Wheel shake driving me crazy

Hey all, I’ve been searching all over this forum and can’t seem to find a solution to my issue. I put Bilstein 5100s all around my truck, then put 1.25” spacers behind my rims with k02 285/70/17. After that it had a small shake that got worse and worse, so I took the spacers off and it got way better. I was able to live with it. Until the other day I drove a friends truck and when I got back in mine the shake started driving me crazy. So I got the tires rebalanced and rotated but still the same. It’s a weird shake the wheel goes back and forth, kinda feels like there’s play in the steering box? Idk?
Any thoughts

Thanks guys

 

Who did the wheel alignment after lift?

 

Forgot to mention - had the alignment done at off road wheel house, then I had it checked again at another shop. Alignment is good - drives strait.

 

Alignment is good for what spec? OEM is no longer really that valid with lift and wider tires. The last part of your description kinda makes it sound like caster. You should probably be running more caster than stock, between 4 or 5, but im sure searching in the wheels n tires forum would net you some better specs.

 

you increased your scrub radius to positive 25 w/spacers installed:

-OEM offset is +25 (positive offset sucks the wheel into the well
-1.25inches=32mm -- your spacers are giving you the equivalent offset that Negative -5 wheels would give you.
-you moved your wheel 32mm outboard per side, increasing total track-width by 2+inches
-increasing scrub-radius to a positive value, has side-effects exactly that you describe.
-reading about "scrub-radius" and "bump-steer" while confusing, may help you understand what is happening.

-did you keep the spacers removed?
-what is the load rating on your tires? E or C?
-how many miles did you put on the truck with the spacers installed?
-wheel spacers induce a magnitude multiplication of force by moving rotating weight off of the hub. This acts as a 'fuclrum' of sorts, leveraging the weight much more severely than directly at the hub or standard offset.

FURTHER **NOTE**
-many "chain" alignment places are required by policy to align PER factory-spec.
-the little computer gives the make/model/trim, and then provides them with green/red go/no-go figures for caster-camber-toe etc..
-they will align the truck to factory figures, despite your wheelset/lift/offset being aftermarket spec.

do you have aftermarket upper control arms?
it sounds like your caster is off
do you have your alignment results sheet?

 

3words. Road Force Balancing . That’s what’s needed to fix that shaking .

 

All speeds? Does it go away if you put your truck in 4WD?

I’m assuming you didn’t do the ECGS bushing with your lift? I am wondering if it’s the needle bearing in the differential, just as another area to look at.

 

I kept the spacers removed. Didn’t want to damage anything.

Not sure about the load factor. Have K02s

with the spacers maybe 1500-2000 miles

no after market UCAs. Went with the Bilstein 5100 so I wouldn’t have to get them - so I was told.

 

It’s the same at all speeds. Not that bad but you know it’s there. I’ll take it for a drive tomrrow in 4WD in the road and see what it does.

Not sure what the ECGS bushing is so I didn’t do it. But I did drop the diff in the front.

 

When I had the spacers in the wheels they did chew up the outsides of the tires a bit. Wondering if that’s what it could be, but I had them all rebalanced and the place said it was fine

 

Many KO2's shake, and the spacers exagerate any shake existing.

I've fought many KO2 tires with balancing, many shops prefer not to sell them.

 

I did the test. Switched to 4HI about 35mph. My vibration went away immediately. For me it was the ecgs bushing.

If you drive 4HI on pavement, keep it straight, no turns.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/front-diff-vibes-ecgs-bushing-fix.464941/page-3

See post #45

 

One additional item to check:

All the lug nuts should be torqued to 83 foot pounds.

 

what are your lift specs?: HT-spring length-spring rate
the OE alignment cams max out near or around 2" of lift.
(check your bottom control arms for alignment cams, 2 on each side of the truck up front, none rear obv.)

Bilstein 5100 kits use predatory marketing jargon to obscure reality.
-some kits have 13" springs
-some kits have 14" springs
-the RATE varies between the two.

If the strut was engineered around a 13" spring and you use a 14" spring, the 14" spring is eliciting the equivalent of 1" of preload at the zero/lowest clip setting VS. the 13" spring right off the bat.
If the spring RATE is higher than the strut was designed for: say the strut calls for a 600# spring but the kit-maker packed in a 750#spring, your strut is now unable to properly dampen that rate, and will transmit the "shock" it is failing to deal with through out the drivetrain and truck as a whole. (bad handling, cement-stiff, vibrations, buzzing', clunking' etc. etc..)

Now lets say not only did you get a longer-spring which is applying pre-load just by virtue of its increased length but you have also run the pre-load clips up the shock body, you have DOUBLY fucked with geometry as well as the up-travel/down-travel and static-ride height.

lol as you can see, there are a lot of factors that could be at work here..

 

if you were eating up the outside of the tires, after inducing negative offset via spacers, the alignment was off for sure.

 

Sounds like a slightly warped brake rotor...not enough to make the brake pedal pulsate but enough to make the steering wheel oscillate back and forth in the 40-60mph range.