Steering vibration

[Yooper detective]

Have a screwy problem that just cropped up with my 2000 Explorer XLT 2wd and I need to get it fixed fast.

I was working in an area with really bad roads. Parked for like 90 minutes, started up and turned the wheel. Hit a pothole right away and it felt like the front end was wobbling.

It stopped wobbling as I got up to speed, but on the next bend in the road, 30 miles per hour or so, the wobble returned. I stopped, checked to see if it was the tires, which all were full, started up and after a few seconds it wobbled again.

This is aggressive wobbling, a shake not a shimmy. The steering wheel shakes pretty badly. It was intermittent. I got it up to 65 because I was in the middle of nowhere, on a nice smooth road, and the shaking would start. It died off if I gave it gas or wiggled the wheel and would stay gone for a while, then would come back.

It seemed to come back when I was turning the wheel, like for a corner. This went on for about 10 miles, I stopped after one bad shaking incident, got a hot dog and a bag of chips, thought about paying for a tow truck and decided against it.

I started the rig and backed up, and the whole truck shimmied, and the engine idled roughly like there was a power drain. I don't know if I was turning the wheel at this time, but I had just shifted into reverse and was rolling backwards slowly. I drove another 10 miles and there were NO incidents of the entire vehicle shaking, but at lights it seemed to bog down more than usual.

I took it to a shop with some young, inexperienced guys, and the front end appears okay. An upper tie rod end is pretty bad on the right side, but not terminal and the mechanics and I agreed that wasn't causing the shake.

However, he did find that the wheel hubs were a little sloppy on the front. I had a front brake job done a month ago including replacing the one-piece rotor and seals, but not replacing the bearings. The mechanic today found that the fit was sloppy, with the tire sliding in and out a bit. He pulled tires and the rotors, inspected the bearings which looked okay and repacked the bearings on both sides. He said there was enough slop on the left side to cause a wobble, maybe intermittently, but that he had fixed that.

So I back up from the shop, stop for traffic, turn the steering wheel while stopped and the front end shudders. I turn it back the other way, not so much shuddering. Repeat a few times, go grab the mechanic and he said, "I think that's a rack and pinion system, might be that."

Then I turned the engine off and turned the wheel. No shudder.

Power steering pump? Would that cause the whole vehicle to shudder?

Did the shudder of the sloppy wheel hub take out the power steering somehow?

Is this a rack and pinion thing? If this truck even has rack and pinion?

Any ideas?

Yooperdetective



UPDATE: Took it for a test drive and it's still shimmying when I turn the wheel while stopped. Also, I was doing about 55 on smooth pavement and it was perfect, except a little shimmy if I cranked the wheel. Then I hit a bump and went on some bumpy pavement. The front end and steering wheel began to shake as it had before.

I think it's the pump or steering assembly, someplace in there. My dream idea was to just remove the pump belt to see if it was a malfunctioning pump but of course it's a serpentine belt.

I need this truck for work, bad. Any ideas, please?

Oh, by the way, it's a 4 liter.

Have a nice day, cause I ain't.

Jim

 

[Yooper detective]

Found the fix for freeeeee!!!!!!!!

So I wrote my novel like post and then went looking for the solution. Found it right here:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188610&highlight=steering+vibration

When I read the post, I realized I had coasted down a hill earlier in the day with the engine off and steered quite a bit. That's exactly what the post referenced.

The cure is, while the engine is running, turning the wheel from stop to stop, back and forth. That purges the air out of the power steering line that I apparently introduced when I rolled down the hill with the engine off.

I'll tell ya, though, the whole idea that rolling down a hill with the engine off while steering will lead to a death shudder while driving is really scary. If anyone knows the engineer who allowed this flaw to be produced, please give me his name, address and any known allergies. I feel like some revenge.

Also, to the two shops I visited where the quotes were "a thousand bucks for a new rack and pinion" and "a thousand bucks for tie rod ends, ball joints, etc.," may your children grow up to be imbeciles who will haunt you with idiot grandchildren.

My day has improved. Hope yours has, too.

Jim the Yooper Detective