Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys

Shake in Steering Wheel

Something not working right?

by Gilmore81 » Mon Oct 18, 2021 9:52 pm

I decided that last spring I would put a leveling kit in my 2004 Trailblazer and I put in the Rough Country leveling kit in and 1.5 inch wheel spacers as well as the upper control arm flip and it looked great, but I had one issue and it was a shake in the steering wheel. I took it in after I put the lift in to have it aligned and it still did it after that so I took the tires in and them balanced and that didn't cure the problem either. Just last month I put in new Tie Rods and Ball Joints and I also downsized my tires from 265/70R17 to 245/70R17, this helped but I still get a pretty bad shake at higher speeds.

When I replaced the rods and ball joints I had it aligned and still had the same issue and according the spec sheet(below) it says that my caster is off, but the adjusters are maxed out and cant be adjusted any farther I was wondering if anyone else has ran into this issue and what they did to solve this.
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by Brunhilde » Thu Nov 11, 2021 3:03 am

Shaking in the steering wheel at high speed (45/50+) is due to unbalanced wheels. Likely causes are A. your wheels or spacers aren’t torqued properly or B. the spacer/wheels are lug centric and the wheels are balanced to be mounted hub centric. Most tire shops will default balance everything hub centric so you have to specifically request your wheels be balanced lug centric.
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by ErikSS » Thu Nov 18, 2021 8:10 pm

Can you identify where the shake is coming from? If you can tell which corner it's coming from, I would remove the wheel spacers and rotate them. Left front switched with right rear. Right front switched with left rear. This should move the shake, or help identify where it's coming from.

If that doesn't pan out, the lower control arm bushings are a known where item. As well as the bushings in the lower control arm brackets. Any alignment shop worth using SHOULD notice if there is play. Ruling all of that out. But...

I assume on or off the brakes has no affect?
It's not how fast you go. It's how quick you get there. Lifted TBSS Build
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