What a good indication you need to replace your hub?

My 99 4wd Suburban has a vibration or shake to it. I took it in to the dealer and they made me feel like they were just throughing parts at it, because they said after I spent all that money they didn't guarantee it would stop. So I concluded they didn't know what was wrong.

I lifted the front and tried to shake the wheels side to side, but they didn't move much at all.

It vibrates mainly at higher speeds which might indicate tires, but I've rotated them and it made no difference. I replaced the shocks and it made no difference. The vibration can turn into a shimmy at times. Where it feels like the front of the truck is shaking from side to side? It real bad when you go over pot holes or bumps in the road. It's like it shakes real bad and recovers to a vibration. The steering has had a lot of play in it also, but it has had it for some time with out the vibration.

It shimmied so bad one time I pulled over at checked the wheel to see if it was about to fall off. But no it was bolted on good.

Any ideas, or questions?

Thanks,
Jeremy

have you checked tie rods and sway bar bushings or stable lizer links and bushings? it sounds like a tire or shock but i see you put shocks on. you could also get a estament on the alignment and see what they find because it may be in your sterring box it's self....good luck..

The bushings look okay to me, but I don't know what's worn. They're there. They're not crumbly or cracked so I assume they're okay. The dealer said the tie rods looked worn, but wouldn't show me what they meant by "worn".

Thanks. That's what I was going to do next. There is a well known frame and alignment shop I was thinking about taking it to.

Look for play in the steering system, especially between the relay rod, Pitman and idler arms, and betwen the tie rods and the steering knuckles. Also look for the idler arm moving up & down as the steering wheel is turned...it shouldn't move in that direction. Any of a combo of these worn joints can result in loose steering feeling.

Also look for abnormal wear patterns on your tires...feathered tread blocks or cupping indicates worn or out of alignment steering or suspension components.

The dealer should be smarter than that...find a more reputable shop.

I know this is an old thread, but I just noticed it here. I have a 2002 Suburban. At about 85,000 miles it developed a "shake" in the front. It felt like the front right. It felt like one wheel was on the rumble (wake up) strip on the right side.

I had the 'burb to 2 Chevy shops and 3 independent front end shops. 4 sets of tires, 3 alignments, 2 inner tie rods, 2 new sets of rotors, a right hub and a set of front shocks later it is still going on. All 5 shops find nothing else wrong.

I now have 170,000 miles. The above repairs gave some releif to the shimmy, but nothing ever took it away.

I have an obvious question - were the wheel bearings checked or replaced? I found 3 otherwise reputable shops in my area that do not seem to know how to adjust them. The result is also what you describe - the wheel wobble.

In my case I gave up and r/r the bearings in both hubs and it completely solved my problem.

Something else you may want to check is the steering stabilizer. It's a shock absorber mounted between the centerlink and the frame. Used to be a bigger deal with biased ply tires, but if you pick up a vibration and the stabilizer is shot you're going to want to have a good hold on the steering wheel until you get her slowed down.

I have an obvious question - were the wheel bearings checked or replaced? I found 3 otherwise reputable shops in my area that do not seem to know how to adjust them. The result is also what you describe - the wheel wobble.

In my case I gave up and r/r the bearings in both hubs and it completely solved my problem.


At about 125,000 miles the right hub did show wear, and was replaced. The shimmy was still there.

on the hub ?

raise the front end, get tires off the ground. grab tire and see if they have movment when you grab the top and bottom and try to see how much play there is, you should not have hardley any at all. Not side to side, but top to bottom.