I noticed today when braking/accelerating around turns at highway speeds, my steering wheel starts to shake. I rotated my tires yesterday (passenger rear to driver front, vice versa). My guess is that has something to do with it. Any suggestions?
shakey wheel
- Thread starter e_parise
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Have someone check your front end out. I don't think it is in your tires.
Worn (especially cupped tires), bent rim or unbalanced tires can certainly cause those symptoms. I would check the easy things first though.
I would retorque your lug nuts and look for missing wheel weights. If it persists, check for play in front wheel and trunion bearings by jacking up each wheel and inspect for movement in & out and at 6 & 12 o'clock positions. If these check out, I would swap the tires back to there original locations and see if the problem goes away. If it does, you can assume a tire/wheel problem. If not, start searching for wobble or "death wobble" and you will find lots of information about diagnosing steering play.
I would retorque your lug nuts and look for missing wheel weights. If it persists, check for play in front wheel and trunion bearings by jacking up each wheel and inspect for movement in & out and at 6 & 12 o'clock positions. If these check out, I would swap the tires back to there original locations and see if the problem goes away. If it does, you can assume a tire/wheel problem. If not, start searching for wobble or "death wobble" and you will find lots of information about diagnosing steering play.
lx450landcruiser
Moderator
dont drive t until you check your lugs, had work done on my truck and felt a shake after wards pulled over after a bit to just double check and found every wheel std sheered off but one on the fron passenger side. people with impact guns who dont care should never touch your wheels
If it is tires wouldn't the problem exit all the time while driving not just when braking and on turns?
I had the same problem after I put my wheels on and the lugnuts were not tight enough.
When you are driving in a straight line there arent many forces pulling at the wheels, but during a turn more torque is applied to the wheels and lugnuts. If you have a problem, this is where it will show.
Also, get them balanced again. If you want to do it on the cheap.... Walmart does it for $5 a tire.
When you are driving in a straight line there arent many forces pulling at the wheels, but during a turn more torque is applied to the wheels and lugnuts. If you have a problem, this is where it will show.
Also, get them balanced again. If you want to do it on the cheap.... Walmart does it for $5 a tire.
Here are my suggestions based on the research and troubleshooting that I did on some mild vibes on my truck at stock height. I would start with some basic inspections. If you get free (or very cheap) tire balancing, then have that done as soon as practical. Otherwise, I would perform the free inspections (good to do anyway) before spending money at the tire shop. Remember that the AWD drivetrain in our vehicles can transmit the vibrations and make it difficult to determine the source from the drivers seat. Don't automatically rule out the back end just because you can feel it in the steering wheel.
1. Start with checking the torque on all your lugnuts, air pressure in all your tires, and then a visual inspection for any missing wheel weights.
2. Then go to the FAQ and look under the Preventive Maintenance section, and perform Landtank's inspection for the front end (great write up). My new front wheel bearings needed re-adjustment after a few thousand miles of settling in. Apparently this is common with new bearings.
3. If that front end inspection does not uncover anything, then check that your parking brake is fully releasing on both sides in the rear. If it's not, then it may be rusted in place. If this is the problem, then you can search for the terms "bellcrank" and find out exactly how to fix it.
4. Remove the grease zerts for greasing the driveshaft splines. Release any pressurized grease in there and go on a short test drive on clean, dry roads (or duct tape a cottonball over the hole to let it breathe yet keep any grit out on your test drive). Then re-install the zert. Some people have had issues with the grease pressure putting load into the transfer case or diff.
5. While you're under there, check the fluid level in your diffs and transfer case.
6. Following that, I would closely inspect your U-joints for wear or play. Grease them if they look dry. If you have a center diff-lock switch you can engage it and then drive around with one driveshaft removed to see if the vibes are gone. Remove the front first and test drive. Then re-install the front and remove the rear and test drive it again. If you find a bad u-joint, or the vibes stop with one ds removed then strongly consider replacing all the u-joints and having the balance checked on the shafts.
7. If none of this turns up anything, then pay your tire shop of choice to have the tires balanced and report back.
1. Start with checking the torque on all your lugnuts, air pressure in all your tires, and then a visual inspection for any missing wheel weights.
2. Then go to the FAQ and look under the Preventive Maintenance section, and perform Landtank's inspection for the front end (great write up). My new front wheel bearings needed re-adjustment after a few thousand miles of settling in. Apparently this is common with new bearings.
3. If that front end inspection does not uncover anything, then check that your parking brake is fully releasing on both sides in the rear. If it's not, then it may be rusted in place. If this is the problem, then you can search for the terms "bellcrank" and find out exactly how to fix it.
4. Remove the grease zerts for greasing the driveshaft splines. Release any pressurized grease in there and go on a short test drive on clean, dry roads (or duct tape a cottonball over the hole to let it breathe yet keep any grit out on your test drive). Then re-install the zert. Some people have had issues with the grease pressure putting load into the transfer case or diff.
5. While you're under there, check the fluid level in your diffs and transfer case.
6. Following that, I would closely inspect your U-joints for wear or play. Grease them if they look dry. If you have a center diff-lock switch you can engage it and then drive around with one driveshaft removed to see if the vibes are gone. Remove the front first and test drive. Then re-install the front and remove the rear and test drive it again. If you find a bad u-joint, or the vibes stop with one ds removed then strongly consider replacing all the u-joints and having the balance checked on the shafts.
7. If none of this turns up anything, then pay your tire shop of choice to have the tires balanced and report back.
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Grab your torque wrench and check the radius arm, panhard, etc bolts. If any are loose it will cause that type of shake.
I just had the shaky wheel but it was on slight turns and once and a while going down the road and it was also right after a rotation. Turns out wheel(s) were un-blanaced. My guess is that they rotated and figured the wheels were already balanced. Slackers....
