Front End Shimmy on my 1st Gen

I just replaced the Upper & Lower Control Arms, Upper & Lower Ball Joints, Rack & Pinion, Tie Rod ends and Struts. I still get an occaisonal front end shimmy. Could it be tires?

 

If it’s a high speed shimmy, it could be your tires. Either that or you may need more caster (2.0+) in your alignment to help stabilize the front end. I’ve noticed it myself with harder tread tires. More forgiving tires aren’t so noticeable.

My fix years back was to get the tires road forced balanced to car tires spec (no greater than 20 lbs of run out).

But maybe it’s a low speed shimmy which could be driveline related?

 

Hopefully you went with OEM lower balljoints, so you don't end up like everyone else who decided to save a buck, then found their wheel smashing into their cab.

Small detail: Did the shimmy exist BEFORE and AFTER the front-end work? If yes, rotate your tires, back to front and front to back. Does the shimmy increase, decrease, or stay the same?

Another detail: Is your truck lifted at all?

All kinds of "invisible" things, including tire balance, tire cupping, worn carrier bearing, driveline alignment, and driveshaft balance can cause your issue. Even poorly adjusted rear brakes can cause. Start with the easiest first: Tire balance.

PS - this is where non-OEM lower balljoints will get you. Not a matter of "if", but "when". Thousands of others have found out the hard way

(skip to 1m15s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSq8ut682po#t=1m15s

 

https://y.yarn.co/9011c95f-c652-4710-b908-748b0190e938.mp4

 

Truck has 250K. It is a High speed shimmy, strictly in the front end. It is very occaisional, not obvious what conditions cause it. It was doing it before all the work. Tires were balanced and rotated recently (Michelins). Although, you can feel a very subtle vib when accelerating. Drive shaft, Ujoints and Carrier bearing are good. Thanks for the input. I will prob replace the lower Ball Joints in near future with Toyota OEM.

 

Have you jacked up each side up front and done a slap test / wiggle test?

 

Deathwobble? Like a high frequency tank slapper. Things are worn out.

 

Mine had the very same issue after lots of front end work and new tires. I took it back to the dealer and they road force balance the tires and bam, it fixed the wobble that I was getting at 50-60mph.

https://www.americastire.com/learn/road-force-balancing?storeCode=1875

I totally thought it was the suspension but they said with all the new bits things can become stiffer. Hence the need for the road force tire balance which is different than just normal tire balancing.