Help with shaking

[khonesty]

'Bout to change the upper control bushings in an '86 runner, research has shown that I'm in for an undertaking. Just wanted some advice from from you guys to see if I'm looking in the wrong area. I've got vibration at 65-70 mph that comes and goes, sometimes it'll cruise smooth and straight other times enough shaking to make racket up front(and it doesn't seem to affect the steering wheel as much as you think it would). I've been searching for the vibration for awhile replacing all balljoints and tierod ends, idler and pitman arms, repacked front wheel bearings (after being cleaned and inspected thoroughly), and a new set of tires. Still the same. When I got an alignment with the tires the tire guy pointed out that my drivers side upper control arm bushings were dry rotted and getting compressed, and couldn't be aligned (free inspection of all the new front end parts anyways). Asked him if the bushings could be the culprit of the shaking. He said that it could help, but they wanted almost $500 to do it. so I imagine they would tell me anything to get the job. do you guys have any experience or idea's about what this might be? Anything else to check? Or if those bushing are coming out, do you have any advice that pertains to my pulling my frontend apart further than the upper balljoints. for got to mention before I noticed while crossing some reflectors on the freeway that were closely spaced the frontend seemed very loose and made the same kind of shaking just more intensified. Yet everything is tight and I still get times were it still cruises smoothly at the same speeds.

[RAV4Don]

I've never worked on a 4runner front end, but I have done a number of front ends on GM vehicles. The last was my Chevy truck. In addtion to tother owrk, I replaced all the front end bushings. It was a bit of work, but the results where fantastic. I used ES polyurethane. The down side is that no matter how much lube that you use the poly will squeek some. It is a time consuming job, but I am glad I did the work myself. When the front end was in pieces, I took the time to clean and repaint all the suspension and chassis parts.

It sounds like you have replaced all the possible culprits except for the bushings. One need to have some special tools to easily remove and reinstall the bushings. Some burn out the old bushings. I used a drill to dig out the old bushings. I also used AutoZones loaner tool program to get a ball joint removal tool that works well to press fit in the new bushings. Do not try to hammer them in or you may damage the fittings.

[Bakemono]

It might just be vibration from the road surface. My F-150 will shake a little bit on some stretches of road and over others it will be silky smooth.
Im not sure that new bushing would totally fix the problem, but it could lessen it.
How are your shocks? If they are old and worn that could be part of the problem.
Cap'n

[khonesty]

got new shocks front and rear, checked just to see and everything was still tight.