Steering wheel shake

Hey guys,
I’ve got an interesting situation with my truck. On the highway (100-120km/h) my steering wheel will shake from side to side but ONLY on certain roads (ie. on smoother roads it will be completely still, on slightly bumpier roads it will begin to shake). My tires and wheels are both brand new and have been balanced at Toyota. My struts, wheel bearings/hubs, LCA’s and UCA’s are new, and brake rotors/pads/calipers are all new as well (they were installed when my frame was replaced). Everything is OEM, and my truck is not lifted. However it does have nearly 300,000km on the odometer.
My thinking is that perhaps it’s the steering rack and the bushings or the tie rods as the shaking is not consistent? The other reason I say that is because my steering wheel will jerk over bumps.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Maybe someone has had a similar scenario and found a fix?

 

I strongly suspect LCA bushings. Mine shook similar to yours and that's what it was. I tried finding a pair on Craigslist but ended up buying Dorman LCA's. They are holding up well and I now have the OEM as backup with Mevotech bushings. The issue you will likely have are seized bushing bolts. The front ones tend to rust and seize; I had to cut the pass side with a reciprocating saw. Look up the LCA thread.

 

I wish that’s what it was. My LCA bushings are brand new - the entire LCA including the bushings were installed as part of the frame recall and are OEM

 

Honestly, this just happens. It’s a truck.

 

What’s your caster measurements?

 

Get an alignment maybe?

 

I have to assume he got one after changing out the LCA's and UCA's. But, you never know ... By "struts", he must mean shocks. Seems to me the only other thing to check is the rack/pinion - check tie rods and check for worn out bushings in the rack/pinion.

 

My truck had a bad steering rack bushing that made it jerk back and forth. I replaced the leaky rack and used poly bushings. Jack up the front wheels with the key out steering wheel locked and see if there is play in the wheels about the spindle axis. I initially thought mine was a bad inner tie rod end but it was the bushing. The jerking is gone but it still shakes sometimes and I cant figure it out either.

 

Yes I got an alignment already, going to check the tie rods and bushings

 

I’ll try this. Thanks!

 

Okay, I jacked up the truck, checked the bushings in the steering rack and they look fine. Th tie rods, both inner and outer, look fine as well with no play. I couldn’t find any play in the wheels no matter where I tried to move back and forth. Not sure what to do next

 

How bout the obvious, wheel balance?

 

How long ago was the frame replaced? Why not go back to that dealership and tell them that this started after having the frame replaced? If they refuse, call Toyota corporate.

 

Mine does this. Only with the set of used tires I run for summer who I purchased from a friend. The tires came off some military truck or something and was packed with grease. My tire guy was baffled for about 20 mins trying to balance them....haha. Probably not your issue though.

 

That’s the first thing I tried, had a friend use a road force balancer at his shop and it didn’t solve the problem. Took it to the after dealership to have them balance them, same issue. It doesn’t seem like a balance issue to me because the shaking isn’t consistent - sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn’t

 

Frame was replaced in September of 2017, just haven’t really noticed the issue until now. I could try

 

I had something like that. A small change in alignment got rid of it. It was toe if i remember correctly that we thought did it.

 

That's less than 12 months. Give them a call. I may still call Toyota Corporate depending on what they say.

 

Same problem I seem to be having. Took it to the shop that always does an excellent job when, lol the "skinny" guy does the balance problem is he no longer works there and after taking it back twice to have them road force,spun the tires on the rims and the whole 9 yards the truck is still shaking like a whore in confession. I am at a loss as to what to do, is it possible that the guy doesn't know how to work the machine? Is it that hard I have no clue. Could a slight alignment issue like mentioned above cause this? Been about a year since I had it aligned. Tires still have a tad less than 1/2 the tread left around 25,000 on them. Everything is tight so no bearing issues,etc. Help! Should I look for another shop or take it back and have it aligned? Like I said these guys usually do a great job.

 

Have you checked the play in your slip joint on your steering column. Toyota trucks have an issue with these becoming loose and causing wonder.

Here is a forum on the issue and a fix. Hope this helps.