shift220 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 (edited) So i'm having trouble diagnosing this steering wheel shimmy. It seems to occur whenever it wants but mostly at around 80 kph. I say its random because sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Today I was going around a curve doing about 70 kph and as the road turned straight again, the shimmy disappeared. I've replaced the strut mounts, struts are brand new, steering rack bushing shows no play, ball joints are good, bushings in controls arms are solid, no visible play in the inner or outer tie rods, fresh alignment, wheel balance was also fresh and I went as far as adding balancing beads. It's been off and on bad but today seems the worst. It shimmys back and forth violently about 1/2". Two possibilities I can think of: wheel bearings and alignment of rim on the hub. I got the front wheels off the ground and there seems to be an unusual amount of axial play in the wheel. I'm pretty sure the bearings are gone. What is weird is that before I put on the lift and 32" tires, it drove perfectly smooth. So my two questions are: has anyone had their wheel bearings go out on them (~72000 miles only) at an early age? and secondly, anyone with aftermarket rims, have you have vibration problems or had to use hub-centric spacers? FOUND THE PROBLEM Well hopefully I did! I removed the front driveshaft and checked the u-joints. Absolutely no play in the joints but when rotated there is noticeable bind in one of them. I went for a spin without the driveshaft and the steering wheel shimmy seems to have disappeared. This might just explain the vibration in 4x4 as well. Explaination for occuring only after the SFD? I would guess that the increase in angle exposed the u-joints to rotate further then stock and out of the "evenly worn" parts of them. After seeing fleurys thread, i'm going to try and locate some of these u-joints and see if my problem disappears for good. By the way, I don't have locking hubs so those of you with selectable hubs may not experience this same problem (unless in 4x4 of course). Edited April 19, 2010 by shift220 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 This somewhat applies... I just bought a 99.0 Pathy with 152k miles on it and the first thing I did was tighten the front wheel bearings (I'll see if they need replacing this spring). Yes, it is double the mileage but you have aftermarket wheels, probably go off road and have snow/salt to contend with; this truck has neither. So depending on how well they were set and what the road conditions/your driving style is I would say that it is not suprising that the wheel bearings could have loosened up. Loose does not necessarily mean they have gone out. Sometimes repacking with grease and and retorqueing them is all that is needed. Remember, 75k miles is driving around the world 3 times... Oh, 1.5 years ago I bought a 95 with 96k miles on it. The driver side wheel bearings were so bad, they were crunchy when I tightened them up. This truck was stock and not wheeled either... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift220 Posted February 20, 2010 Author Share Posted February 20, 2010 Thanks for the insight. I'm going to go ahead and replace the front wheel bearings. I'll post up my findings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 my 95 have that...i did wheel bearings which helped some but I eventually found out it was the tires...when i swapped out my BFG's for my mudrovers the shaking went away...now with the 33's i have on it i sometimes get the shake back...you may also want to look into TRE's and any other steering component bushings/joints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift220 Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 Well the stock bearings still looked pretty good. A little worn and definitely could have been repacked. I replaced them anyway and now everything is tight! It calmed down the shimmy a lot and I think the rest is coming from the classic steering rack bushing. By the way, if you are working on the bearings then do a favour for yourself and get the locknut tool. I ended up making my own out of some pipe and a grinder (really simple). I used a punch before and there's no way you can get it tight enough to set the bearings. The front wheel still had play after using only a punch. Unccpathfinder, do you have a steering stabilizer? I wish I could bolt one up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Glad you got it fixed and that it was straight forward. Yes, the lock nut socket is handy, but I have never used one... Yes, you can mount a steering stabilizer and many companies offer them along with Nissan themselves. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift220 Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 On my R50? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Sorry, I must not be awake yet. I was talking for the WD21s... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 I bet you could rig a stabilizer for an r50... clamp it to the TRE and have another bracket mount near the rack.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift220 Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 No worries B! I was playing with the idea already. I'll see how the new bushing tightens up the steering rack. With the bigger tires, it throws the steering wheel around quite a bit now. It would be pretty cool to figure out a way to mount one up. Anyone else feel the same way with their R50s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Unccpathfinder, do you have a steering stabilizer? I wish I could bolt one up! not yet...it's on my list of things to do...I don't really like the way they mount up...I wheeled with a guy once that had one and the U bolts slipeed around and we had to relocate it on the trail b.c he couldnt turn the wheel to the left b.c it was hitting the frame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift220 Posted February 26, 2010 Author Share Posted February 26, 2010 So