Steering wobble and vibration

Hi guys 4x4 05 Tacoma 17" pro comp phantom wheels on 33 BFGoodrich km2 tires. I have steering wobble and vibration at 50-55 mph it wobbles and 60-65 mph it vibrates it drives me crazy I have had the tires balanced but it didn't solve my issue checked the lug nuts and they were good. I don't know if there's a issue with the steering system or bad tired I've been trying to find out the issue but with no luck.

 

I went through the same thing, I was getting close to 180,000 km on my 08 so I decided to completely overhaul my front end. I ended up doing my tie rods, poly control arm bushings, and upper and lower ball joints. My truck goes down the hwy like a freight train now! It was a load of work but now it's something that I won't have to worry about as long as I own the truck.

 

That sounds like a problem my wife had... If you go to a crappy gas station and use the air pump...you may of put water in your tire and not know it. Just a little water can do that. Lots of air pumps are never serviced i.e. drain out the water. You won't believe how offten this happens, ask any tire shop. Thats why I never use the pumps at any gas stations or lets any oil changing shops put air in, especially Walmart or any place where a tec make minimum wage...Jiffy Lube shot water and air in her tire...I took it to my tire guys and they said "they see that alot". If it's not that...you got me.

 

Did you have the tires balanced on a roadforce balance machine? Makes a huge difference.

 

Yes and they put weights on it to help. It helped a little bit but the symptoms are still there

 

Could bad alignment cause the issue?

 

How did they figure out there was water in the tire?

 

My tire guy sent me this...

Most suspension vibrations and noises can be classified according to when they occur:

* Engine speed sensitive -- The vibration/noise is directly related to engine speed and nothing else (not vehicle speed or driving conditions). The symptom appears or changes in direct proportion to engine rpm.

* Vehicle speed sensitive -- The vibration/noise only occurs at certain speeds or changes in direct proportion to vehicle speed.

* Acceleration/deceleration sensitive -- The vibration/noise is only noticed when vehicle speed changes (as when starting out from a stop, passing, slowing down or coasting).

* Random -- The vibration/noise comes and goes with no obvious connection to engine rpm, vehicle speed or driving conditions.


SUSPENSION VIBRATION DIAGNOSIS

The first diagnostic step is to figure out exactly what's going on. Focus on the driving conditions that accompany the vibration or sound. Does it only occur under certain driving conditions? If so, when? Does it change with vehicle speed? When is the problem most noticeable? When did you first notice the problem? Is it a noise (sound only), or vibration, or both? Where does the noise or vibration seem to be coming from? Can you feel it in the steering wheel, seat or both?"

Next, take the vehicle for a test drive, and try to duplicate the operating conditions that create the vibration or noise. This will confirm the problem and hopefully give you a clearer picture of what exactly is happening.

* A vibration that appears above a certain vehicle speed should point you in the direction of the wheels, driveline and suspension. Because the list of potential causes is a long one, don't jump to conclusions until you've performed some preliminary checks.

* A vibration or noise that only occurs when accelerating or coasting typically indicates a problem in the driveline or chassis.

* A vibration or a noise that depends on engine rpm alone should tell you to look in the engine compartment.

* Random noises and vibrations that come and go are often a clue that something is loose or broken and is rattling around.

SPEED SENSITIVE VIBRATIONS

Nine out of ten times, speed-sensitive vibrations are due to an out-of-balance wheel. But what about the tenth time when balancing doesn't cure the shakes? Is it a bent rim, an out-of-round rim or tire, an off-center wheel or hub, or a bent or imbalanced driveshaft? Sometimes the problem is worn shocks or a loose part in the suspension or steering linkage.

Most tire/wheel imbalance problems will make themselves evident at speeds above 45 to 50 mph. A back-and-forth shimmy in the steering wheel means one or both front wheels are dynamically imbalanced, or a rim is bent. A simple bubble balancer can't address either of these.

An off-car electronic spin balancer will check both static and dynamic balance of the tire and wheel assembly. Some balancers can also check radial and lateral runout. But off-car balancers only do the tire and wheel assembly. They do not take into account brake rotors or drums that may be out of balance. So when a vibration problem doesn't go away even though the wheels have been rebalanced, it should tell you the balance problem is probably on the vehicle.

First, try re-indexing the rotor one or two lug positions on the hub to see if that reduces the imbalance. If there is no change, the rotor may need to be balanced or replaced.

Or, use an on-car balancer to balance the wheel on the car. Unfortunately, a conventional on-car spin balancer can't be used on most vehicles with FWD or fulltime all-wheel drive (AWD) because spinning the wheel with the suspension unsupported risks damaging the CV joint. Also, if a FWD or AWD vehicle has any type of limited-slip differential (including the viscous clutch type), you can't spin just one wheel. For these kind of balance problems, you may need an off-car balancer that can also detect force variations in the tire.

Variations in the stiffness of the sidewall, particularly in low profile tires, can have the same effect as excessive radial runout as the tire rolls down the highway. Match mounting the tire on the rim with the stiffest point on the tire over the lowest point on the rim may reduce the effect of force variation. If not, the tire may have to be replaced.

