Steering wheel wobble between 55-65mph (Solved)

Hey everyone, i've scoured this forum for all other threads regarding this issue and haven't been able to pin down my issue as of yet so hopefully you guys can help me out now.

Between 55-65mph the steering wheel begins wobbling roughly anywhere between a quarter to half an inch at its worst. Tapping on the breaks suddenly doesn't dissipate the issue, only when i speed past 75 or go below 50ish.

Current mods to the suspension are:
2.5" Headstrong coil lift
Bilstein 5100's
Believe a 1/4" driveshaft spacer

Car Specs:
2010 Double cab
4x4
100k miles
Aftermarket FN 17x8 wheels with 0mm offset
30" Falken wildpeaks

What I've done so far to try and fix:
- Balance and alignment done 2x, had them both redone 2 weeks ago and the tech said everything was still good
- New passenger side CV axle
- New Driver side CV axle
- ECGS clamshell bushing for driverside CV axle
- Checkover of all mounts and bolts for suspension and steering column that I could access
- Replaced brake pads and rotors
- Rotated tires

I hope that at this point i've narrowed it down. When I move the steering wheel there is about half an inch of slop before it "contacts" and really starts moving the wheels and I can also hear a clunk coming from the engine bay when it "contacts" but I don't know where exactly. I have a hunch thats its either the gearing in the steering box or one of the steering rack bushings although I have read from other users on this forum that everything I just listed above is normal. Car is currently at 100k miles so i'm hesitant to believe that.

Any recommendations would be awesome guys!

4/10 Possibilities so far:
- Bad tires (currently Falken Wildpeaks)
- Steering rack bushings
- Steering Stabilizer?
- Inner tie rods

4/18: Problem fixed!
Replacing both inner/outter tie rods fixed the issue. Drove over 250 miles as of posting this with zero wobble issues.

Condition of both tie rods were the same on either side when they were removed:
Outer: Seemed good, ball joints were stiff and still had grease
Inner: No play/slop in the ball joint but it was very easy to move up/down by hand compared to the new one being stiff.

Hopefully that info helps out anybody whose having similar issues!

 

I had a similar issue. Steering wheel shake was intermittent at highway speeds. I bought the truck with a spacer lift and add a leaf. I replaced all bushings in the front end and steering rack with poly bushings. Seemed to solve the problem. I did however also put different tires and wheels on at the same time, so I can’t necessarily rule that out either.

 

Steering rack is definitely on my mind as a possibility solely because of the clunk, but I have read other users using Falken tires having vibration issues. What tires did you end up switching too?

 

The clunk would definitely have me looking at bushings especially the rack. Have you tried a tire rotation yet? I had a problem with a set of Wildpeaks on the wife's 4Runner a few years ago. After a few rebalance attempts, I got rid of the Wildpeaks. And the shake/vibes stopped. Might be an out of round tire. Balance doesn't rule that out. Keep in mind, you can balance a square or triangle for that matter.

 

Does it go away in 4x4 now? If not I’d bet on tires/wheels. I had a bad vibration from 45-60mph had wheels/tires balanced, rebalanced, rebalanced again, techs keep telling me they’re fine, I swapped the wheels for some stock ones SMOOTH AS BUTTER.

the clunk may or may not be related, could always be a separate issue. If it is related that would point me towards an issue with the steering system, not wheels/tires. I would get under the truck and check for any play while someone else sits in the cab and turns the steering wheel back and forth.

 

Mine turned out to be a bent rim.

 

i had a set of laufens I took off my other tacoma. Good all terrains for mostly highway driving. Do well in the snow and dirt. Steering rack bushings were my big concern. Decided to do the rest of the front end bushings because I had it apart.

 

Swap your wheels front to back and back to front. If the vibration stops in the steering wheel and you start feeling it in the seat, then you know it’s a wheel/tire problem.

 

My falkens do vibrate a bit more, but in my experience they just need rotated more. I would defenitly rotate before anything just because its free.

 

Thank's for all the replies guys! The vibes don't go away when the truck is in 4x4. This issue was happening with the stock rims before I got my new ones and I had the tires rotated a month ago as well. For now i'm going to try and check out the steering rack bushings and then possibly new tires. Have been planning on going bigger anyway since I got the lift.

 

Hang on. Why did no one at any point mention that he should check his wheel balance?

OP, did you check your wheel balance? These trucks are so sensitive that they require a roadforce balancing. Go get 'er done.

 

Wait.... now I’m thinking you were being sarcastic... crap.

 

That's what I get for skimming.

 

I should have been more specific when I said wheels and alignment done, my bad. I have had the wheels balanced twice with the latest being 2 weeks ago and the tech (overland buddy of mine) said that they were still in balance.

 

Were they road force balanced? Some times they can be in balance until you put force on them. I know that I’ve had issues with vibration and it didn’t go away until they road forced.

 

Unsure about that part of it, ill ask my buddy. Another thing about the wobble is that it doesn't always occur between those speeds. On my drive to work today every time I hit the between 55-65 it began the shake but on my drive home just now it barely started vibing at only one point. If it were the tires causing the vibration I would assume it would start vibing every time I hit those speeds.

 

MICHELIN Defenders is your answer

 

+1 about to pull the trigger on my second set. Got about 75k out of the fist set.

 

Oh fuck dude, it just came to mind, have you checked your rotors? Warped rotors could definitely be the culprit.