Steering wheel Shake

Taking mine in today for a road force balance.. hopefully this solves my issues. My steering wheel shakes mostly when braking. Which could be either balance or warped rotors. I'm having both checked. I'm leaning towards the balancing being the culprit though since the vibrations happen at higher speeds as well. Wish me luck!

 

you may need hubcentric wheel rings.. Heard these do the trick on aftermarket wheels. I have the shake too

 

Yeah I read up on those too. That's one of my next things to try.

 

My stock '09 SR-5 DCSB went in for routine 35,000 mile service last month. I was told both left tires had excessive wear (since last rotation at 30K, really?) The ride had been fine despite the wear. I had an inspection due soon, so I opted for 4 new Yokohamas based on a dealership tech's recommendation. As soon as I hit 65-70mph the truck shook like the wheels were about to come off. I have driven this for about a year and 20,000 miles with no shaking/vibration whatsoever. U-turn to the dealer. After a story about their balancer being out of calibration another new set of Yokos, they decided it was "harmonic resonance" between the Yokos and the truck - my truck didn't like those tires... They ordered a new set of Michelin LTX M/S Load Rating E, still shaking. They said now that those were the wrong tires - "too stiff". Then they ordered a set of Michelin LTX M/S2 and were starting to get annoyed like I was being too fussy. It still shook. The steering wheel, my seat, the gas pedal, the side view mirror - wait, the whole front end shook is easier to type. I took the service director for a ride and he told me, "I will never get this truck to ride any smoother than this." I asked if he felt the vibration and he said he did. In fact, he said he could see the steering wheel shaking and that it shouldn't do that. I left it for the day and he calls later to tell me everything looked good except one tire was a 1/4 ounce off and most people wouldn't notice that. So, I picked it up, it still shakes and I decided to look on this forum for help. Holy crap! Looks like I'm not alone. I saw a couple of references to a potential recall. Does anyone have any insight on that? For a year this was the most enjoyable vehicle I have ever driven, now it's a pain in my @$$. I just emailed the dealership again to see what's next. I paid good money for this and added lot$ of accessories in the meantime. It was fine until they f'd it up! I will be their worst nightmare until it's fixed.

 

escalate it to Toyota, I'll bet it is driveline.
I'm still getting the run around they know about it but dont have fix yet.
dont settle for less.

 

OK boys, here's the latest. Just got off the phone with Toyota.

Toyota is definitely working on a fix for the drive line / steering wheel / shake / vibration. They not only know about it, they have been working on it for awhile.

A fix is in Beta testing now on trucks. Speaking with the mothership, I suggested there might be a correlation between the TSB for harsh ride and the drive line?
This is when I noticed it right after they did the 3 to 4 leaf fix.

I asked if the geometry could have changed affecting the drive line and apparently this has been taken into consideration for the fix.

I was told if nothing comes out in 2-3 weeks, time to turn up the heat.

The reason it's not being rushed in their opinion is there is no safety issue?
I interjected that with all that rotating monkey baloney going on, it's gotta affect the rear differential?
I'm not a certified mechanic, but I have turned a wrench or two in my day.
I'm pretty confident they will get this right.

 

If Toyota is planning a driveline shake fix, that's news that they know it's a problem and not "normal" like their field reps have been told to say.

If what Toyota told you is all true, then I'll be asking them for an extended warranty to cover any bearing and seals damage to the transfer case and diff that the past 9 months of daily flexing and shaking have caused. (I live a very hilly region, truck shakes often).

 

Mine is at the dealer right now. Service Director wanted another crack at fixing the shake. I wish I could put him in touch with the people you talked to at Toyota. But, if they don't have a fix yet, what can they do?

 

Amen, brother!

This is exactly what I stated to the rep. No way all this vibration @ speeds doesn't adversely affect the entire drive line.

I was assured this is being taken into account on the recall. (or "concern" as they like to call it)

Keep the heat up boys, the more voices they hear from all over the more we are in "harmony".

 

Went to the dealer last week for a road force balance.. they said they couldn't even get my tires Into spec.. I went to discount for a second opinion.. and they did a regulate balance. Said the tires were way out on weight.. balanced them.. and it was a drastic improvement. stupid dealer :/

 

New steering rack going in today under Extended Care warranty.

 

i can 100% confirm alignment DOES have an effect on wheel shake.

Got new tires and wheels (which were road forced at time of mounting/balancing), popped em on and had a wheel shake at 55-75 that was "minor"

decided to take her in for an alignment, since i went with 285's i was concerned about rear wheel clearance so i adjust the SPC UCA Eccentric a notch.... drove it up for the alignment, the wheel was shaking like crazy... post alignment.. ZERO shake.

moral of the story: while balancing is the most likely culprit of wheel shake, you shouldn't rule out a bad alignment....

 

did this cure the problem?

 

It's been one day and a couple hundred miles and steering wheel shake is gone! If it stays this way, I'll be posting an update with props to my dealership service guys in a few days. I had new tires, alignments, road force alignment, you name it. Steering wheel still shook at highway speed. It's nice to have my taco back!

