Vibration from front end

[jbrincks]

Hi all, I've had a vibration from the front end for awhile now. Over the past two months I've had the truck in the shop for a new compressor and 120k service and have asked the shop about the vibration but they keep telling me it's the tires. The tires have been wearing a little uneven on the outsides so I'm not dismissing the tires as the cause. The only issue I have with this theory is the vibration is substantially worse when accelerating and occasionally when braking. I've had the tires rotated and balanced with no change in the way it drove.

I thought I'd ask you guys before buying new tires, as the current ones still have plenty of tread.

It's a 2007 with a little over 120k miles. I run Johnson Rods all the time and the current tires are Cooper Discovery APS. The front control arms and bushings were replaced about 40k miles ago.

Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated.

Josh

 

[franklin]

Hi all, I've had a vibration from the front end for awhile now. Over the past two months I've had the truck in the shop for a new compressor and 120k service and have asked the shop about the vibration but they keep telling me it's the tires. The tires have been wearing a little uneven on the outsides so I'm not dismissing the tires as the cause. The only issue I have with this theory is the vibration is substantially worse when accelerating and occasionally when braking. I've had the tires rotated and balanced with no change in the way it drove.

I thought I'd ask you guys before buying new tires, as the current ones still have plenty of tread.

It's a 2007 with a little over 120k miles. I run Johnson Rods all the time and the current tires are Cooper Discovery APS. The front control arms and bushings were replaced about 40k miles ago.

Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated.

Josh

Has the shop checked the wheel bearings and front end for any bad bushings or loose parts, including suspension? If thats all OK, the tires could be the issue due to uneven wear and possibly age as tires can get hard and cause more noise and vibration. My BFG AT's made a lot of ruckus as they reached 55K-they had gotten very hard, even though there was a lot of tread left. New tires fixed all that. After that I would check to see if a wheel if out of balance.

 

[tlt]

I would suggest rotating the tires to eliminate that as an option. If you are getting oscillation in the steering wheel, it's good to check as mentioned above, plus inner outer steering rods. A good test for that is to have the vehicle shut off, and move the wheel back and forth and listen for clunks or noises.

Also CV Joints, and potentially the diff depending on the symptoms.

 

[jbrincks]

Has the shop checked the wheel bearings and front end for any bad bushings or loose parts, including suspension? If thats all OK, the tires could be the issue due to uneven wear and possibly age as tires can get hard and cause more noise and vibration. My BFG AT's made a lot of ruckus as they reached 55K-they had gotten very hard, even though there was a lot of tread left. New tires fixed all that. After that I would check to see if a wheel if out of balance.

They have checked; the only thing they noted were the tie rod ends were showing signs of wear. I've taken the front tires off to take a look and the bearings and bushings appear to be good. I'll try replacing the tie rods to see if that helps first.

 

[jbrincks]

I would suggest rotating the tires to eliminate that as an option. If you are getting oscillation in the steering wheel, it's good to check as mentioned above, plus inner outer steering rods. A good test for that is to have the vehicle shut off, and move the wheel back and forth and listen for clunks or noises.

Also CV Joints, and potentially the diff depending on the symptoms.

I did have the tires rotated and balanced but it didn't help any. I am getting oscillation in the steering wheel. I will try the test you mention tonight and let you guys know what I hear.

Thank you both for your help.

 

[jbrincks]

Well I tried turning the steering wheel with the vehicle off last night and did not hear any noises. I notice today, a clunk after I started driving again at a stop sign. It didn't repeat every time I stopped.

I went ahead and ordered the tie rod ends since they were showing signs of wear.

 

[tlt]

I ended up doing tie rod ends (it's actually sold as a kit now) from LR complete. I suggest that you measure before if you are doing it yourself, and use a mild locktite on the nut, after you get it aligned. Ask me how I know.

I also ended up replace the lower steering knuckle, which had play in it.

This was after I had done the upper lower front and rear arms, and roll bushes. These are usually where you will get the noises starting / stopping / speed bumps, metal clank sort of thing would typically be the front lowers, and you should be able to see the play.

When I did my suspension arms, I planned to do the whole deal, it turned out that was good, because the rear uppers were quite bad.

CV Joints... definitely can also oscillate, under motion, and it's not unusual to get some oscillation from time to time for no apparent reason... don't know why.