The Infamous Wobble or Vibration in Front End @ 60 mph

I guess I will go ahead and ask this question again. Everyone seems to have this issue with some saying different things about the repair for it, Tire Balancing, Front Hub Bearings, Front Struts and even the Torque Converter in the tranny.

When I got this truck (2007 Double Cab 2WD 5.7L w/ 80K on the odometer) a couple of weeks ago it had mismatched tires on it so I dropped a set of Michelin Defenders on it but still have this wobble at 60. I only feel it in the steering wheel. Balance was double checked, so I don't think that's the issue as it did the exact same thing with the first set of tires.

I have just seen this problem/question many times on here but no real fix. What gives?

 

I had that shimmy on my 07. I had the front end aligned, didn't go away. Then had it aligned by a quality front end alignment guy and it has never come back. Both times it was done at the dealer. Those "slap-on" type alignment checks that shops use are not very accurate.

 

Bent wheel, worn steering rack, wheel bearings. Unfortunately, you just have to take one step at a time, starting with the cheapest and easiest fixes first. Mine turned out to be a bent rim and a very slightly warped rotor.

 

Since this original post, I opted to put Monroe Quik-Struts on the front and Unity shocks on the rear for $300 from CariD and this thing rides like a champ now. I have been working on vehicles for the better part of 35 years and I have never seen a vehicle drive the way this one did that actually needed struts and shocks.

 

Thanks for reporting on your fix. Hopefully it will help someone in the future.

 

man I was about to grab another beer an do a write up but saw you figure it out. glad you got it figure out.
but a question of my own did your old struts and shocks have bad bushings , blown seals , worn front springs no longer holding spring rate or bad isolators? and did It show any of bouncy symptoms when doing a static bounce test?

 

One easy “fix” a guy or gal can try is torquing the lug nuts to the exact ft-lb spec. We have hub centric wheels, and if the tire shop zips the lug nuts on with an air gun and calls it good you could have ever so slightly off kilter wheel to hub alignment. I had this issue with my last two sets of tires, and had the balance checked repeatedly with no improvement and alignment was always in spec.

I had small shop do my latest set (albeit a different brand of tire) and asked them to use a torque wrench and torque to the spec in the owners manual. They obliged me, and the truck rides dead smooth without even a hint of wobble. Go figure. Maybe it was correct installation, maybe they did a much better job of balancing the tires? Either way wobble is gone.

 

What are those torque specs?

 

It’s in the owners manual. If memory serves aluminum alloy wheels are 97lb-ft on the lug nuts.

 

Thanks. Just picked up a 2011, without a manual.

 

Air pressure solved mine 32 psi was the sweet spot

 

"knock on wood"...... '07 with 72,500 mi, new Bridgestone, P275 / 65R x18 Dueler H/T 685's, factory wheels, factory suspension, zero vibration, drives and rides as smoooooth..... as day one.
In fact, this truck has NEVER had a problem or symptom, of any issue, ever discussed, or described on this forum. Yep - "knock on wood"

 

We're all very happy for you... Now stop playing with your wood

 

Isn’t that woodie????

 

I have this issue, too. Figured I was alone as I've never had a vehicle with this kind of bad vibration before. Bought the truck back in June and noticed on the drive home the day I bought it that it had bad vibration at around 60 mph and also has warped rotors, which cause a second bad vibration at slower speeds when I'm braking. Funny thing is pads were at 70%+ when I had this all checked out a month after I bought it, you'd think the rotors would have been machined when the pads were replaced. I'll need to have those machined eventually but that's a separate issue. The wheels are after-market and the tires are BFG AT/TAs. It appears from the service records that the PO had the issue and had the dealer try and rebalance to no avail and they recommended changing the tires. He did but that did not solve the issue. Suspension is Bilstein and the truck has low miles (23K when I bought it). My first guess was a bad wheel, out of round but like someone else mentioned, I don't just want to throw a bunch of money at the problem and see what sticks. A set of OE wheels will be $1500 easily. Might try a road force balance to figure this out.

 

I have this vibration and now howling bearing in right front wheel hub at 75-90 mph. I'll post whether new hubs fix both.

 

Just curious if the hub replacement solved your wobble issue. I'm getting the same thing at 55-65 mph. Currently sitting at 85k miles.