I bought the truck with this issue so I don't know how long it's been ongoing, but here's what is happening. The truck will vibrate pretty hard around 40-45mph with steering wheel shaking. It happens the least when accelerating hard and is much more noticeable when accelerating very slowly. It is VERY noticeable when costing down or braking. I've replaced shocks all around and had the wheels balanced, with no difference. What else should I check for before I take this to a shop and have it diagnosed?

 

look at the thread about steering shakin like crazy i have the same problem hopefully thta will help you

 

U-joints would be my first guess. Block the tires and put the tranny in neutral. Leave the brake off and check each joint. There can be no movement at all. If there is any side to side or up and down, replace them. The driveline will turn about a 1/4 turn due to the slop in the rear end and tranny but this is normal. Good luck.

 

Sounds like a tire with a bad belt to me,...............ou can balance them and they still have the problem.

Try to find someone with similar rims and try a swap.

 

Checked the u-joints today - put the car in neutral + pulled the e-brake. Got under there and was able to turn the driveshaft quarter turn like you said, but there doesn't seem to be any slack past that. I even grabbed the shaft part on the u-joint side of the tranny with one hand and driveshaft with the other to see if there was any play and saw none. Think the u-joints are ok.

I don't know anyone with another set of wheels, but i'm thinking maybe swapping the spare around each wheel to see if that helps if it's a bed tire belt?

 

Had very simular problem with mine. Turned out to be warped front brake rotor. Was worst around 40-45 mph when slowing down on highway, and as you described, when acclerating slowly.

 

Creel, thanks. That makes a whole lot of sense. Do the rotors on these cars sit over the wheel bearings where you have to replace the seal or are they just simple take off, put a new one in?

 

Yes theres a seal that needs to be removed to get inside bearings out. I've known people who would reuse them, but why when they don't cost much. I would get new seals.

 

If it's not the rotor, a few other things to check:
- make sure wheels aren't bent or flat-spotted
-make sure lug nuts fit tight on wheels (someone may have fitted wrong style lug nuts...or threads on bolts may be messed up)
-bad wheel bearing?
- did the balance weight fall off your driveshaft...or is driveshaft bent?

 

Interesting things happened...

So I went and got brand new rotors, pads and wheel bearings (just in case). Both rotors and pads were definitely in need of replacing. When I inspected the wheel bearings, the inner ones had a few chips in them so I went ahead and replaced all of them. After I assembled I went for a drive. So the really good news is that there is no more crazy shaking while braking or costing off, but there is still a slight vibration/shimmy while driving at right around 40mph. It's only slightly noticeable - nothing like it was before, but it seems that it was more than one issue combined and the messed up rotors were just making something else more noticeable. I'm gonna still take those wheels and rotate in the spare one by one.

I'll also check the driveshaft balance weight - where on the shaft should it be?

 

I really think your problem is a tire or possibly a rim, and maybe just a slight posibility of an alignment problem and should be your first and main concentration rather than chasing the elusive butterfly of trying to check for an off balance drive shaft which is difficult to accurately check and confirm, and rarely the problem, especially with your symptons occuring around the 40 MPH range.

If you are feeling the problem through the steering wheel, I would almost guarantee it to be a tire or rim problem.

 

Don't know how long its been drivin like it was, but it would be safe to assume that the tires that were on front have been affected by it, and possably tie rod ends. First thing I would do, would be to swap out the front wheels with the rear wheels. If that doesn't help I have to agree 100% with Netscaner, I doubt its the driveshaft.

 

agree with the other guys. I mentioned the driveshaft thing last...'cuz that's the last thing you ought to check if the other things all turn out ok. Your tires could be cupped or otherwise messed up due to having had to deal with the other issues. Even rotating the tires might not help if the rears had previously spent time on the front when the previous owner had the truck.

 

i had people tell me its the pipment arm or lifter arm or however you spelll that