Steering wheel shake 2007 tundra

Seems like others have had this problem, but haven't seen anything recent. A balancing/tire issue.

Anyways once I reach 60mph, my steering wheel shakes. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it drives smooth for an hr, shakes for a couple mins and then dissapears. Sometimes it shakes for 5 mins, stops and reappears. Was pretty random but now its getting pretty annoying.

When I first bought the truck (used), the shaking was already there. I changed out the brakes and rotors, shaking was still there. Changed out the tires and the shaking dissapeared almost completely. But at about the 7 month mark, the shaking came back slowly. Now it's pretty annoying. Quite an unusual problem. On and off shaking, dissapeared with new tires and started to come back.

I haven't done a balancing and alignment since I changed out tires but it seems to be a bit more complicated than that. Brakes, rotors and suspension seem fine.

Read posts of other users on multiple sites and they seem to have the same problem I'm having, an unusual shaking. Some were able to fix their issue by trying out new tires and rims.

Anyone else have a similar issue?

 

You should diagnose the issue before just throwing new rims and tires on. What have you done to check the suspension and steering components?

 

Sounds like a balancing issue.. usually 55 - 60 will usually do it.... road force balancing.. have you checked your power steering fluid level?? Should probably top it off and the issue will probably go away.

 

Go get your tires rebalanced if you can, and road force tested (I believe the dealership can do it), also recommend checking wheel bearings and bushings in your suspension

Do you have a lift? Any sort of suspension upgrades? Carrier bearing? Driveshaft slightly out of balance?

 

Audiowize:
Your right, I should definitely do a diagnostic first. I was abit discouraged by other owners having the same unusual problem, on and off shaking and most people weren't able to solve it. I was able to stop the shaking with new tires but it slowly came back after 7 months or so. I updated my original post a little bit.

As for suspension, the dealership only did a basic check and didnt notice any issues.

Anyways I will have it checked soon to see what they say.

 

Blackdemon_tt

I will check power steering when i get home. Though the shaking dissapeared when I changed tires but eventually slowly came back.

 

Joseph_womack

Will definitely get it checked out. Road force testing was recommended in other posts as well.

Only thing I have is a 1/2" leveling kit.

 

Sounds like your rear axle bearings are going out and I bet it's the right rear.

 

has a good point, I'd make sure all the wheel bearings are good

 

Usually it is tire balance, and you should be rotating and balancing the tires about every 5k miles.
In my experience Tundras are very sensitive to tire balance and front end alignment. If either is off just a little you can feel it, not the case in many of the other vehicles I have owned. My lifted 4runner is no where near as touchy about alignment and wheel balance as my Tundra is.

 

Shaking that starts at 60mph is almost always a result of a tire balance. You confirmed it when you installed the new tires. If the shake has returned after 7 months do a rebalance. It's possible that you lost a weight. When you get the tires balance ask the tech to not remove the weights and balance the tire to see how far out they are. Make sure the tires are wearing evenly and are not feather edged.

 

I had similar issues that ended up being the right rear wheel bearing, but I didn't know that until running up just that wheel and hearing some horrible noises. Then I had another similar issue that ended up being a bunch of play in my front left wheel bearing. Needless to say I replaced all of them.

The shop I asked about this said it was tire balance BTW, won't be back there!

 

I would normally agree that it is normally a tire balancing issue, but some parts of the above statement are what lead me to believe it's a bearing. In my case it was. I had a steering wheel vibe and groaning noise around 50-60 MPH. Sometimes there; sometimes not. Bought new tires because I needed them anyway. Problem seemed to go away, but then came back. Did more reading and apparently the right rear wheel bearing has a high failure rate. I had it replaced at the dealer for $1200-1300ish. Other shops were quoting about the same. I would have done it myself, but it requires quite a few special tools from what I could tell. So, I just opted for Toyota to do it and have their warranty. Seeing as the OP has a 2007 and so do I, I wouldn't be surprised if he has the same issue.

 

I have the same problem and it's because I let them talk me into getting balance beads. At first it was really bad. Then one day I jumped on the interstate and I guess the bags finally broke because like magic it was normal. I think I still have one that's off. I want to take them in and have it removed but they want to charge 120 bucks a tire. Mine is the same, about 55-60 I start to get a shake. If I'm accelerating I get nothing till I slow down. I'm in the middle of some upgrades, so I think when I'm done it's going to go into a shop for a once over to make sure everything is good.

 

Thanks for the input yall, for now I decided to do balancing (also road force balancing if recommended by the tech) and an alignment. I have it scheduled for monday morning. I will let yall know how it goes.

Really hoping it isn't the bearings, sounds expensive but that will be the next thing I get checked out. I havent had any groaning noises, just the shaking.

