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73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Brakes, Frame, Steering & Suspension => Topic started by: cwilson jr on November 29, 2008, 02:38:55 pm
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all of a sudden my pickup is riding horribly. it will start off fine at very low speeds and right away it will start shaking and swaying mildly. then at faster speeds, and especially when braking it is so bad it sort of feels like a boat in very rough water and that i have a tire about to fall off. again it does this at both moderate speeds and gets even worse while braking. the tires and brakes are just shy of being brand new. tire pressure is good and lugs are tight. obviously my truck pulls when i take my hand off the wheel, but is probably being caused by the problem at hand and not the alignment itself. right? or could a misalignment do this something this severe?
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Did you check the front end? Bad or loose wheel bearings?
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When the new brakes where put on, did you have the rotors turned or replaced?
I have never seen the alignment off make it handle poorly, just veer to one side or the other.
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Did you check the front end? Bad or loose wheel bearings?
+1, Sounds like tie-rod ends. Whatever it is, get it fixed ASAP.
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that's more on the line of what i was thinking, something in the front end, however i don't know a whole lot about the suspension aspect of the vehicle. is there a way to get under there and inspect the tie rods and tell if there is something wrong. i also had the driver's side front tire blow out on me a while back and didn't think anything of it because all of the tires were in pretty bad shape and needed replaced. i threw the spare on and later it eventually blew out on me as well. i dismissed this as well just thinking it blew out because of dry rot, it was all cracked, etc. but held the air perfectly fine, so i left it on there. i have since gotten new tires all the way a round and later this issue is occurring, which now that i think about may very well be connected.
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Do a dry park check. Have an assistant rock the wheel back and fourth and observe the steering shaft, gear box, frame, suspension and steering components.
Next jack up the front end (2wd under the lower control arm) and check the ball joints and wheel bearings for play.
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First did you ever replace all the tires? could be a couple problem one broken wire in the tire will cause it to shake at high speeds. second is there any squeaks when driving and like said b4 jack up the drivers front and shake it, then the passengers side you should be able to feel a difference. could be tie rod or wheel bearing.
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Could have a broken belt in one of the front tires, and or the caliper is sticking.
Do you smell hot brakes after a drive, and is your rotors turning blue? This condision will run the grease out of the bearings and they will go south making what you are experiencing now. Dangerest at any speed!
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The tire malfunction is a definite possibility. One of my front tires developed a rather large 'blister' on it. Something broke or split internally and this happened. For a long time I couldn't figure it out. It would vibrate a lot at lower speeds and shake my wheel pretty good. If that happened on the rear tire, I would feel it through the seat and the floor. I thought some kind of balancing issue happend and when I took it into a tire store for them to rebalance the tires, they found the big lump on the tire. Had to replace both fronts.
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i thought i mentioned earlier that i eventually replaced all of the tires. i will try and get around to jacking it up this weekend and see if i find any play in the front wheels.
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you did but it can happen from just spinning tires taking turns to fast locking up the breaks
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I don't think you said if it is 2 or 4 wheel drive. If so I missed it. I had a k5 blazer that would shake out of control come to find out it was the ball joints didn't actualy figure out which one was bad I just chaged them all never happened again.
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i don't believe i did say that. it is 4. now that you mention it, again i'm not real experienced in the suspension department, but ever since i've owned the truck it has made a pretty loud "clunk" from the rear end when i put it in gear. it is an auto as well if that helps.
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Well the clunk is more than likely its u-joints in the driveshafts.
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and this would eventually cause it to ride rough like it is now?
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the clunk could be a u-joint but could also be the rear it self. would either cause it to ride like heck? no i don't think so, at least mine didn't till it blew out on me.
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alright guys, i finally got to look at it a little today and my guess is, it is probably the tie rod? it definately has something to do with the front driver's side. driving around the parking lot i take my hands off the wheel and press the brake and the steering wheel immediately cuts all the way to the left every time and i don't mean just turns towards the left, it almost turns completely around if it doesn't all ready. i think this is why it's riding so rough when i'm at higher speeds there must be a lot of play in the front wheel as i'm holding the wheel straight. however when i'm in park and turning the wheel, it seems like the wheels move with the steering wheel with no play. also i believe this ties into the two front driver's side tires i had blow out on me. this is all me just taking an educated guess, but what do you guys think?
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Sounds like a brake pull to me.
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would this also cause the truck to shake violently at higher speeds or do you think this is a seperate issue?
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when does it shake violently? when you hit the brakes?
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I had this same problem in my 4x4. It was a broken leaf spring. The leaf had broken on the drivers front end of the leaf, on the internal loop. I too though it was my tires and had them all replaced with new tires. But the problem did not go away. Then I got under the truck and really started looking at every thing and I found the crack, by then it had already separated from the leaf loop and only the outer loop was supporting the weight of the trucks front end. So I replaced both leaf springs and the problem was solved.
Rob
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it shakes at cruising speeds. the pulling issue while braking may be a seperate issue? i will look at the leaf springs when i get a chance here.