95 nissan pickup shimmy

driver27 · Apr 20th, 2004, 02:23 PM

One more question. I have a 95 nissan pickup with v-6. It has 190k highway miles and runs great, but has a shimmy/vibration in the front end at highway speeds. It translates all the way to the steering wheel as alot of bouncing around of the wheel, with 2 different sets of tires. Im suspecting something has excess wear in the ball joint, tie rod, draglink area. Now I know thats alot of miles on the various supsension pieces, and they all have some wear, but which ones could I expect to be worn the most? Just looking to replace only what absolutely needs replacement for the time being. I'll check it all for play/wear, but was wondering if any one thing was a problem on these vehicles.

Thanks for your help.

Will · Apr 20th, 2004, 03:14 PM

Get a front end alignment first. It's the cheapest and usually takes care of the problem.

br2an · Apr 20th, 2004, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Will

Get a front end alignment first. It's the cheapest and usually takes care of the problem.

I would still check it first for worn parts. It won't cost you anything (if you do it yourself) and you have peace of mind that something isn't going to fall off the next time you hit a bump in the road. Having said that any place that does a wheel alignment will (should) check all front suspension parts for wear before they do the alignment. They do this for 2 reasons:

1-It is impossible to align a vehicle prpoerly with parts worn beyond specs.

2-They really bring in a lot more of their income from the sale and installation of worn parts (shocks, ball joints, etc.) than the wheel alignments bring in.

(By the way, I would suspect the idler arm if the shimmy mainly occurs after you hit a road bump)

Also, in the past I have gotten away without wheel alignments after replacing most parts (like ball joints, idler arms, etc.) EXCEPT tie-rod ends. These were usually clunkers of my own and I just went by the feel/handling characteristics as well as looking for abnormal tire wear.

Brian

extech · Apr 22nd, 2004, 06:18 PM

Alighnment will do absolutly no good if parts are worn, mater of fact an alignment will probably make it worse.All front end components must be absolutly wear free in order to do a proper alignment. If you have a worn ball joint, and compensation is made for that, It will directly affect toe in. Then when you replace the part, a new alignment is needed. Front end should be checked by qualified tech. As on some models there is a wear tolerance,
If you have a shimmy, then the defective part should be obvious. Idler arm. ball joint, inner and outer tie rod ends. balls joint need to be unloaded before checking.

aaronford · Apr 24th, 2004, 01:37 AM

I've heard this somewhere before......

aaronford · Apr 24th, 2004, 06:18 PM

Okay, enough sarcasm. Mine would shimmy just after hitting a bump, and quit when I went through a turn. It turned out to be both lower ball joints. It cost me about 75 bucks for the joints plus the install and align.

Will · Apr 25th, 2004, 07:32 AM

I keep forgetting that not everyone out there is as blessed as I am with the competience of the people I have who work on my car/trucks. I do most of my own stuff but when I need someone I want them to know what they're doing and be honest. That's the reason I suggested the alignment first. The person I would have do it would tell me what I needed before the alignment was done. I realize these people are hard to find. Maybe that's why people come here for first or second opinions. I believe people know there are many working techs out there ready to rip us off. Maybe that's why there are so many extechs also. THEY'RE EVERYWHERE, THEY'RE EVERYWHERE. Lol