Steering Wheel shake

MAXXFJ · 10-23-2009, 04:19 AM

I was wheeling a few weeks ago & while on the trail I nailed a stump or a rut or something on the trail. The FJ behind me came on the CB & said "I felt that one" I didn't notice anything strange for the rest of the day. On the way home I did notice that the steering wheel was in a right hand turn position while going straight, a wobble at around 50 to 60 mph, & the sound kind of like a power steering pump/fan belt noise(kind of hard to describe the noise) or a pulley bearing kind of noise. I just figured get it aligned & everything will be good. I got it aligned & still have the wobble & the noise. I have been rotating the tires, 285/75-17 KM2's, Anyone have an idea what it could be? It tracks straight on the road so the alignment is close I assume. I'm thinking that maybe I bent something in the front end, but wouldn't the tech doing the alignment have noticed something? Thoughts? Comments? Thanks guy's

SKINUM · 10-23-2009, 04:34 AM

Could've bent a rim or knocked a weight off of the wheel. Have u made sure the wheels have been cleaned out well? Sometimes mud will cause the steering wheel to shake. R u sure it's coming from the front end (could be a lower link on the back).

I would hope if it is related to your tie rods the tech would notice.

survivorman · 10-23-2009, 09:08 AM

did you hit any water? were you in deep the pulleys may be going.....my pulleys just went(lots of water outings) and replaced them with the sealed gates pulleys.....noise is gone and now they are waterproof

also on the shake....you may need to get them rebalanced......when I got my BFGs on I had the shakes at around 50/60 also......took it to my local toyota dealership and had it ROAD FORCE balanced....that may be what you need to do

Go Big or Go Home · 10-23-2009, 09:34 AM

X 3

The shake sounds like unbalanced wheels.

E-ROCKER · 10-23-2009, 10:33 AM

Could be the Spindle/Knuckle. It is tough to tell if one is bent. Wheel bearing going bad could cause shaking too. The above poster mentioned the rear links which could also be the cause. If one of the front tires had a weight fall off then it could be that too. If you hit the driveshaft and it bent or took a good hit that will cause some shaking. No idea what the noise could be.

I'd check the rear links to see if one is bent. Get the front tires reballanced. Take a look at the spindles on the inside of each wheel and see if one is closer to the inner side wall of your tire than the other side. Get on a creeper and look over the drivetrain underneath.

thugasaur · 10-23-2009, 10:37 AM

i bent my rear link and it did everything you describe go check your links

**FJoel** · 10-23-2009, 10:07 PM

Quote:

MAXXFJ previously said:

I was wheeling a few weeks ago & while on the trail I nailed a stump or a rut or something on the trail. The FJ behind me came on the CB & said "I felt that one" I didn't notice anything strange for the rest of the day. On the way home I did notice that the steering wheel was in a right hand turn position while going straight, a wobble at around 50 to 60 mph, & the sound kind of like a power steering pump/fan belt noise(kind of hard to describe the noise) or a pulley bearing kind of noise. I just figured get it aligned & everything will be good. I got it aligned & still have the wobble & the noise. I have been rotating the tires, 285/75-17 KM2's, Anyone have an idea what it could be? It tracks straight on the road so the alignment is close I assume. I'm thinking that maybe I bent something in the front end, but wouldn't the tech doing the alignment have noticed something? Thoughts? Comments? Thanks guy's

I'm not sure how it all works exactly, but I've had 7 alignments on my FJ, only 2 were lift related as I went higher up.

I'm not sure how, but I blame limping home with my steering wheel shifted left or right of center on my blown power steering pump. I first heard it after a good alignment knock out, and it got worse the further I drove home.

Gates has rebuilt P/S pumps if you need one.

I've got a little shimmy now too...

**BlackCherryota** · 10-24-2009, 01:10 AM

First thing's first, if the steering wheel is shaking, the issue is NOT in the rear suspension. Please answer these questions:

Does the steering wheel wobble vary with vehicle speed OR engine RPM?

Similarly, does the noise you hear vary with vehicle speed OR engine RPM?

If you hit something hard enough, I suppose a belt in the tire could have broken/torn, and that would cause a vibration that could be interpreted as a tire balance issue.

Don't assume the alignment tech has enough brainpower to observe anything beyond what's in his line of sight, and even then, that's pushing it. Do a full inspection of the entire front suspension with the wheels off. Make sure the noise you hear is not the wheel/tire rubbing on the suspension, possibly caused by a bent spindle.

Quote:

MAXXFJ previously said:

I was wheeling a few weeks ago & while on the trail I nailed a stump or a rut or something on the trail. The FJ behind me came on the CB & said "I felt that one" I didn't notice anything strange for the rest of the day. On the way home I did notice that the steering wheel was in a right hand turn position while going straight, a wobble at around 50 to 60 mph, & the sound kind of like a power steering pump/fan belt noise(kind of hard to describe the noise) or a pulley bearing kind of noise. I just figured get it aligned & everything will be good. I got it aligned & still have the wobble & the noise. I have been rotating the tires, 285/75-17 KM2's, Anyone have an idea what it could be? It tracks straight on the road so the alignment is close I assume. I'm thinking that maybe I bent something in the front end, but wouldn't the tech doing the alignment have noticed something? Thoughts? Comments? Thanks guy's

MAXXFJ · 10-24-2009, 05:15 AM

hanks for the reply's. I'm going this morning to get a re-balance on the tires,(I hope this is the problem,cheapest fix). & then we'll go from there. The shake is not all the time, only around 50 to 60 mph, this makes me think it's a balance issue. The shop I went to is very trusted as far as the tech go's, he's an avid wheeler & I did describe the problem to him. When I see him around town he always wants to talk about trail related stuff. If something was amiss in the front end he would have noticed it, but I'll give a good look over when they have the wheels off today. Hey, thanks again, I'll report back later......