Vibrations caused by out-of-round tires or wheels, bent rims or excessive hub runout can be diagnosed on the vehicle with a dial indicator, or on a wheel balancer that has this capability. Minor runout problems can be corrected by tire matching (lining up the high and low spots on the wheel and tire to minimize runout) or tire truing (shaving the tire to make it rounder, another job that requires special equipment).

As a rule, most hubs with sealed wheel bearing assemblies should have less than .002 inches of runout. More than that may cause a vibration and/or tell you the bearing is failing.

A sawtooth or heel-and-toe wear pattern on the tires can also produce vibrations and noise that may be speed sensitive. This type of wear is common on the rear tires of some front-wheel drive cars, and may be caused by a toe-out condition on one or both rear wheels. Not rotating the tires often enough can also cause unusual wear patterns to develop on the rear tires of many front-wheel drive cars. Run your hand around the rear tires to feel for roughness. If the tread blocks are worn unevenly, you'll probably feel ridges one way but not the other. The fix here is to replace the worn tires and realign the rear wheels.

DRIVESHAFT VIBRATIONS

If the wheels are in balance, the rims are not bent and the tires are round -- and the car still shakes -- the imbalance may be in the driveshaft. This would be more likely on a rear-wheel drive vehicle than a FWD car. Here's why.

FWD driveshafts turn at the same speed as the wheels. At 55 mph, a typical FWD driveshaft may only be turning at 800 rpm -- which isn't fast enough to cause a vibration unless the shaft is bent or severely out of balance. Because of this, most FWD driveshafts are not balanced at the factory (unlike RWD shafts), nor is runout as critical. Maximum runout for a RWD driveshaft is generally .010 inches. For FWD, twice as much runout is considered acceptable.

On some FWD driveshafts, a "vibration damper" weight is used to control torsional vibrations. If the weight has been removed or lost, it may cause cyclic vibrations to occur at certain speeds.

Worn U-joints on RWD driveshafts can cause vibrations at any speed as can an incorrectly installed U-joint. A worn U-joint (or inner CV joint in FWD applications) will usually "clunk" when the transmission is put into gear or when changing speed abruptly. A bad U-joint may also emit a cyclic chirp when starting out from a dead stop.

Cyclic vibrations can also be caused by excessive driveshaft angle. This may be a problem if somebody has raised or lowered thestock ride height of the vehicle by more than several inches. It's a common problem on 4x4 trucks that have been raised excessively with a lift kit. When a U-joint runs at an angle of more than a few degrees, the geometry of the joint induces cyclic vibrations in the shaft. The greater the angle, the stronger the intensity of the vibrations.

With FWD, bad CV joints usually don't vibrate but they do click. The best way to check for worn outer joints is to turn the steering wheel to one side, then put the car in reverse and accelerate backwards. Running the joint in the opposite direction to which it normally turns exaggerates any wear that might be present.

Bad wheel bearings will usually make themselves evident before they fail. If you hear a whining, squeaking, chirping or grumbling noise that seems to be coming from a wheel, better check the bearings.

Hope this helps and gives you an answer...

 

He just took off the tire off the rim and looked in...funny thing was, not a lot of water...after wiping out all the water...it was smooth as silk.

 

The top part of it might be where my issue is.

 

Wish i could be more help but I had so many issues with my 285 KO2s, one of which sounds like the same problem your having. I got so mad I purchased different tires.

 

A lot here and I agree front dif axle bearing.I have had driver side brake pad rubbing or stuck Alittle bit too.read on my friend all here try to help.

 

Martin at 4 Wheel Drive Outfitters has figured out the problem, and John and his guys at Davie Tire Outlet both here in Davie fixed mine yesterday.
Have your alignment shop set the TOE to Zero.

 

This should be stickied somewhere. It's a clear and thorough explanation. You could copy and paste this ad nauseum, with all the vibration threads constantly popping up.

 

Read this...If this is the issue toyota will replace it for free.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.to...extension-driveshaft-vibrations-2005-2011/amp

 

i have a bad driveshaft u-joint and mine makes a terrible sound when i take off or am at high speeds. i have a 6 inch lift with 34's and need to replace my u-joints. should i take my truck into the shop or try it by my own hand?

 

this is exactly what's happening to me

 

Take it to the dealer man. I would....ask them about the leaf spring recall while you're there. Apparently people's springs were breaking so 2005-2011 has a recall for those too.

 

I have a 2014 4x4, no lift with stock rims and tires, and had vibrations that I felt in the steering wheel, and in the gas petal. Narrowed it down to where I could cause it to vibrate under engine load. As soon as I pressed the clutch in, or let off the gas, no vibes. I could make it vibrate the worst around 68-70mph. Had the tires balanced, and then road force balanced with no change. Turned out to be the driveshaft, U-joint gone bad, and Toyota replaced it for free.

 

i called the dealer and they said since my truck has a six inch lift they can't put new leaf springs underneath because then they would have to drop it down to stock height? does that sound right?