Shaking steering wheel | Ford Explorer Forums

  • Register Today It's free!

Shaking steering wheel

93 XLT

New Member
Joined
December 30, 2006
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
City, State
Hampton Va
Year, Model & Trim Level
Explorer 93 XLT
I have a 93 Explorer XLT in which the steering wheel shakes at all times, seems like once or twice for every tire rotation. I tried greasing the fittings on the linkage to the tires, but that didn't help. Do I need the tires balanced or could something else be causing this?

Brent
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Get your wheels/tires checked out. They might be out of balance, have a flat spot, or have a bulge. Do you notice it while braking?
 












yah my money is on the wheel balance... should get them balanced... I've heard you can put BBs in a tire and they automatically go to the light spots and balance the tire while its spinning... but I've never tried it myself.

usually bearing issues are acompanied by a grinding growling sound, so its probably not them but its not impossible... my money is on the tires...

have you locked them up on pavement at all or spun out on pavement, that can flat spot the tires...
 






When you say shaking, do you mean left and right, or up and down? Mine shakes up and down alot under heavy acceleration
 






Did you check all the steering system connections when you were greasing up the fittings? Be sure the pins are all on the castle nuts and theres nothing cracked or broken. Be sure to check the pittman arm and the steering shaft. Wheel bearings might do it, the best way to check is jack up the tires off the ground and grab the tire/wheel on the truck on the top and bottom and see if theres any play in the bearings. The other thing is alignment, excessive toe can cause it, my X had too much toe in and had steering wheel shake, after adjusting to 1/8" toe in, it was much better. The driveshaft U-joints can wear out and cause pretty severe vibration and shake at speed, if the vibration is really bad, they might need replacing.
If everything else checks out, it may just be the tires. Some particular brands/models get bad reviews because they just won't balance or cause constant vibration or shaking. You might want to check out reviews of your tires and see if this is the case.
 






I'm going to go ahead and buy some new tires (I barely have any tread on the current ones) and have them balanced. If that doesn't stop my shaky wheel, I'll let you guys know and see what I should try next.

Thanx

Brent
 






My explorer did the same thing and i found that when I turn the wheel to move the car while it is off (manual and in neutral) the steering system gets air bubbles in the lines which causes pressure problems. Had to get the steering fluid emptied and refilled. But your problem sounds like a tire problem though. Don't know if that helps.
 






Steering wheel and gas pedal shake

My tires need to be replaced so I am guessing that I have a tire problem, but I wanted to see if there could be something else. I plan on replacing them on Monday or Tuesday. The front tires were very worn on the outer edges...down to barely any tread. So I rotated the tires. My car seems to drive fine at average speeds, but when I reach 55+ mph, the steering wheel and the gas pedal begin to shake.

I figured it could be a toe in problem or just overly worn tires, but I saw someone mention worn Universal Joints or loose suspension fasteners. What do you think?
 






Adjusting a tire with toe in problem

How do you adjust a tire that shows signs of toe in wear?
 






Featured Content

Back
Top