Bad vibration/shaking at higher speeds- help...

I have a 99 4runner limited 4wd. At around 50 to 60 miles per hour I get a
violent shaking that pulls my steering wheel back and forth and is even more
pronounced when I press the brakes. I had the tires balanced and rotated
first and the brakes look and feel fine. Theres no play in the rotors when
I took off the tires. I can also drive the truck on surface streets up to
40ish mph with no vibration whatsoever. What are some potential solutions??
I feel like the wheels are coming off when it happens so I've avoided the
highway altogether.

Sounds like the death wobble. Happended to me in my jeep. Try changing the
steering damper/stabalizer.

Mike Roper

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006, Bryan Taylor wrote:
[color=blue]
> From: Bryan Taylor <bryan1856@sbcglobal.net>
> Newsgroups: alt.autos.toyota.trucks
> Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:01:44 GMT
> Subject: Bad vibration/shaking at higher speeds- help...
>
> I have a 99 4runner limited 4wd. At around 50 to 60 miles per hour I get a
> violent shaking that pulls my steering wheel back and forth and is even more
> pronounced when I press the brakes. I had the tires balanced and rotated
> first and the brakes look and feel fine. Theres no play in the rotors when
> I took off the tires. I can also drive the truck on surface streets up to
> 40ish mph with no vibration whatsoever. What are some potential solutions??
> I feel like the wheels are coming off when it happens so I've avoided the
> highway altogether.
>
>
>
>[/color]

--
Mike Roper
Systems Engineer
570-631-1318
epix Internet Services

[txleex08]

bent or cracked rims? Alignment?

Check out your idler arm. May be worn.

OK, your all wrong, most likely the cause is your rotors being warped. Hence
the reason it gets worse when you use the brakes. Are you getting a
pulsation in your foot when you step on the brakes? Have you driven through
water recently with hot brakes? Root casues of vibration in the wheel are
balance (not alignment) Alignment causes tire wear and
tracking problems. Vibrations at speeds are usually rotational problems.
ALso check your tires for wear, if you notice wear figure out where the wear
is occuring, be it in the middle or sides, more to the left or more to the
right?
Light pulsation should be there at any speed if the rotors are warped. You
can check your tie rod ends by wiggling your tires from the 3 and 9 Oclock
positions, its better if you get underneath and hold the tie rod ends and
have someone else do the wigglin, if you grasp the tie rod ends tightly and
you feel movement then they are bad. Could also be wheel bearings, grab your
tires at 2 and 7 and wiggle if the tire wiggles then suspect your bearings,
these possibly can be tightened as the castle nut may have moved, possible
but not likely. These are the reasons for steering vibrations, have you r
tires balanced.


Searcher

If you put the truck up on blocks (carefully) such that you can run up to
60 while standing still, you can isolate the problem to the drive train,
including the drive shaft/u-joints.

Richard

You need to let the O.P. know you are just kidding. Some folks on this N.G.
are relative newbies and take all things for gospel !!
Bill
"rdhrdh" <rdharper@starband.net> wrote in message
news:a9d25e18c4b7aeb134d88c2409ce1342@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...[color=blue]
>
> If you put the truck up on blocks (carefully) such that you can run up to
> 60 while standing still, you can isolate the problem to the drive train,
> including the drive shaft/u-joints.
>
> Richard
>[/color]

Bill;

Ok, I'll bite. Why would you assume I'm joking (which I sometimes do, of
course).

I've used this approach with success two out of two times. Once on my
RX7, once on my Toyota 4WD SR5.

You can easily differentiate between wheel/brake left or right, and drive
line joint problems. One only has to be a careful with suspending the
wheels off the ground safely. You don't want the vehicle coming off the
blocks, wandering off on its own, or worse.

Richard Harper
Morgan Hill, Ca