The steering wheel still shakes! The install was pretty simple, but I still have about 2-3 mm of the replacement bolt exposed on the stabilizer side. Should everything be flush with no gaps? The steering wheel shake has decreased a lot, but it's not completely gone, and I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the 2-3 mm the bolt is exposed.

 

Have you checked wheel balance or mud in your wheels?

 

Have you checked your idler arm, tire pressure, and wheel bearings? Are your tires worn out?

Noel

 

Yea I was thinking I might have to get the wheels re-balanced, it's been about 2 years. I didn't think it could get so bad so soon, although I have done a lot of wheelin since then.


EDIT -

OMG I'll bet that's what it is... the tire pressure. I totally forgot that when I was in Mammoth, I lowered the pressure to about 30 psi for the snow, and never aired em back up. OK, I'll go do that then let everyone know.

 

When my first set of MTs wore out, they were cupped pretty bad, and that was making my wheel shake to. Look for irregularly warn tread on one side. With mine it was every third on the driver front.

 

i'll say check your idler arm. you can go over to the passenger front and give it a wiggle. do you see the the steering link move around? maybe a little? compare it to the other side.

you can lift the front end on a jack and compare sides when the tires are in the air. i'll bet the passenger side moves alot. the idler arm is suposed to be the weakest part.

i bought the bushings to rebuild mine, but the stud part in was what was worn and wobbly. so i replaced the whole idler arm.

reduced steering play and wheel shimmy ALOT.

 

Mine was the same way when I installed it. I think it's normal. I tightened it up pretty good, but that last little bit just wouldn't budge.

 

Yep ditto on that, when i installed mine about a month ago.....


Luke

 

Thats good to hear, at least nothings wrong w/ the install. I aired my tires up to about 50 psi (that's the amount on the side of the tire so I assume it's ok), and that helped a little more.

The same is happening w/ my MT's. Every couple are very worn down.

Would this be the same worn out bushings that are making the rattling noise that jimrockford and others have had?

 

i'm not sure about jimrockford and the others. mine just had lots of play. so i got the bushings like the write-up says. but when i was taking the idler off to rebuild it, i noticed that most, if not all, of the play was coming from the stud/ball joint end of it. when i had the wheel off and i grabbed the disc and twisted left and right, the whole steering linkage was all over the place. mind you, the driver's tire was still on the ground. so imagine how much shimmy you might have when driving.

so i replaced the whole idler arm. while i was waiting to get it in, i took apart the idler to see how the bushings were. aside form a little dry and dusty on the lower one, not too worn. but the stud end i could wobble back and forth with my thumb and finger. as far as i know, this should only rotate, not wobble like a "ball" joint. the replacement idler was tight and i could not wobble it at all. especially when i installed it and tried to wobble the disc, the idler was solid.

 

The bushings that I replaced were in my steering spindle. However, the dealership initially blamed the rattle on the idler arm and replaced it. That didn't fix the rattle, but I do know that the idler arm had a lot of play in it and needed to be replaced.

I've got the same tire wear symptoms that you and 4x4runner have. I think a lot of it came from the worn idler arm. Other than the tire wear, my front end is in perfect shape. Still, I can feel some vibration and a little steering wheel shake at highway speeds. At this point, I think it's my tires. Since I've still got quite a bit of usable tread left, I guess I'll have to deal with it for a while.

 

Did you do it yourself? How long did it take? Also, what tools did you use?


idler arm = ?

 

Del,

If you want to replace the bushings in your idler arm. Here is the link.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/idler/

Have fun!

Noel

 

I did it myself. It took a little over 8 hours. The first side took about 6 hours because I had to figure out a few tricky steps and messed up a tie rod (part of my learning process - you don't even have to touch the tie rods). The second side went a lot smoother - about 2 hours.

I did a write up on the replacement. You can read it here. Assuming you have the right tools, I would think you could probably do it in 5-6 hours if things went smoothly.

I used a large hydraulic press to install the bushings. But, I read that Harbor Freight sells an inexpensive hydraulic press that will do the job just fine. In a pinch, you could also just carefully tap them in with a hammer. There are some other specialized tools that are needed too. Check out the write up for details and let me know if you have any other questions.

My symptoms sound different than yours, though. I replaced the spindle bushings to eliminate a rattle. There wasn't a definite steering wheel shake caused by the worn bushings.

 

Yea I know but I have the same rattle coming from the front of my truck also.

 

Oh, gotcha. Quick question then: Does the noise go away or lessen in 4WD?

 

Not that I can remember. I'll check though and let you know.

 

The 93 I just bought shimmy'd and shook like elvis on a good day. I replaced the steering stab and that helped, but it still shook a little bit. I changed the shocks to the Bilstein HD's and that took most of it away. Hope this helps. If your still on the stock shocks, it may be time to change it out.

Good luck!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Del
[B]Yea I was thinking I might have to get the wheels re-balanced, it's been about 2 years. I didn't think it could get so bad so soon, although I have done a lot of wheelin since then.




Your wheels can definitely go out of balance in two years. Since I have pretty easy access to a balance, I like to balance mine every few months, or at least check to make sure they are still in balance.

 

Sorry for the long wait, but I was in Big Bear for the weekend. The noise does lessen a lot in 4WD. Also, I noticed that at freeway speeds, the shake pretty much goes away, so I guess I'll get the wheels balanced and hope for the best.

BTW, while in Big Bear, some friends went off roading w/ me...IN A VOLVO! It was a mid eighty's and I couldn't believe he made it so far before he had to turn around. He ended up ripping off the rock guard (it was plastic) and driving with it dragging on the ground for about a minute before he noticed. One of the funniest things I've seen in my life.