Severe vibration in steering wheel.

I am experiencing some violent shaking in my steering wheel. It comes on intermittently. I can drive for a few miles and experience no vibrations. But every once in a while if I hit a bump or some sort of a rock in the road the steering wheel will vibrate violently. If I stop and turn the wheel from lock to lock or back up sharply, the vibration will stop. I'm sure it is not a wheel balancing problem because I can sometimes drive 5-10 miles without any vibration. Then out of nowhere, the steering wheel starts shaking so bad I have to pull over and turn my wheels all the way from one side to the other. Also if I am going slow and I hit a bump or a rock the steering wheel will have a big jerk and like almost be pulled out of my hands.

I have checked the lug nuts. They are tight.

I suspect it is a wheel bearing, but I have jacked it up and there is no noise or free play at all when I move the tire about and spin it.

The tie rod ends are fairly new and have no free play.

I did read somewhere that if my alignment is out a bit, that could be the problem.

Anyone else experience something like this?

 

I have had a shitty set of rims do this at one point.

Tires balanced, Tie rods replaced, tires rotated, shake still there bought new rims at the tire shops suggestion, installed same tires and shake was gone.

IMHO lifetime alignments are worth their weight in gold.

 

I guess I will try rotating the tires tonight. And maybe pull apart the drives front wheel hub and check the bearing.

 

have you checked your ball joints?

 

Just pulled the drivers side wheel bearing. Put it in a vice and spun it. Sounded real smooth and no noise. Pried on it this way and that and seemed solid. Around October I had a wheel alignment and everything was solid and tight. I can't feel anything loose on the ball joints, tie rods or wheel bearings.

At the same time I had the wheel alignment done, I also replaced the front axle shafts. There is a fair bit of play where the axle goes into the differential. That's about the only place I can find any play on the front end so far.

I guess tomorrow I will have my 15 year old son help me look for stuff and by that I mean turning the steering wheel while I look!

 

I had a similar vibe in my front end. I know I'm 2wd. when I would hit a bump or rock like you my wheel would pull hard one way. everything seemed like it was tight. when I installed my lift both upper and lower ball joints were shot. replaced and problem was solved. don't know if that is of any help. depending on how much play is in your axle that could be a major factor in your situation

 

Original steering rack?

 

Nope. The steering rack was replaced by me about 3 years ago with a napa part. Seems solid, but I am not going to rule that out either.

 

Steering rack bushings ok?

 

I would say rack bushings or ball joints as stated before. Ive also seen ball joints look perfectly fine and feel good even when they have been shot.

 

Jesus. It could be anything. Rims, Rack, CV shafts being shot from within. I know what it's like to chase down steering issue ghosts on this truck and it is a serious bitch. I wish you the best of luck man.

 

I'll be watching closely for updates - having the same issue with mine. Only about 2" of lift and 60,000 miles
Somedays don't have it happen much at all, others happens more than not.

 

I had super bad vibes when my rotors were warped but itd only shake when braking. Makes me wonder if negcleting to fix it for 20k miles might have pre ordaned this happening to me later on

 

I had a similar issue from the time I bought the truck in Sept. 2013 (oddly, it didn't happen during the test drive). It wasn't until the dealership road force balanced late last year it that the problem went away.

 

Read 1st post again and you state vibration stops after truck is stopped and steering wheel turned lock to lock. If vibrations occur with vehical stationary steering rack highly suspect or I can't read.

 

After removing skid plate and having my son work the steering wheel back and forth a bunch I have come to the conclusion that the bushings in the steering rack are the culprits. Thanks for all the ideas. Anyone know if you can just get the bushings? Or is it a new steering rack?

 

energy makes polyurethane bushings

 

see here:
05+ V6 Tacoma Steering Rack Bushing replacement

Part No. 8.10106G

How to change the rack and pinion steering -2nd gen V6

 

That's awesome. Thanks!

 

Update. The steering rack bushings did not fix the problem. So after 3 or 4 hours of wrastlin with the steering rack I have now come to the conclusion that it must be the differential bearings. I have since ordered the replacement bushing set up for the drivers side differential. And just a new bearing for the axle tube on the passenger side from east coast gear.....

Everything else is tight and after reading a bit about the vibration when the bearings are going bad in the differential, that seems to be my problem. The intermittent vibration goes away when I put it into 4wd. Parts should be here by Wednesday so I will update in a few weeks if this finally gets it!