I've had a shimmy in the front end of my truck for about 6 months. Here's the story.

An alignment did nothing to help.

Before I got new tires, the truck would pull to the left and at about 15 Mph I could feel the front end move back and forth slowly. It didn't shake much at higher speeds. It did have a slight shake at 30-40mph but nothing real bad.

After I got new tires the truck had a huge shake at 65 mph but nowhere else. After driving to houston and back, the shake kept getting worse and I noticed the wobble again but not as bad as before the new tires. Now I have intermittent shaking at all speed ranges, but especially at about 35 and 65 mph. I'm assuming this means something is loose or worn in the suspension.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Ball joints, tie-rods, pitman arm, improper tire balance or out of round, and many others. Get under the truck an check all the steering gear for play. Suspension bushings or loose brackets could also be the source of the problem. Wheel runout is another that might cause a shimmy.

 

I've looked underneath the truck and I can't find anything loose. I do hear that occassional popping that so many f150 owners hear, but the ball joints, tie rods, and bushings seem to be okay. Yesterday and today were the strangest yet. I was on the highway at 65 last night and the truck was smooth as glass. This morning it shook like crazy again, and today in rush hour traffic, when I was creeping along it felt like the right front of the truck was loping gently up and down. I was beginning to think I had a tire out of round, but then why wouldn't it be wobbly all the time? Can a ball joint be bad and have no play when you check it?

 

Jack the truck up, put it on stands for safety, and spin each front wheel by hand and visually check the edges of the rims for possible warps. While doing the same, check the tires for out of round or tread separation. You can also check the ball joints by pulling on the bottom of the tire while pushing on the top of the tire. Do this with the wheels turned both directions, lock to lock, and straight away. Different driving conditions can affect the ride in different ways if you have a bad tire (temperature, speed, etc...). You can also swap the front and rear tires to see if you get the same results. If the front settles down, you'll know it's a balance problem, bad tire, or wheel. Check the condition of the lug studds too. Probably not the problem, but you never know.

 

I'll try your suggestion. I'm pretty sure it's not the tires since it did the same thing with the new as well as the old. I need to try turning the wheels and then checking the ball joints. I've already checked them in the straight away position.