Steering Wheel Wobble - Help

[delong31]

After my last go around off-road, I noticed a vibration while back on the pavement. I took it into discount tire to have the balance checked. They told me they were way off-balance and balanced them for free since I have a long history of vehicles with them...props to the good guys.

At any rate, after having them balanced, I didn't really feel a vibration in the tires but my steering wheel wobbles badly, especially in the 40-45mph range. Seems counter-intuitive, I know.

I searched and I couldn't get any definitive results. Loose Wheel bearings, over torquing of the bolts (what's the proper torque on the 17" tundra rims with spacers?), still out of balance, or swapping left/right tires?

Looking for $.02 here. Thanks!

 

[offroad 80]

buckled wheels or mud in the wheels out of round tyre mud in between the tyre and rim other than that start checking the front hubs damaged front prop shaft uni joint on front shaft

 

[Kalawang]

Check out your Tie Rod Ends. Sounds to me as if that's the culprit.


Kalawang

 

[jfz80]

I searched and I couldn't get any definitive results. Loose Wheel bearings, over torquing of the bolts (what's the proper torque on the 17" tundra rims with spacers?), still out of balance, or swapping left/right tires?

Looking for $.02 here. Thanks!

Does this occur in a straight line, in turns, all the time.

What type of tires? I went too long b/w rotations on my IROKS and now that they are rotated I have a bit of wobble.

I have a 6 mos. old tom woods shaft with a bad u-joint and I get a small vibration at 35-40 but does not shake wheel back and forth.

Tie rod would be a good check.

Loose wheel bearings would do it. (check landtanks thread on diagnosing front end)

El Mariachi (i think) had a good thread about steering wheel wobble.

Swapping tires will usually only fix a directional pull.

Could still be out of balance if MT's. There is dynamic as well as static balancing. And after that you could find a shop with a road force balancer if its still not right and determined to be wheel/tire related.

Proper torque I believe is 76 ftlbs. Over tightening wouldnt cause it unless they cracked the lug seat. However I've had great luck w/ Discount but at some point someone swapped my shank style lugnuts with acorn style and just last week I got this bad wobble as you say and when I stopped It turned out my front drivers side tire was, um, falling off !!! So go check they are tight (with tire off the ground) Company policy says they cant work on a vehicle with spacers but like you Ive bought lots of tires there and they work with me. Just make sure they didnt use anti seize or the like as it will throw off the tourque.

 

[jditom]

Check for loose wheel bearings.
Lift wheel and hold tire at 6 and 12 oclock.
Then tug back and forth. If they are loose then there will be a lot of play there.
Check both front wheels.

 

[delong31]

I only really notice it when i'm going 40-45mph, so a straight line.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll have to do the troubleshooting on Monday as I'm headed out of town. I'll be sure to report back.

Thanks again.

 

[jfz80]

If your heading outta town in the 80 it might be worth finding the time, otherwise enjoy and keep us posted on the culprit.

 

[delong31]

If your heading outta town in the 80 it might be worth finding the time, otherwise enjoy and keep us posted on the culprit.

I wasn't out in the 80.

Okay, so I took it back to Discount Tire since I had this problem only after having them balance the tires. Well, this time they wouldn't work on it because of the spacers. I was a little disappointed but when I rolled out of there, the wheel wobble was gone.

Seems as if they didn't do a good job of putting the wheels back on the first time.

I'm glad I took it back there because it was looking to be a while before I could do my troubleshooting. I currently have a pin sticking out of my finger from surgery.

Sometimes, it's the smallest, dumbest things.

 

[Ebag333]

Well, this time they wouldn't work on it because of the spacers. I was a little disappointed but when I rolled out of there, the wheel wobble was gone.

Seems as if they didn't do a good job of putting the wheels back on the first time.

That would scare the out of me.

But I'm not a fan of wheel spacers to start with.

 

[Limey55]

Glad your problem is solved. Seems you have to check mechanics work a lot these days. I had a new steering damper (Pro Comp S2000) installed after I'd spent 3 hours trying to get the stock one off. Even the Pitman arm puller wouldn't do it. Anyway, the shop installed the new one and only spun down one of the attach nuts 3 or 4 thread. The whole thing flopped around. If I hadn't checked it I'm sure it would have fallen off. I've always made a point of quickly checking mechanics work when done and it's served me well.