Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Motors


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 06-03-2005, 07:40 PM   #1 (permalink)
Upright
 
Location: Right here, right now
Shimmy in my Jimmy, need guidance please

The patient: My 2001 Jimmy, 2WD, 4.3 liter engine, auto trans, 47k miles, purchased new a little over four years ago.

Symptoms: At speeds between 60 and 70 mph, there is a shimmy in the steering wheel and whole truck seems to vibrate, most noticable at 65 mph, smooths out at about 75 mph. Problem is consistent on three different freeways including an area of rubberized asphalt.

Patient history and actions taken:

She (her name is Jen) started pulling a bit in January. I had the alignment done at Big-O, problem got worse, Big-O realigned and swapped tires, and tires were blamed. Purchased new set of good tires at Discount. Took Jen on a roadtrip to California and no problems noticed (speeds 75+), but since then mostly surface street driving. About 3 weks ago noticed shimmy between 60 and 70 mph but smooths out at higher speeds. Discount rebalanced wheels, no fix. Took her back to Discount, found left rear tire was out of round, replaced with new tire. Symptoms slightly improved but no fix. The third time, found left front could not be balanced even with 180 rotation on wheel so replaced with new and road force test done on all tires. Now, Jen has two new tires on front and two tires with about 2700 miles on rear. And still no fix. Assistant manager at Discount says they've done what they can do and suggested possible problem with shocks, but that doesn't make sense to me since problem is isolated to limited speed range.

I understand more about cars and trucks in general than many women but would like to be better informed about possible causes before I have her checked out. I will greatly appreciate any suggestions of possible causes.

Many thanks!
__________________
Onward, through the fog . . .
Beccarain is offline  
Old 06-03-2005, 11:31 PM   #2 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Is the suspension all stock or is the Jimmy lowered?

The Jimmys/Blazers are similar to the S10s/Sonoma Pickups. They have vibration at certains speeds if the u-joints or double carden joints in driveshaft are worn. I don't know if those worn joints in the driveshaft can cause alignment and tire wear problems. I don't think so.

I'd say take a look at the front suspension for the wear problems. Something may be worn or broken. Bushings in the control arms, ball joints, tie rod ends, center link, pitman arm and idler arm. I don't know though. If they did an alignment they should have caught any of these problems during the alignment. Maybe try and find a different shop other then the two you've been to already or a dealer to take a look at the suspension.
lt1s10 is offline  
Old 06-04-2005, 08:38 AM   #3 (permalink)
Addict
 
Tech's Avatar
 
Location: Baltimore MD
shouldn't this be in the sexuality forum? j/k

i have no idea, good luck though!
__________________
-Tim-

~I swear sometimes i feel like i'm married to a child.
~You better watch who you're calling a child, Lois, cause if i'm a child than you know what that makes you? a pedophile. and i'll be damned if i'm going to stand here and be lectured by a pervert.
Tech is offline  
Old 06-04-2005, 05:04 PM   #4 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Location: San Diego
driveshaft u-joints coud be suspect if you weren't able to drive through the vibration. a driveshaft vibration will not go away.. tires you can drive through. also they show up as thumping in the seat or through the floorboards, not through the steering wheel.

at this point i would be checking radial runout of the front hubs and to make sure your wheel bearings are greased and still tight. also just to make sure, these aren't the cheapest no name brand tires you can find either right?
Nimisys is offline  
Old 06-05-2005, 07:13 PM   #5 (permalink)
Upright
 
Location: Right here, right now
thanks for the tips, lt1s10 and Nimisys :-)

the truck is all stock.
the tires are better quality, made by Kelly for Discount, supposedly great for our desert climate; I went with more expensive tires because I plan on keeping the truck for a few more years (having Jen four years is a record for me).
__________________
Onward, through the fog . . .
Beccarain is offline  
Old 06-09-2005, 03:45 PM   #6 (permalink)
Psycho
 
Location: North America
I had a vibration due to a worn bearing come through the steering wheel not really a shimmy...shimmy's are typically a tire/wheel problem where the wheel pulls left and right in alternating fashion. Still could be a bearing, you need your front suspension checked out to make sure everything is tight and not loose/worn.
catback is offline  
Old 06-12-2005, 07:26 PM   #7 (permalink)
Upright
 
Location: Right here, right now
I think my next step is to take her to the GMC or Chevy dealer and have them check out the suspension and do a road force test on their equipment; sounds like it'll cost about $50 to have them check it out. It seems that the vibe i feel in the steering wheel is cuz the whole truck is shimmying . . . thanks again everyone for the input! Even you, Tech ;-)
__________________
Onward, through the fog . . .
Beccarain is offline  
Old 06-15-2005, 11:50 AM   #8 (permalink)
Upright
 
Location: Right here, right now
Update for everyone who offered suggestions . . . and so someone else may learn from my ordeal . . .

My GMC dealer checked the suspension and the other possible causes; all fine. Did their own road force test and both the rear tires (the last two from the set I purchased in January) are out of spec; the dealership's tolerance is 19. One came in at 20, but the other one registered a 39--double the tolerance! Of course I prompty called Discount tire with this information; they said they will need to do their own rechecking of the two rear tires but are prepared to do a new set, different manufacturer (and I'm ensuring they are a better/more expensive tire after all this annoyance!!)
__________________
Onward, through the fog . . .
Beccarain is offline  
 

Tags
guidance, jimmy, shimmy

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 06:27 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360