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Nasty front end shimmy

chefduane

Texas Elite Explorer
Joined
January 22, 2013
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Location
TEXAS!
City, State
Plano, TX.
Year, Model & Trim Level
None: SOLD 9/16
Over the last week or so my '98 XLT 4L SOHC 4x (190k miles) has developed a nasty front end shimmy. She tracks straight and true up till about 65+ mph with no vibrations. Then she'll start to vibrate a bit coming from the front end. I can feel it through the steering wheel. It gets worse if I bit a bump. If I slow down to below 60 or so it all smooths out. I changed UCA and upper balls in April along with a front end alignment. Lower balls were done in '08. I did a rack & pinion assy sometime before then. I did shocks all the way round in Oct '13 and stabilizer/sway bar kits in April '11. I have checked to see if any wheel weights have fallen off and none have. Got about 20k on a new set of Goodyears and I looked to see if I had any tire failure and all looks good. It's not been up on a rack as yet to do any diagnoses but does anyone have any input as to where I might begin looking? Front u-joint maybe? Motor mounts? Any ideas?
Thanks!
 



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It sounds like wheel balance.

Try rotating the back tyres up to the front to see if that makes a difference.

Also check the toe out.
 






swap the front and rear tires/wheels and see if it stops. sounds like a wheel balance problem or a bent rim.
 






I'll rotate the tires this weekend to see if that helps. Needs it anyway. I have the 'teardrop' style rims and they are cast aluminum (I think). Can they be bent? Methinks they would shatter/fracture first if I hit anything. I can't recall hitting anything, tho. I just have a sneaking suspicion that it is front end related, it kinda' feels that way. Hopefully it is tire balance related.
 






I'll rotate the tires this weekend to see if that helps. Needs it anyway. I have the 'teardrop' style rims and they are cast aluminum (I think). Can they be bent? Methinks they would shatter/fracture first if I hit anything. I can't recall hitting anything, tho. I just have a sneaking suspicion that it is front end related, it kinda' feels that way. Hopefully it is tire balance related.

Jack up the front and pull the tires at 12-6 9-3 and on 5-11 those hand positions will let you feel all the play.

Could be a very loose tie rod... Any wear marks on the tires?
 






It could be a tire/wheel problem, but it sounds more like a front end problem to me -- as in ball joints, tie rods, etc. Outer and inner tie rods are probably the first suspect. Check the suspension thoroughly before driving it (you don't want it coming apart on the freeway).

If the suspension checks out (don't think it will), then the mentioned tire swap would be a good next step.
 






Jack up the front and pull the tires at 12-6 9-3 and on 5-11 those hand positions will let you feel all the play.

Could be a very loose tie rod... Any wear marks on the tires?

Nope. Tires seem to be wearing evenly. No excessive wear on the inner or outer circumferences.

I'll get it up on stands this weekend (weather permitting) and check for any looseness and/or play.

Thanks for the replies!
 






My money's still on wheel balancing. Every time I've encountered a shimmy/vibration at a particular speed (usually around 60 MPH) it's always been due to wheel imbalance (and that's been over more years than I'm willing to admit). Sometimes the weights can even fall off.
 






Yup, wheel balance. A lose tie rod or ball joint will cause the steering to wander. Vibrations are almost always caused by something out of balance.
 






my money's still on wheel balancing. Every time i've encountered a shimmy/vibration at a particular speed (usually around 60 mph) it's always been due to wheel imbalance (and that's been over more years than i'm willing to admit). Sometimes the weights can even fall off.

+1 ^^^
 






My money's still on wheel balancing. Every time I've encountered a shimmy/vibration at a particular speed (usually around 60 MPH) it's always been due to wheel imbalance (and that's been over more years than I'm willing to admit). Sometimes the weights can even fall off.

I am also thinking it's balancing. After every set of tires I get mounted, I usually hit the highway or interstate and see if I have vibration at "above legal posted speed".

If the business that mounted them can't get them to balance, and won't help out further, look for a tire place that uses a Hunter GSP9700 Road Force Balancer, http://www.gsp9700.com/search/findgsp9700.cfm

I had some balancing issues with a pair of used tires from Discount Tire on eBay. My local tire guy tried twice to balance them. I called eBay Discount Tire, and they suggested finding an installer who used the GSP9700. They even offered to reimburse me the balancing charges. Found one about 40 miles away, and no vibrations after they balanced them.
 






Well, it depends -- is it a shimmy or a vibration? Those are very different things. If it is a vibration, it probably is a balance problem (or a bad tire). A shimmy is due to something being loose.
 






OK, here's a quick update. I rotated the tires myself... same issue. I had the tires balanced... same issue. BUT, I now have seemed to developed a whine like noise from the engine compartment. Very similar to the noise that one hears before and alternator failure. High pitched that increases/decreases with engine RPM. I am not sure if the two are related or not. I have not been able to locate the source of the noise. So now I am wondering if I have an additional alternator problem in addition to the front end shimmy, OR if I might have an imminent power steering pump failure.

Anybody have any insight/advice/comment on what to look at now?

EDIT: Also, I have been getting good readings voltage readings on my Ultragauge... 13.4-13.6 solid so perhaps the alternator isn't an issue.
 






If the power steering pump is going, it might be introducing some air into the system that could be causing the shimmy.
 






Did you check the power steering fluid level latelly? It needs Mercon V...
 






Did you check the power steering fluid level latelly? It needs Mercon V...

Yep, checked and topped. One of the first things I did.
 






if it's not the tires or power steering, there must be wear in the a component of the front suspension or steering. if you can't figure out where, perhaps taking to a wheel alignment shop (a good one) can help identify the problem. there's a lot of stuff to check besides the easy stuff (like ball joints and outer tie rod ends). worn control arm bushings are hard to diagnosis.
 






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