 

@Forcefed I see, I will keep that in mind. Mine shakes when accelerating and decelerating above the 60 mark

 

Make sure to ask them to check the tires for any abnormal wear. If your not hearing any growling noise and the truck is quiet unlikely it's a bearing. The bearing would have to be pretty bad to start inducing a wheel wobble and you would hear it, unless your deaf.

If the tires are fine and the truck drives straight and true I would skip the alignment.

 

How do you like the Poodoo?

 

@Ruggybuggy poodoo = ski doo? If so then I wouldn't know because I don't have one

 

No Polaris. Sorry.

 

I'm gonna threadjack for a second as we've (hopefully) figured out a fix for the OP's problem

sometimes my truck gets like a heavy shake (it shudders about 3 times then it stops) accelerating slowly from 25-30 mpg, at around (if I remember right, 1500 RPM) any thoughts? I was thinking maybe carrier bearing isn't at the right angle? I've got Bilstein 5100s all around so its slightly taller than stock height

 

@Ruggybuggy its an ice fishing beast, use it for occasional trail riding. Love it. Wish we had more consistent snow in WI though.

 

I just picked up a Yamaha VK540. It's the 1 ton truck in the snowmobile world. I'm north of you by about 8 hours. Up here our lakes are still frozen.

 

Apologies yall, got forced overtime on monday so I rescheduled the appointment to friday. Will update then.

 

I had a similar issue, caused by the sleeves of the valve body, damages torque converter, call John at ITP transmission, toyota dealership is no good for issues like this just so you know. Common issue on toyota truck transmissions design failure but not the end of the world just a little pricey. Does not hurt to give them a call, incredibly nice people over there at ITP and they do great work. I spent a good amount on alignments, balancing of wheels and driveshaft, and a toyota inspection before I started searching the forums. Keith at DD is the one who referred John.

 

(973) 406-7000 IPT trans in New Jersey. Keep this in mind may not be your issue but it's an idea that could help if you are stumped

 

Well, I'm not exactly sure if the balancing and alignment did anything. Again its quite an unusual issue. About 3 weeks before the appointment, the shaking got noticeably worse and rather annoying. Then about week and a half before the appointment, the shaking pretty much stopped for the most part.

And so there wasn't too much of a difference after the alignment and balance. Tech says 3 wheels were noticeably off couple ounces and makes a big difference, 1 wheel was perfect. Alignment was also perfect.

Going 60mph there currently is zero shake. About 75mph there is a slight shake, but dissapears.

Not sure what to do atm, maybe wait and see if the shaking comes back anytime soon.

 

how long does it shake for at 75 mph? Is it consistent (IE, everytime you speed up to 75 mph it shakes) or does it only shake when you are getting on the interstate (could be the road) have you tried anything faster than 75?

 

@joseph_womack its pretty on and off with no recognizable pattern. Sometimes when I speed up and reach 60mph, itll shake. Sometimes it wont shake until I hit 70-75. Sometimes it won't shake at all when I speed up to 60 or 70. Then sometimes it wont shake at all, then starts shaking for a minute or so, then dissapears. Or itll shake for awhile and is rather annoying.

Roads conditions dont seem to matter. Ive been on brand new roads or crappy roads and it still shook or didnt shake.

It does shake past 75mph as well, but I usually don't go any faster.

Its a weird issue. I searched on google "steering wheel shake tundras" and read many different posts. Some people never seem to be able to fix it, and some are. For some odd reason some people were able to fix the problem with specific tires and rims. But that is abit expensive. Maybe Ill have to trade in old reliable for a 2022 if I can't get her fixed.

 

It is a very common issue with Tundras when larger tires are installed. I just returned some tires because they would not balance right and had the same issues as you. Installer said that people with Tundras return tires or have shake issues more than any other truck, and that does seem plausible based on my experience and what I read in forums.

I do hope it works out for you. It is quite maddening when you have that problem. The actual road surface can also induce shake. On my way to work everything runs quite smooth and stable, yet on my way home- same interstate, just driving the other direction, I get some shake at times and it is worse when there is a headwind. So yes, fun stuff.

The only other advice I can offer, based on experience, if the shocks are weak you can have intermittent issues like what you describe. The new larger heavier tires may be at limit of what the shocks can handle and the road surface can amplify the problem if it is irregular. Back in 95 I bought a new coil spring dodge ram that chewed through tires and I would get cupping and irregular wear- brand new truck. I think I got like 15-20k miles on a set a tires. Once I installed some stiffer shocks (and lift) all the issues went away like magic, handled better on the highway, tires wore perfect and the truck drove great.