All of a sudden... a severe shake at 40MPH (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jul 2, 2008
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Location
Charlotte, NC
my 96 cruiser all of a sudden developed a sever shake at 40mph. below and above that speed it seems fine. At first i thought i had lost a tire weight but im thinking now it could be a bearing or something else. Any suggestions what it may be?
 
Sounds like death wobble, any recent changes to your wheels or suspension? Check for any loose or missing bolts on your knuckle or arms?
 
Shakes how?
Like the steering wheel is trying to yank itself out of your hands and the truck shivers like dog sh!tt!n' razor blades?
Or a wheel gets up to speed and it gives a shimmy feel and then goes away as you get faster?
 
I have the same thing. I just don't drive 40 anymore. I figure it'll work itself out, or I'll fix it when the weather warms up again.

Seriously, if you haven't changed any parts lately, look at your trunnion bolts and make sure they haven't loosened or fallen off. Next check the suspension connections (visually, don't try to retighten them) and the panhard bar bracket connection to the frame. After that, if you can get the front end off the ground on a rack or jackstands, have someone sit behind the wheel and quickly turn right-left-right, just a few degrees, for a minute or two while you watch the connections at either wheel end of the axle. If something's loose, you'll see it.

If all that's OK, have your tires rebalanced.
 
I'd definitely check for loose nuts/bolts before I drove it again personally. I've seen that same behavior from loose lug nuts for instance and you don't want to loose a wheel or chew up your studs/wheels by running loose very long. Check all wheels/lugs, kingpin/trunion caps, etc.
 
Sounds like 💀 wobble. Better park and not drive it until to check every suspension part.

In all seriousness though, does no one do any basic troubleshooting before just throwing out things on the forum? I mean at least check the lug nuts or look it over.
 
Like others have said. Check all your nuts. Than check your tire pressure and get the wheels balanced by a reputable shop with a road force balancer.
 
IME one cause of vibrations that seemed to come on without any warning was related to one or more tires having low pressure., more common when the weather turned cold or after the vehicle had sat for awhile and the pressure leaked down (or you picked up a nail causing the pressure to drop).
 
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my 96 cruiser all of a sudden developed a sever shake at 40mph. below and above that speed it seems fine. At first i thought i had lost a tire weight but im thinking now it could be a bearing or something else. Any suggestions what it may be?
I just realized where you are. Feel free to bring it over this weekend and we'll take a look at it, if you don't feel comfortable handling that yourself.
 
Also check the frame for cracks around the frame-side panhard bracket.
 
IME one cause of vibrations that seemed to come on without any warning was related to one or more tires having low pressure., more common when the weather turned cold or after the vehicle had sat for awhile and the pressure leaked down.
IMHE, the vibrations often come from vehicles that are neglected and over 25 years old. People need to understand that yes the vehicles is a Landcruiser so the reliability is good. However you must also remember these vehicles are old and things are wearing out and need to be replaced or inspected.

Check the sun roof and make sure it shuts correctly if not you will get death wobble.
 
...Check the sun roof and make sure it shuts correctly if not you will get death wobble.
Ant the head gasket will blow, don't forget that.
 
Well…. it wasn’t the head gasket or the sun roof. Still not sure what caused this. I drove it the next day and I couldn’t get it to vibrate again. So weird. It was a vibration in the steering wheel that shook back and forth from left to right. Check air pressure and all lugs. Did t see any loose or missing bolts but it was definitely in the steering area that caused this.
 
Well…. it wasn’t the head gasket or the sun roof. Still not sure what caused this. I drove it the next day and I couldn’t get it to vibrate again. So weird. It was a vibration in the steering wheel that shook back and forth from left to right. Check air pressure and all lugs. Did t see any loose or missing bolts but it was definitely in the steering area that caused this.
How old are the tires, how long have they sat between driving? My KO2 were less than 5 years old and developed issues causing a shake in the steering wheel.

I checked the wheel bearings, tie rod ends, lug torque, etc and it was my tires after all. Once I replaced the KO2 the issue was gone.
 
Tires only have about 10k miles in them and they are 3 years old.
 
Had something similar happen (intermittently) when the brake pedal return spring fell off (after servicing). The brake pedal would stay down (or get pulled down) just enough to engage the brakes lightly causing the shimmy.
 

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