Steering wheel shake

Hey everyone.

I have been having a problem with steering wheel shake off and on for the last 10,000 miles (my truck now has just under 18,000 miles on it). It started when I got my new wheels put on and had to have discount tire balance them 3 times before finally taking it to the dealer to have them do it. They have done it twice now.

It's normally not too bad since most of my driving is around town at about 60 mph max. I do get minor steering wheel shake around 55 mph once in a while but it's much worse when I go on trips where speed limits are 75 mph. I have tried searching but haven't found much.

The thing that is confusing me is that it is so random. Sometimes I will be driving with the cruise control set around 75 and everything is smooth and then go around a curve or the road surface changes and then all of a sudden the steering wheel is shaking. I thought it was mostly gone until my trip to Dallas this weekend.

Is it normal for out of balance tires to cause the steering wheel to shake only sometimes?

How common is it for a wheel to be out of round because of a manufacturing defect?

Seems to me that a balance issue or out of round wheel would cause constant vibrations.

I also don't think it is an issue with a wheel because even after having them rotated it still does it.

Is it possible that it's just road feedback caused by wheels that stick out more than stock? My new wheels are 0 offset iirc. Or maybe that my wheels are not hub centric? The wheels are pro comp 7031.

The only other possibility I can think of is my alignment but I would be surprised if that was the case since I am still on stock suspension.

I guess I am probably going to have the dealer balance them again and tell them I want them road forced. They seemed reluctant to do the road force last time for some reason.

What do you guys think I should check while I wait to get it in to the dealer?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any input.

 

Road Force Balance.

Not the same as normal balancing. Very common issue with Tacos.

What wheels do you have? Are they hub centric? Are you using the original factory lug nuts?

My Method NV rims required a lug nut type change.

 

Also double check and see if your wheels are hub or lug centric. Hub rings are cheap and perfectly center the wheel around the hub.

 

That's what I'm hoping. I just don't understand why my dealer seems to have a problem with doing it.

 

They are definitely lug centric. I may order some rings if the road force doesn't fix it. Or maybe I will just order some anyway. I just have to figure out the sizes.

 

If they're lug centric, I'd start there. It doesn't make sense to me how an unbalanced or out of round tire would only shake sometimes, but not the other. Contacting procomp and figuring out what the size of the hub is would be your first step.

 

I didn't think a wheel not being centered would only shake sometimes either. Wouldn't that also cause a constant shake?

 

I would think that as well, but maybe it's just shifting a minuscule amount making it shake? No idea. I'd definitely start there though because the rings are cheap and easy and will help you rule it out.

 

my truck does the same thing, it shakes sometimes and not others, It did it with the stock wheels and tires and now i just switched to method nv wheels and 285/70/17 tires, still shakes at times, not all the time and only at certain speed.

Im a master tech and i mounted and balanced my own wheels, they balanced out perfect, on both the stock wheels and the new aftermarket set up, there has to be something with these trucks in the front end that is loose.

It shook when the truck was bone stock, still when i lifted it with stock wheels and still lifted with the new wheels and tires..

not gonna waste my time going to toyota dealer.. ill just put it back up on the lift and dig deeper to see whats going on, im gonna guess its something within the rack and pinion and steering system.

 

Did you check the lug nuts and make sure they are tight?
Shooting in the dark

 

Maybe the bushings in the rack and pinion? Some people swap it out for polyurethane ones and it removes slop.

 

my wheels have been torqued and re torqued 3 times, they are tight.

And about the rack bushings, thats exactly where is was going to look, i hope there are stiffer ones out there because id definately be changing them.

 

Here's a thread for you.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/05-v6-tacoma-steering-rack-bushing-replacement.289436/

 

This seems like a good possibility too because I do also get some road feedback from bumps even when it's not shaking. It's not horrible but I do slightly feel bumps in the steering wheel.

 

I was just dealing with the same problem, I had high speed steering wheel wobble with my old wheels and tires, just had them replaced with new rims and Goodyear Duratracs and the wobble was still there which made me think it must have been something else besides tire balance but I decided to give it one more try and have it rebalanced,picked it up today, drove it home-SMOOTH AS BUTTER! They said that first time they balanced it in STATIC mode but today they tried DYNAMIC and that fixed my problem,my truck never drove this smooth. Not sure if this would fix your wobble but it worked for me.

 

Im gonna drive the truck a few hundred miles more let the new tires settle in and then ill bring it in and check / re balance the tires, but im definately getting those poly rack bushings. not looking forward to taking the rack out but stiffer bushings will be nice for sure.

 

Taking the rack out was a biiiiitch. Good luck and god speed.

 

Yeah I checked that. There was one in the front drivers side that tightened the smallest amount. Other than that they were all good.

 

Join the club. Same situation here for the past 7 years, new tires or old, balanced or not, alignment or not,rotated tires or not, it’s all random.

I’ve just chalked it up to being a truck.

 

That really sucks. I feel like it will cause things to wear out prematurely. Mine didn't start until I replaced my wheels so I'm hoping it's something that can be fixed.