alright, i bought a lemon. owned three months, didn't take it on the highway until after i forked over the money, and now i'm paying for it. at 55 mph on up, the car shakes. I have had the wheels balanced numerous times, bought new tires on the recommendation of the dealership (waste of money) and have just dropped off the car at the dealer. car is a 2000 rodeo, 63,000 miles. dealer calls me up to tell me that it is a steering yoke (??) that was loose. i tell him to drive it and see if it still shakes, and he tells me the shake has been reduced. i know the answer before i even go pick it up: the car still shakes and i'm out $300 for a problem not fixed. i've brought the car into four places, none can find the problem. axle off balance? CV joints? has anyone had this problem and gotten it fixed?

If you have OEM shocks I would have them replaced. 125 bucks for the shocks and you can find someone to install them for 100 bucks. Will this solve the problem? probably not.

Your guess is on the right track. The main driveshaft may of tossed a weight and it needs to be balanced.

Check out the FAQ link below for more helpfull hints.

-Ryan

I have a 97 with the similar problem.
Tires balanced 3 times- only a little better.
Front end checked- all okay.
I just bought it too.
I suspect it is the drive shaft. I had a similar problem on a suburban years ago and that's what it turned out to be.
You can either find a shaft from a salvage and take a chance- or pull yours and have it balanced- ( about 150 bucks)

As for shocks- you can get decent aftermarket shocks with lifetime guarantee ( means when they wear out in 3 years the are replaced for free) from Autozone for about 20 bucks a piece. The fronts are very easy to change- anyone can do it in the carport. The rears are difficult to get to the top bolt- You can get them changed for about 2 hours labor at any garage.
I doubt that shocks are causing your problem, although if they are OEM and have more than 50 k , they probably are due and may help some.

I have not pulled the shaft on mine yet.

Chris

You see this problem from time to time on the various isuzu boards. Seems their only one way to solve it. You need to have the tires balanced on a SPECIFIC balancing machine for rodeos/passports with the vib issue- especially with the factory aluminum wheels. This wheel pkg is VERY sensative. IIRC- it's called a "hunter-5000" balancing machine. This machine puts a heavy weight load on the tire as it balances it and is much more accurate than a typical balancer. Make sure your front sway bar end links are in good shape & your shocks are solid. Weak front shocks make the wheels hop like crazy on rodeos.
G/luck
Joel

I too, have a 97 Rodeo that use to have this problem. When I first bought the truck (@ 11K miles) it did this BADLY - did all the same things, balanced tires, had front end checked, shocks were fine.

Dealership kept telling me the problem "can not be duplicated at this time." Several times I took it in over the course of 10K miles or so.

Finally I gave up and took it to a Semi-truck/trailer shop that specialized in driveshafts, within two minutes of it up on the rack they new exactly what the problem was = Bad carrier bearing in the center of the driveshaft.

Asked him to write it up, but not to do the work, as I was still covered under warranty. Dealership finally fixed it, but after a lot of headache.

It has vibrated only once like that since, and that was when my last set of tires became out of round.

... within two minutes of it up on the rack they new exactly what the problem was = Bad carrier bearing in the center of the driveshaft..
Yep. That was common on the pre 1998's. 1998+ do not have carrier bearings.

G/luck
Joel

During the first yr. of owning my 2000 4WD Rodeo Isuzu it was in the dealers shop more than it was at home. The front end would shake so bad that you could see my hands shake as I was trying to hold the steering wheel. The dealer replaced all kinds of parts. It was ridiculous!!! They even went so far as to change the rear axle. One guy told me to put it into 4wd to see if it continued because of some kind of load shifting that would occur. It continued to shake. I had the tires replaced. I had it put on a special machine at a specially shop to have the tires balanced. The machine was suppose to simulate the wheel action while on the road. It did not help. I cannot remember all the parts the dealer changed on the vehicle but it was a long long list. I still have it somewhere. FINALLY...FINALLY...after all was said and done my son checked the rims on the vehicle and found they were bent!! I am saving for new ones now. So, check your rims. Since the dealer replaced the rear axle I now have a clunk on take off though. I wish I had NEVER bought a Rodeo. I owned a Toyota 4 runner for 14 yrs. before buying this Rodeo. My son is still driving the 4 runner and I am pulling my hair out over this Rodeo which I bought because it was cheaper than buying another 4 runner .....or so I once thought it was. Never ever had any ...ANY problems with the 4 runner. Does anyone have any words of encouragement about keeping this vehicle? I still owe seven thou. on it. I would like to keep it til the wheels fall off but I am not sure that it won't be happening before I even get it paid off. VJW

http://www.geocities.com/endre_rl/isuzufaq.htm#faq9

thump clunk for the rear fix.

well, got the tire shake fixed. found i need a special machine that determines the 'force load' to balance the tires. apparently these wheels are very, very sensitive to being out of balance, something most tire shops cannot pick up. i brought mine to the isuzu dealer, and they apparently had the machine needed. car now runs fine. i don't know if this is only relevant with steel wheels, as that is what i have. thanks for all your help-

all you had to do was find a place that knows how to put the darn tire on the machine we have a old funky one at the shop and I have no problems we have even used it to balance some that had been done elsewhere