the shimmy came back the next day after the wheel bearing and has been just horrible. I just replace the steering rack bushing and it really calmed it down. Unfortunately I don't think that was the cause of it as its still there. I still don't think it could be a wheel imbalance (even dynamic) because its just not consistent enough. I'm driving at 80 kph along a road and the first half is smooth and then half a km later its shimming like crazy. I'm going to play with the tire pressures next and perhaps try the stock wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpawela Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 So the shimmy came back the next day after the wheel bearing and has been just horrible. I just replace the steering rack bushing and it really calmed it down. Unfortunately I don't think that was the cause of it as its still there. I still don't think it could be a wheel imbalance (even dynamic) because its just not consistent enough. I'm driving at 80 kph along a road and the first half is smooth and then half a km later its shimming like crazy. I'm going to play with the tire pressures next and perhaps try the stock wheels. Sorry to hear that. Shimmy seems to be our way of life on here...I've spent over $1,000 trying to find the fault with mine (my shimmy was random as well) and it still goes crazy sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 I found if the alignment is not PERFECT it will cause the truck to shimmy at random times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpawela Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 (edited) I found if the alignment is not PERFECT it will cause the truck to shimmy at random times. Hmmm.damn our trucks are sensitive. I'd like to know how my truck rode when it was new compared to now. Maybe my standards are just too high for a 15 year old vehicle. *shrugs* I'm sure shift220 can relate: Yesterday when I drove to work, the ride was steady and smooth with no vibration/shimmy. This was up to 75mph. Today, when I accelerated to 60mph, I got a slight side to side shake and at 68mph a lateral bounce bad enough to make the hood shake. New TRE/centre link, new tires (balanced twice), new bearings, but worn lower ball joints. Those are my last resort to try to fix my problem. More money, more stress...GRRRRRRR!!!!! Edited March 11, 2010 by jpawela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I had a severely worn lower ball joint on my drivers side and it amplified the shimmy. It was so bad you could move it up and down easily in the socket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 (edited) Shimmy is caused by something imbalanced/worn (like, uh, ball joints), alignment is just the change of angles. My truck is out of alignment quite a bit and doesn't shimmy at all, neither did my old one. Jpawela, have you checked your compression rod bushings??? Edited March 12, 2010 by Kingman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Just so you know what kingman is talking about, these are the tension rod bushings. Also known as compression rod. Same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpawela Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Jpawela, have you checked your compression rod bushings??? Yeah, replaced last year with poly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift220 Posted April 19, 2010 Author Share Posted April 19, 2010 Pretty sure I found the problem, see original post for details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted April 19, 2010 Share Posted April 19, 2010 FOUND THE PROBLEM Well hopefully I did! I removed the front driveshaft and checked the u-joints. Absolutely no play in the joints but when rotated there is noticeable bind in one of them. I went for a spin without the driveshaft and the steering wheel shimmy seems to have disappeared. This might just explain the vibration in 4x4 as well. Explaination for occuring only after the SFD? I would guess that the increase in angle exposed the u-joints to rotate further then stock and out of the "evenly worn" parts of them. After seeing fleurys thread, i'm going to try and locate some of these u-joints and see if my problem disappears for good. By the way, I don't have locking hubs so those of you with selectable hubs may not experience this same problem (unless in 4x4 of course). Yes. I had this on the wife's Honda Civic. Front end shimmy and the shop wanted to replace the rims. I drove it for 5 miles and said 'replace the CV', it did it more on the gas than off (torque binding). Unless you can't stand the thought of manually selecting 4wd, I highly recommend you buy manual hubs... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift220 Posted April 19, 2010 Author Share Posted April 19, 2010 Well right now my CV's are only out of original alignment equivalent by about 1/2" of lift. It was the driveshaft to the front axle that was causing the binding. And since the SFD, was seeing slightly more extreme angles when rotating. I did think it was the CV's at first considering it was a random shimmy but those both got replaced as one of the first things I did to track this down! But I will take the advice and invest in some manual hubs.. mostly needed because my gas mileage is sucking lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted April 19, 2010 Share Posted April 19, 2010 I'll support the Manual hub swap suggestion, to not only save on fuel, but also on wear and tear on the front drive components not yet...it's on my list of things to do...I don't really like the way they mount up...I wheeled with a guy once that had one and the U bolts slipeed around and we had to relocate it on the trail b.c he couldnt turn the wheel to the left b.c it was hitting the frame It sounds to me that they are simply either not tight enough or the wrong side.. but assuming that everything is right, as he considered tack welding the U bolts to the CL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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