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Help, What's causing this steering issue?

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Old Oct 23, 2014 | 10:27 AM
  #31  
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EXv10
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From: Mt. Shasta California
Originally Posted by john72ss
I have this same problem with my sons 2002 2 wheel drive, so it cant be the u joint! cant feel any shaking from the front end, just the steering wheel but disappears when I get past 30 mph, most noticable at 20 to 30 mph!
Nevermind, I didn't see that it was 2wd.
 
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 12:29 PM
  #32  
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john72ss
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From: southwest washington (th
I searched for steering wheel shimmy and found this thread? the odd thing is, the front end itself does not shimmy or make any noise only the steering wheel itself shimmys back and forth about 2 or 3 inches and only between 20 and 30 mph? at speeds over 30 it goes away!
 
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 03:52 PM
  #33  
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EXv10
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From: Mt. Shasta California
Originally Posted by john72ss
I searched for steering wheel shimmy and found this thread? the odd thing is, the front end itself does not shimmy or make any noise only the steering wheel itself shimmys back and forth about 2 or 3 inches and only between 20 and 30 mph? at speeds over 30 it goes away!
Nevermind, 2wd.
 
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Old Oct 24, 2014 | 07:07 PM
  #34  
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john72ss
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From: southwest washington (th
this is a two wheel drive, so no u joint going to the front!
 
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Old Oct 27, 2014 | 12:41 PM
  #35  
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john72ss
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From: southwest washington (th
so now that we are on board that this is a two wheel drive im talking about.... any ideas, it started about 4 months ago, and seems to be getting worse, this truck only has 80,000 miles? one more thing, it seems to be more noticeable when its cold? after I drive it and the engines warmed up, its slightly less noticeable?
 
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Old Oct 27, 2014 | 12:47 PM
  #36  
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EXv10
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From: Mt. Shasta California
Originally Posted by john72ss
so now that we are on board that this is a two wheel drive im talking about.... any ideas, it started about 4 months ago, and seems to be getting worse, this truck only has 80,000 miles? one more thing, it seems to be more noticeable when its cold? after I drive it and the engines warmed up, its slightly less noticeable?
Glad we are on the same page
 
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Old Oct 27, 2014 | 02:40 PM
  #37  
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Lance Helmert
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From: Northcentral Wisconsin
Originally Posted by john72ss
I searched for steering wheel shimmy and found this thread? the odd thing is, the front end itself does not shimmy or make any noise only the steering wheel itself shimmys back and forth about 2 or 3 inches and only between 20 and 30 mph? at speeds over 30 it goes away!
Try 1/16 or 1/8 inch more toe in. Check if the wheel bearings are tight first.
 
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Old Feb 6, 2015 | 12:11 AM
  #38  
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Well heck I thought I was subscribed to this thread..... So I didn't see all these extra replies, none the less...

I just got my truck back tonight, I'm confident that the u joints were the majority of the problem, they were bad and both replaced ($300ish) but I also had the sway bar end links replaced too, it feels like it handles 10x better now. The u joints had actually got bad enough that I'd have to run it with 4wd in otherwise it would shudder and shake bad at pretty much any speed. (my vacuum hubs are replaced with warn lockouts, hubs unlocked, so it wasn't really in 4wd.)

Drives so nice now, I've been missing it!
 
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Old Feb 6, 2015 | 12:34 PM
  #39  
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stpete
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From: SoMD
Originally Posted by john72ss
I have this same problem with my sons 2002 2 wheel drive, so it cant be the u joint! cant feel any shaking from the front end, just the steering wheel but disappears when I get past 30 mph, most noticable at 20 to 30 mph!
I chased a similar problem for quite a while. I had already replaced the whole suspension (all ball joints, shocks, front bearings), and had an alignment. So I had the tires balanced, thought it may be the u-joints on the rear drive shaft translating through the whole chassis, so I pulled it and replaced them (they were good). I rotated the tires to see if there was a problem, but no change. Bottom line, new tires fixed it. Don't know what was wrong, maybe all the old ones were flat spotted from sitting somewhere (PO) and didn't show it? My problem was similar to yours at low speed, fine from 30-65, but turned into a vibration over 65 and got to be undriveable by 80. I still have a very light vibration over 75, but it doesn't feel like the truck is trying to hop off the road.

Unfortunately, even after all that my truck still likes to wander. So, more to be done.
 
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