Not sure if you call it a shimmy or not, while driving on highway, going straight, I'll get a vibration that is felt in steering wheel and front end (can see my pop bottle jiggle in the cup holder). Seems to fade away if slower like 55 mph.<br><br>Here's the weird thing, it shakes or shimmys for one or two seconds, is gone for one or two seconds then shakes and shimmys again, of and on for one or two seconds. Almost like on a timer. It does this all the time while on the highway.<br><br>Front end alignment, new tires with high speed balance done less than 500 miles ago. When I had the alignment and tires put on I asked them to check out the front suspension (since truck was new to me I feared ball joints, tie rods, etc) the mechanic said everything &quot;feels fine&quot;.<br><br>Any ideas? Rear tires are not new, I did grab the tie rods to see if any play and none. Anybody got a procedure or can tell me how to check out ball joints, front end components?<br>I have heard to take a crow bar to the ball joints to look for play. I will check wheel bearing play tonight.<br><br>What about steering gear? Any help please. Tires are load range E and are a little stiffer than I am used to. Thanks, Kevin D

 

Mine has a rough spot between 40-45 mph...feels like tires are out of round. It doesn't do the cyclic thing, though. I was thinking of putting in some of those tire balancing beads to make sure the tires stay in balance. I'm not sure if an out of round tire could cause your symptom but it would be easy enough to check when you check the wheel bearings...just spin the tires and look for runout. I am going to check my wheel bearings and tire roundness also. Good luck with yours.

 

Well, found at least one problem. While checking out the wheel bearings, I noticed play in the passenger side upper ball joint. About 1/16th&quot; play. So at least thats the problem.<br><br>Bearings had &quot;white&quot; grease in them as well as to much play. Bearings themselves looked fine. I just don't like the white grease. I think it's lithium grease, and I have read about the incompatabilities with lithium and non lithium based grease. <br><br>Cleaned it all out and repacked with regular wheel bearing grease. Time to start a new thread on ball joint replacement.<br>Kevin D.

 

On my 4X4 the problem was the steering dampner shock. Went away for 2 years now it's back. Time for a new one.

..Preston..

 

Wish mine was that simple &gt;. Oh well, more fun .<br><br>I have a 12 ton press, I have a die grinder for the weld joints, floor jack, ball joint fork. Various other weapons of destruction. <br><br>Anything else I need? Any tips or short cuts? ANY advice would be helpfull. Going to do uppers and lowers, both sides, probably do the bushings and tie rods as well. Might as well get it all done. Kevin D.

 

These CTD's wear the front ends out quick on these trucks in my opinion. My ball joints are toasted. If I hit a pothole in the road it sends my tire into a death shake and I have to slow down to get it to stop shaking the heck out of the truck. I need new ones but ain't got the money just yet.

 

Kevin, I've been through the front end of mine. Symptoms were more like Superduty's than your's, but a local shop &quot;couldn't find anything&quot;. Found loose ball joints myself; had wife sling steering wheel back and forth while I looked underneath. Also turned lock to lock. Problems were pretty obvious.<br><br>Wasn't too hard except for being terrified of truck up on jacks. Had another shop press in the joints; no press here big enough. There was something I had to do different from the Haynes manual description to get the steering knuckles out, but I can't remember what. Real helpful, huh? Might be in an old thread I posted after doing the job. I still need to do the inner tie rods and idler arm before I get new tires, but all that's sort of easy to get to as it sits.<br><br>Made a big difference. Don't go to that first shop anymore either. Not a lot of fun, but sure cheaper than hiiring it done.<br><br>Good luck, work safe,<br><br>Rob