Steering wheel shake/vibration even after uniball uca+alignment...

So just some history:

-2011 DBL Cab 4x4
-Bought the truck with toytec boss lift@30,000 miles
-Truck didn't track well and had bump steer+steering wheel shake from day 1
-Truck now has 130,000 miles and the shake has gotten worse with every mile since I bought it
-The truck has had factory UCA's installed the entire time up until now
-265/75-16 Duratracs since the day I bought it.

Present time:
-Had a shop install new cv axles a week ago and shake became noticeably worse
-Last night I installed a new set of Toytec boss coilovers and Total Chaos uniball UCA's
-Got an alignment today
-Just took it driving and it feels like a brand new truck at 45mph and under, but still has a slight pull to the right.
-@ 50mph and up, the steering wheel shake/vibration is still there, and just as bad as before.

What am I doing wrong, and what do I need to be looking for? I'm so sick of the constant
never ending steering wheel shake whenever I'm commuting or traveling on the highway.
I did these upgrades because I thought it might keep me from wanting a new truck, but now
I'm beginning to lose hope..

I did note, that whenever I get new tires, it seems to help a little bit with the shakey steering wheel, until the treads start to get that asymmetrical wear on the knobs.

 

Seems like I heard this story before. Have you had the sams wheels all this time? Could it be the wheels are out of round?

 

It's possible. I noticed an insane amount of weights on my rims. However, I still had bump steer and slight shake with the factory rims.

 

some shops can't balance wheels via hub centric, so they do it by lug mounting.. which doesn't work.

 

45+ mph issues = wheel balance issues. Going through the same nightmare right now.

 

Did you do the ECGS clamshell bushing?

 

Throw some stock wheels/tires on your truck and go for a test drive.

 

Has the vibration changed with tire rotation? I've noticed both My Taco and 4Runner seem to be very sensitive to out of balance/ out of round tires. A lot of weight on wheel should be a clue. In my experience, excessive weight is a sign of a tech trying to balance an out of round tire. Have them RoadForce balanced. That will tell if out of round

 

https://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-8536125-toyota-8-clamshell-bushing-eliminates-needle-bearing.html

 

You running wheel spacers?
Jack up front of truck and loosen lugs and retighten evenly by hand....

I had run 2 types of spacers, ebay el cheapos and Spidertax.... the ebay el cheapos were terrible for steering wheel shake ... the spidertrax were better but you still had to take your time and hand tighten the spacers to the truck as well as the wheels to the spacers..... even now that I am not running spacers, I still do my own tire rotations and tighten evenly with a torque wrench.....

sometimes the stick on weights fall off as well.... best to road force balance like some have stated...

 

I am no expert but have had experience with this from different vehicles. It was either tire (out of round), wheel (out of tolerance), or warped rotors.

 

I think you guys are right! They have sticky weights and radial mounted ones on my driver tire. The other wheels are just as bad!

And yes I am running hub centric spacers but they aren't the cheapos.

 

Jesus. Swap that wheel to the rear and let us know if that moves the vibes to the seat.

If it’s a wheel/tire issue, in a front tire you’ll get shake/vibration in the steering wheel. If it’s in a rear wheel then you’ll get shakes/vibration in the seat.

 

Yeah, that seems a little excessive. Any weights opposite of those in pic? If not... you could have them break bead on tire, rotate tire 90* or 180* on the rim and then rebalance.

 

You found it! Check all the tires/wheels.
After about 4 ounces the tire and/or wheel has problems and may be junk.
As stated above get a road force balance. That will determine which has a problem and if both have a heavy spot will have the tech rotate the tire on the rim to make them opposite. Only 1 weight location on each side of the wheel and then no stick ons.

 

I'd tend to agree with this. My steering wheel shake over 45mph completely went away when I switched from my KM2 to my other set of rims with c-load KO2. I had those same KM2s installed on some new rims and they put a million weights on them (and on opposite sides of the rims ) so I think I'm going to have to take them back off and use those balance beads or whatever they're called.

 

The outer rim weights work well but too many mean an out of spec tire or wheel.
They actually balanced mine last year with several weights in various positions around the wheel and I laughed at them and got the manager to rebalance them - oh they got new machines and not trained well he said - really my ass. Never been back to that store location. I usually buy at Discount Tire and one store has a crew that knows the road force balance machine so will always go there. Most Toyota dealers have the road force machine but charge a lot more and not good with aftermarket stuff. Stock sizes they do well with.

 

When I was working as a tire tech what I noticed was goodyear and bfg both are difficult to balance. I would take note of how much weight is on each assembly. You can also rotate them to help find the problem assembly. The roadforce machines are cool but are not 100% effective. I had a set of ko2's giving me vibes. They static balanced fine(weight in only one spot) but when I tried to do a dynamic balance (what they did with you, weights in 2 spots) it asked for way too much weight. I threw out the tire asking for the most weight and it rides smooth now. Same symptoms as you, vibes mostly between 45-55. When assembly was put on the rear the vibe went away. If you have means to rotate them yourself, I would rotate one side at a time and when the vibe goes away you know which front assembly was causing it. Tell the place you bought it from the tire is out of round and you would like it replaced if it's relatively new. Manufacturers will adjust for tires that are out of round. They're great tires, but unfortunately there's always a few in a batch that don't balance right

For the record the tire roadforced at 10-15 lbs which is really good, but it was still causing vibes so it's not a sure indicator

 

Ok guys I'm in the waiting room getting new tires installed now since I needed them anyway. Can't wait to see if that was the issue!

Also asked them to balance them right and complained about the way they did it last time. The salesman agreed that they did it wrong after looking at the weights and promised they would do it correctly.

 

Wow guys. Thanks for the advice!

Truck tracks straight and ZERO vibration or shake in steering wheel even at 80mph.

My truck has never felt like this since I've owned it!