 

my wheel always shook while i had my stock 16s and dunflops on em. i put the 17 inch alloys off the 4runner sr5s on it, and wrapped em in 265 yokohama geolanders. was shake free for a while, then it recently came back, i took it in, found out one of the wheels was off 1 1/4 ounces off. did a regular balancing, no road force, and it has been shake free for a few days, who knows how long it will last though im betting on a week.

i fixed most of the play when i trussed the rag joint with zip ties in an x configuration. my driveline vibe i most eliminated with a carrier bearing drop kit from old man emu.

 

I installed a 3" spacer lift with 20" xd hoss and 275 55 20 nitto terra grapplers around 2 years ago and thats when the shakes began not too bad but it was definitely shaking the steering wheel back and fourth. With the stock wheels on it drove like it was on glass. Everyone bragged how smooth my truck was...So ive been dealing with the shakes for 2 years and anything below 50 was fine and anything over 67 mph was fine so i just tried to stay in those speed zones... Tonight after reading about 10 of these pages i drove out to the old mans house and had him help. we jacked the truck up and took a look at everything. my wheels were made hub centric so i didnt need to install the hub centric rings they sent with the wheels 2 years ago. Checked all the lugs too make sure they were seated correctly. And ive always been a stiffler for service especially on a brand new truck(2010). The truck went in for all services recalls rotations. Never said anything about the shake just bc i was scared they would try to void my warranty somehow for aftermarket wheels and tires and suspension. So after having the wheels and tires balanced and road force balanced. I decided to look at the tires in general to see how they looked when rolling. Thats what we did tonight and found out that two of the tires were out of round and one of them was on the front left side....So i took that out of round tire and put it on the rear and left the other out of round tire on that other rear side and put the two in round tires up front. The trucks rides like glass again. i feel sometimes its balance, alignment, and some other issues. But guys its free...jack that joker up and spin the tires and give it an eye ball you can see a wobble in a bad tire. And it was plain as day...And for future reference buy your tires in town from a reputable shop i understand the internet is cheaper and some of your smaller shops are cheaper but with a big company they have a big name to live up to which generally means better service. I bought mine on line which means no company two years later to discuss about bad tires that i have dealt with for two years. I wish you all the best of luck....everyone knows there is no better truck than a toyota so dont give up yet.

 

When I bought my truck used it had the steering wheel shake. I noted this in the test drive and made sure the dealer put it in writing that this would be corrected on their dime. I could'nt drop my truck off for the day for about two weeks therefore I suffered with the shake...mainly between 60-75 mph. Of course in this time, lurked on in the forums incessantly and was convinced, my ball joints were bad, my tie rods were bent, my tires were imperfect, My wheels were oval shaped and all the other diagnosis that has been in this thread. Therefore, I feel very lucky that alligment was just out of wack and the tires needed balancing. I even think they did it with out the machine and adapter that has been refrenced in the thread. Fingers crossed it last. Moral of the story--From now on I will try not to assume the worst.

 

I've been reading these forums since I had my 09 but never registered until now. I started having the similar play in the steering about 4k miles on my 2012. It's become progressively worse and now at 7700 I finally got the shop to make an appointment to take a look at the steering rack. I was at the stealership today for a good 2 hours test driving it with the shop forman trying to duplicate the issue. Not until we parked the car turned it off and moved the steering wheel with the windows rolled down was I able to have him hear the clunk/ popping sound when turning the wheel back and forth. The noise does compliment the play I've been experiencing. Oh yeah even at 7700 miles it still hasn't even been off road yet sad to say. I suspect some other kind of defect causing this issue possibly bushings in the steering rack? Just keep in mind to have the truck turned completly off, in park and if you can try and park the truck half on and off a 1" elevation. A 2x4 might work since the front wheels of my truck were in the parking space half on/off where the cement curb meets the asphalt(about 1-2 inches in elevation change ). At first they tried to tell me it was the indermediate shaft and I had to wait till a Tsb came out for my year. My appointment is for Monday so I'll reply back what try find when I get it back. The problem initially started out as a vibration like I was driving on a washboard road but in flat. Highway between 55 Ans 62 MPH. The vibration went away and now I am just left with the sloppy. Play in the steering.

 

tacoidaho, any updates?

 

In February, after I bought rims and tires, there was no shaking, but this past September it got REALLY bad. It had the same steering wheel shake between 50-65 mph. I took the truck to USA tires, where I purchased the aftermarket rims and tires and had both the Hunter and Roadforce balancing done and still no better. The tech tried to tell me it was the rotors. Coincidentally, I had just changed them to a resurfaced set prior to going back to the shop for the 2nd time that morning, so I'm doubtful its the rotors. It had the same shake with the other set of rotors I had swapped out.

Any way, I took the advice on one of the threads of lowering the air pressure from approx. 40 lbs. to the factory recommended 29 lbs psi. Wow, what a difference! It drives a lot smoother! There is still a slight vibration, but you have to be really looking for it.

My advice: Try the simple stuff first!!