Steering Wheel Wobble at 55-65mph

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

njharrell

njharrell

10 Year
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Threads
3
Messages
21
Location
Atlanta, GA
Hello. I wanted to get some input regarding a steering wheel wobble that i get from about 55-65mph, it goes away if i go any faster or slower. I was told by a trusted source that it's the result of a worn lower control arm bushing. The suggested solution was to get new OEM lower control arms and bushings, the reasoning is that the bushing are designed to last as long as the ball joint, so they should be swapped at the same time. And instead of just replacing the ball joint and bushing it made sense to purchase new lower control arms which include the ball joint. That way the whole setup will last another 150k miles.

Here's my question:

Since getting the new OEM lower control arms adds quite a bit of cost to the repair. Is that the way to go? The total parts and labor came in at about $1,000.

I tried to search for the steering wheel wobble cause and didn't see a whole lot about lower control bushing being the culprit. Is that likely the issue? What else could it be?

Here my current setup:
1998 LC - 188k miles
Ironman lift (constant load) front and rear installed
Ironman foam cell shocks
TJM T3 front bumper installed last year
Ironman 9.5 winch
Slee wheel spacers
Slee rear bumper
Slee ladder swing out
Slee spare tire swing out
Slee Sliders/step bars
18" LC oem wheels. W/ DuraTrac 275/70's with 70% tread (just had them balanced, still got the wobble)

Thank you!
 
I fought steering wheel wobble for years on an old Tacoma. Most of my wobble was found to be my oversized cheap mud tires that were hard to balance. I did replace control arm bushings at some point, but that was somewhere around 225k miles and was due to squeaking.
First thing's first, balance those front wheels. Then move on to other possible causes. I know bad steering wheel wobble can be downright Madning, so I hope you find your problem!
 
Also you can rotate your tires and see if the wobble goes away or changes at all...that might help confirm or rule out a bent wheel or poorly balanced wheel.
 
Rotate front and rear tires to see if your wobble remains = cheap to free.

To your LCA bushing question: Rare at your mileage; 100-Series LCA bushings are super tough.

After rotate check all front end components for wear/play...including hubs for play.
 
Last edited:
Try road force balancing versus standard balance., I've been much happier with RF. Warped front rotors can also cause a "wobble".
 
Despite others saying "it can't be your LCA's... Toyota did too good of a job making them!" Put me down for 150k shelf life on LCA's.

You wouldn't know it except for two times:
- wheel slop at full crank
- wicked squeaky on the trail

My LCA's started to go at 140k. Still haven't replaced them... As OEM is the way to go and a little pricey since it takes total replacement.
 
It could be the tire that's out of round even when brand new. There's a certain acceptable range and it's not entirely out of whack for some to be of lesser quality.

It could perhaps be the wheels themselves. Even new aftermarket wheels pass qc with no amount of weight that can zero out the malformed metal. Perhaps your factory wheels are bent?

You really need to find a tire installer that's anal-retentive about balancing the combo. If all checks out move to the suspension bits.

It's quite annoying. I hope you find a solution quick.
 
Thanks for all the info, the wobble certainly is annoying! For some reason it tends to quite down if the highway has any sort of curve, the wobble pretty much stops while i'm turning along the curve. Not sure if that's any additional help...

I did have the tires balanced and the tire tech said they balanced better than most car tires...but that's a good call to rotate them around and see if the problem persists. Not sure if they did road force balancing, probably not. I'll definitely start by rotating the wheels to the back and go from there. Thanks again!
 
One more to add to your list/check as when they're worn out, typically in the 150-200k mile range, they will induce strange front steering issues based upon my experience: Rear upper control arm bushings. Best way to inspect the bushings is to remove the arms...
 
njharrell said:
Thanks for all the info, the wobble certainly is annoying! For some reason it tends to quite down if the highway has any sort of curve, the wobble pretty much stops while i'm turning along the curve. Not sure if that's any additional help... I did have the tires balanced and the tire tech said they balanced better than most car tires...but that's a good call to rotate them around and see if the problem persists. Not sure if they did road force balancing, probably not. I'll definitely start by rotating the wheels to the back and go from there. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I had the same thing, vibration would lessen around curves at highway speeds.

Most shops wont automatically do a road force balance as some don't even have the equipment to do so.

If after checking all the usual suspects and the problem persists you may want to have your rotors turned. If you pay some else to do it (especially turned on the vehicle) the cost may almost be comparable to replacing. Very true if you provide the labor.
 
I had discount tire perform road force balance and I still had a wobble. I then took it to the local Toyota dealer and had the road force balance done and the wobble is practically gone. just a slight hint only on certain roads. the Toyota mechanic told me the 100 series is notorious for the wobble in the steering wheel and has to be road forced balanced by someone whom understands the machine and knows which Toyota wheels are hub or lug centric. I replaced my rotors, bearings, and races with no change in the wobble.
 
Is there slop if you jack up one side and push/pull on tire at 9 and 3 positions?
Tire Rod Ends and Steering Rack Bushings would be my first guess.
(Ok, not guess, but that was 80% of my problem. Replaced rack bushings with urethane.)
 
Ok, thanks again. The road force balance is my to-do list this week. Again, appreciate the info and i'll let you know how it goes.

Kevin2i, i'll check that as well. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom