Chasing down a vibe

I have a vibration going that I can't figure out. Starts at 60 mph. Steering wheel wiggles and seats vibe. Steering feels lighter and jumpy.

Truck is 100% stock. No lift. No accidents. Stock tires. Truck has 253k miles and vibes stared at about 250k.

Things I've done:
- new inner and outer tie rods
- new end links
- new tires
- alignment
- new wheel bearing hubs on both sides

I've checked all nuts, wiggled and pulled on everything. The only loose component I can come up with is maybe the needle bearing on the driver's side. The cv axle has a lot of play up and down and in and out. The other side barely moves.

To add some data, it happens when going straight on the highway and def kicks off at 60 mph. When in a turn the vibes settle significantly and then amplify when straight again. I will also throw in that they get really bad when pulling a trailer - like the load on the truck just makes it shake even harder.

Thoughts? Needle bearing? Bad CV axle? Maybe even bad U joints in the drive shaft?

 

Try having your wheels "road force balanced". Not all shops have the ability but it's worth seeking one out that does with your symptoms.

 

I'm thinking this is my next step. It has to be the tires. I was messing with it yesterday on the freeway and kicked it into neutral while going 70 mph. The vibe never changed when I took the load off the driveline.

Now to find a shop that has the machine near me. The tires are brand new Michelin MS2s but I got them at Sam's and I'm pretty sure they were spin balanced.

 

Might I suggest you check your u joints and Carrier bearing?

 

I could be wrong but i believe even in neutral your driveshaft will still be spinning cause the rear wheels are spinning.
Most dealers will have road force balancers, I work at a dealer and while most tires are fine with just spin balanced, road force balancing is particularly useful for vibrations. You can ask Firestone and Discount Tire if they do road force balancing. Michelin tires are top shelf.
Its rare but I've seen a few times where the cv axle joint causes vibrations.

 

Yes, some Tacomas are particularly sensitive to wheel balancing. Mine is one of those. What I do is the road force + this adapter:
suoo2-96.pdf

I had difficulty finding a shop in mine that had the adapter so I purchased one. But I have been told by Discount Tire that they have an identical one but have yet to verify.

 

Just wanted to update the situation.

I found a shop that had a road force balancing machine, but I decided to give the original shop one more try before I paid someone else to do it.

When I went to the tire shop I got the tires from I asked for a rebalance. They said no problem and would get me in immediately. I commented that I noticed that tire shops don't seem to use weights on the outside of the rims anymore and instead pile on the sticky ones inside the rim. I asked if it was better to put them on the outer lip of the rim and they said they usually get better results doing that but people don't want them showing anymore so their policy is not to unless requested. I told him I have 250k on my truck and could give a crap about the rims. I just want them balanced and smooth on the road.

Well, they removed the sticky ones inside the rim and just used the outer clip on ones and my vibes are 100% gone.

I still have a groaning noise in sweeping left turns, but I'll maybe post about that separately later.

 

That’s so weird, so it was a balancing issue?