance my own tires and use the correct adpator. I take my 315 toyo mt's up to 80mph everytime i drive it. No vibrations at all.

Maybe the op should see if a local toyota or lexus dealer can balance them since they would likely have the correct adaptors.

 

[TTO5]

I actually am a service consultant at a toyota dealer. Does anyone think worn front control arms could cause this

 

[mr111]

Control arm bushings can definitely be the culprit. In my case I moved everything around with a pry bar and nothing seemed loose, but they could still be the culprit. Another thing is no strange tire wear, again pointing away from worn bushings. Another thing I've noticed is tires can be out of round, which no balance can fix. I didn't realize how bad this could be with radials until I spun a wheel on the car with a tire spinner (for on the car tire balancing). It was off by over a quarter inch. Suppose normally it's just eaten by the suspension...if it's in good working order. I'll have to get under and check the bushings again. Still plan to mount snow tires, should help with the diagnosis.

 

[2001LC]

*** if I turn the wheel very slightly when it is shaking I feel it get a little worse. It feels like a plunging feeling if that makes sense. If I move over to the right or left lanes it feels better as the road is crowned and I suspect it loads the front end a little on the crowned road. ****?

Road force balance a must for 100's, use the Toyota hub and 5/150 finger plate and make sure to look at tire as it spins for defects. After that check wheel bearings, snap ring gag and one very over looked bearing is inner spindle needle bearings. Note: FSM recommends replacing wheel bearings every 30k miles, if not replace I've found it necessary to over toque during repacking. Bearing start to chatter and groves claw washer if not tight enough. Make sure CV are good and tight, along with ball joints and steering assemble (rubber gets old). Sometimes it a number of small thing adding up, as I'm sure your aware.

 

[mr111]

My shake went away with the snow tires. That confirms that the two tire shops I went to didn't balance properly on multiple occasions. I bought an on the car balancer and figure I'll try to rebalance them myself as soon as I can figure out how to use it on a 4wd vehicle, and when it's time to remount in the spring. Ymmv, but for me it was definitely tire balance.

 

[mr111]

I should edit that for me it was balance or out-of-round of the tires. I'll find out in the spring.

 

[r2m]

Had the same problems. I just had to replace the bushings in on my steering rack. They were completely gone.
$40.00 for bushings and done!

 

[TTO5]

How hard is it to replace those rack bushings? How did you tell you needed them?