Really Bad Shimmy

[jimconrady]

Folks, I would welcome input on what this might be and how I could possibly fix it. This problem occurs on my '93 Chevy K 1500, 4WD, 350 5 speed manual.

About a year ago, I was working on a community project and let someone go to a local landscape dealer for a load of mulch. He did not know much about trucks and went the entire way (10 miles each way) in 4WD. Later in the day, I was driving down the highway, hit a bump, and the entire truck began to vibrate heavily. There was an extreme shimmy in the front end, and I had to pull off the road and stop to get it to go away.

I went through all the gyrations to ensure that the 4WD was disengaged, but it happened again a couple days later. I then went through, replaced the shocks, checked all the fluids in the differential and transfer case, and have not had a recurrence of the problem... until a couple days ago.

Any ideas? I am back to thinking it is the transfer case. My backyard mechanic friends have also thought of motor mounts and tranny. On the surface, everything looks okay.

Help

Jim Conrady
Cincinnati, OH

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by jimconrady

Folks, I would welcome input on what this might be and how I could possibly fix it. This problem occurs on my '93 Chevy K 1500, 4WD, 350 5 speed manual.

About a year ago, I was working on a community project and let someone go to a local landscape dealer for a load of mulch. He did not know much about trucks and went the entire way (10 miles each way) in 4WD. Later in the day, I was driving down the highway, hit a bump, and the entire truck began to vibrate heavily. There was an extreme shimmy in the front end, and I had to pull off the road and stop to get it to go away.

I went through all the gyrations to ensure that the 4WD was disengaged, but it happened again a couple days later. I then went through, replaced the shocks, checked all the fluids in the differential and transfer case, and have not had a recurrence of the problem... until a couple days ago.


Any ideas? I am back to thinking it is the transfer case. My backyard mechanic friends have also thought of motor mounts and tranny. On the surface, everything looks okay.

Help

Jim Conrady
Cincinnati, OH

Welcome on your first post on AF

Sounds like them old ford pickups back in the 60"s with a lose front end.
If you crossed a railroad track they would go crazy shaking mode.
Just stop and start all over again and all was well.
Just kiding you a little.

But the idea is they had a lose part on front end and when they started shaking there was no stopping it unless you stopped.
You need to run a good safety inspection on front end and tires to start with.
Make sure it does not have any lose front end parts or wheel or bad tires and wheels. Also check all U joints and drive shafts.
Front end alignment could also be bad.
A lot of front end aligment places will do a good saftey inspection on front ends.
Some of them they also add a stablizer shock on the steering.
Good Luck MT

[jj76ta]

Get the tires balanced, the bigger the tire the more it will shake. Also check your lug studs. If this has been happening for a while then there is a chance they will break in the future and that is the last time your truck will shimmy for a while{roll it once in a ditch and they get really hard to fix}. This is just a starting point but it will stop the shake problem. You may still need new steering parts. Good luck.

[Riche]

A friend of mine had a problem like this on his 4X4 tahoe. I am not 100% sure but I think it ended up being a spindle bearing. It has to be that, upper/lower ball joint, tires or strearing!!!!