weird front end shimmy

[braddaddy]

Hi all,

Last week while driving up to Wisconsin my 02 expy 4.8 187K developed a shimmy in the front end....

at 40mph it will shimmy slightly

at 50-55 it will shimmy more

at 60-65 its even worse

at 70+ it so bad I dare not go faster.

but, when i move the steering wheel slightly to the left its stops...

also...the weird part... i can drive 40, 50, 60, 70mph and nothing....no shimmy...then it just happens at 40..then I slow down or go left ever so slightly then it stops...get up to 70 it shimmys bad...again I move to the right of my lane (still shimmy'ing) then i move to the left of my lane and it stops.

I cant make it happen....like hitting more bumps etc...it does it when it wants...but once it starts it doesnt want to stop unless i slow down and move sterring wheel more to the left.

I thought a balancing issue...but that usually happens at a specific speed or range of speed...

I had the tires rotated and balanced anyway....still shimmys

had front end looked at last year for different reason and had all parts that were going replaced.

This shimmy'ing just started out of the blue....

Thanks in advance!!

 

[jlo82585]

if you feel the shimmy in the steering wheel I would say you have a broken cord on one or more of your tires, if you dont feel it in the steering wheel I would check your tie rod ends and ball joints

 

[braddaddy]

Thanks jlo82585....

I definitely feel it in the steering wheel....when I let go of it, it looks like a ghost is moving it left and right in sync with the shimmy.

Ill take the old girl back to Discount Tire where I bought the tires -and the extra tire protection- and Ill have them take a look.

 

[tonydiv]

A lot can happen in a year. I'd have them re-check the front end parts when they have it on the rack.

 

[braddaddy]

Well the tires are all good....

they showed me that my left wheel moves side to side.....

grabbing it at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock it will move a lot...not tight at all.... about 4" of play

they said lower tie rod....I know of inner and outer tie rods....maybe they meant lower ball joint?

 

[bedrck46]

they most likely meant inner or outer tie rod or both