Steering wheel wobble comes and goes

I have an inconsistent wobble in my steering wheel that comes and goes, seems to be the worst between 45-55 mph, but isn't always there at those speeds. When it does wobble, it's about 3/4", but a lot of the time it doesn't wobble at all. It only wobbles on straight aways, never in corners.

With tires off the ground and hands at 6 and 12 o'clock there is no play (so not LBJ?) but at 3 and 9 o'clock there's definitely some play (1/2-1"). It seems the movement comes from the CV axles not the tie rods (wobble is there in both 2hi and 4hi), but when doing this on the drivers side it looks as if the movement translates up to what I'm assuming is the steering linkage.

It's not a tire balance, I went up to 33s a couple months ago and the wobble didn't change, even after two balancings.

It's also not the UCAs, I just changed them today (Xaxis bushings on SPC UCAs had gone bad). Changing the UCAs did reduce the wobble a bit, but definitely didn't eliminate it.

At rest, my steering wheel also has a bit of play side-to-side, about 1-1.5".

Any recommendations on diagnosing this problem?

 

Steering rack, steering shaft ujoints or tie rods

Grab a rope and tie middle to wheel and both ends out the windows so you can go under and pull rope to watch things

 

Have you had your axle out lately?
Throwing something else out there as you've had other things apart.
I'd start with double checking to make sure everything is properly torqued.

 

Check the u joints in the steering shaft. There is one down close to the rack and pinion. There is also one just below the steering wheel.

If you don’t mind using non-oem, eBay has the replacement parts for cheapness.

 

Thanks for the thoughts so far, gonna give these a shot today.

 

175K on my new '11 DCLB. Had three issues. Some idiot at the toyota dealer put power steering fluid in it. Flushed it out and replaced with ATF and steering got smooth; Very stiff when I got it. Still had play though. Had son wiggle steering wheel and observed slop. Two problems emerged. Worn and sloppy u joint on lower steering shaft. Very easy to observe through wheel well. 2nd, I could see the input shaft move without the steering arms moving. There was slop in the internal guide bushing. Difficult to get in there, but tightened down the large adjustment nut (maybe 1/8 of a turn or so). Instead of dropping the rack, I made a special tool to get in there to tighten the nut. Feels like a new truck now. Tighten nut a little and observe. Keep doing it until the slop is gone. This was not the original rack. Probably a crappy reman, so this may not be an issue with OEM toyota racks. Those u joints are not sealed, so prone to wear as the grease works its way out over the years.

 

Be prepared for an alignment tough. I got the dorman version and the clocking of the two ends was off by about 30 degrees.

 

I pretty much have the same issue , with the front end off the ground and grabbing the tire at 3 and 9 it moves about a 1/2” ish . I have to crawl under and see what’s going on . The steering wheel wobble comes and goes usually around 55ish .

 

Sounds like tie rods.

 

It could be either or both of the things I mentioned above, but could also be tie rod issues (typically the ball joint on the tie rod end). The items above, you observe the upper steering shaft moving with NO movement of the tie rods. With the later, you observe the input shaft and tie rod arms moving in unison with no movement of the wheel. Pretty confident that the steering shaft u joint is a common failure point on the older trucks, but then again, so are tie rod ends. 1/2" tire movement is A LOT for a bad tie rod end, so don't think that is the issue. Usually the play is slight. Also look for worn bushings that secure the rack to the frame. The rack moves around inside of it's bushings, allowing drifting at high speeds. I think this may have only been an issue on the 1st gens with the old design.

 

Haven’t had a chance to really look at it yet , is this steering shaft ujoint a pain to repair ? Expensive ? Do you have to get an alignment ?

I already have taken it to 2 shops and haven’t gotten anywhere with it at all .

 

have you tried new wheel bearings?

i had a wobble at about the same speed, inconsistently as well and replaced tie rods, carrier bearing, drive line angles, and the needle bearing bushing..nothing solved my problem

vibes went away when i replaced front wheel bearings on both saides

good luck

 

Look up the zip tie mod too, for the cab side of the steering column

 

It is not fun but not terribly difficult. Getting the coupling end off the rack took some prying and banging. Middle sleeve was work as well to get it to slide up the intermediate shaft splines. Both due to rust. Part is $40, however if the don’t get the two couplers clocked correctly, like mine, a toe adjustment is required to get the steering wheel centered. Oem is likely dead accurate replica, bot 5X in cost.

 

Had same problem .Have someone rock steering wheel back and forth and physically feel inner tie rods for movement. When I checked mine grabbing wheel and checking couldn't feel anything but when grabbing tierod with someone rocking steering there was play .No wobble after changing tierods

 

Username is oddly appropriate.

 

This would be my recommendation, have someone wiggle (yes, wiggle) the steering wheel while you lay under the truck. Put a hand on everything that moves and see what seems to be moving at different rates.