bjerauld

when i hit the brakes the truck does a bad back and forth shimmy sometimes... kinda like the big version of a shopping cart wheel. I was thinking my brakes but someone had said that it could be a loose suspension part?... i was wondering if anybody else had experienced this? maybe a linkage part gone bad? I can get it to stop if I lightly turn back and forth under braking



thanks
bjerauld

fanbrain

Mine dives to the right when I brake. I wonder if it is just the nature of the beast. I have to counteract with a lot of left turn on the wheel.

PapeCAT

I'd recommend a brake job for the two of you. lol? Seriously though we all know that our stock master cylinder is a little weak by design (vacuum) but that only requires a little extra pedal effort. Your trucks should stop smooth, fast and straight/true.

A loose suspension part could cause the shopping cart motion.. In fact a broken part can cause that too... I had the shopping cart motion for the drive home when my UPPER CONTROL ARM broke! This is a safety issue guys. You could be risking other's safety. Be careful that's all...

DNRCustoms

check your tie rod ends and or drag link

big stinky

OP: Your rotors are probably warped. This could be causing some worn out steering linkage to act up. Easiest way to check is lay on the ground in front of it and get somebody to move the wheel back and forth.

fanbrain: Bleed your brakes. Your fronts more so, and adjust your drums properly as according to the sticky.

20fathoms

My W250 had those symptoms. Turned out to be a combination of bad rotors and worn kinpin bearings. I would check the rotors first.

Cheers,

20f

edwinsmith

I second the warped rotor post. Warped rotors are usually caused IMHO by stupid tire jocks who tighten the lugnuts unevenly in no particular pattern with an impact wrench. I have had them from "can't get it off with a big wrench and a cheater bar" to "so loose they fall off going home from the tire dealer".

Whenever I buy tires I force them to use a torque wrench and tighten them in the correct sequence. This can't be stressed to much. Broken lug bolts and lost wheels are my testament to this particular bit of stupidity.

Edwin

bjerauld

the times it doesn't shimmy it stops nice w/o any pulsing... other times if I let go of the wheel while its shaking it just goes back and forth like mad! I have noticed it can be set off by hitting a bump during braking... odd.. but never when just driving normal.. only under braking.. sometimes..

Richie O

Like said above it could be a small brake rotor issue that causes a worn suspension part to act up. Mine turned out to be a brake problem that made it shimmy madly. The tie rod ends were loose. I fixed the ends and never changed the brakes. I feel a very small pulse in the pedal under braking but the front is tight so it does not shimmy any more.

bjerauld

I think you nailed it. How can i tell if the tie-rods are loose? visually or just replace them?

bradshaw106

thats a symptom of kingpins needing servicing

darkale69

you should also check your tire wear to see if you need an alignment also.

Richie O

To check front end stuff you need to jack up one side at a time and bar or wiggle stuff around. Its hard to explane. When your truck gets inspected they usually do that. In you sig it says 72,000 miles. If the thing was greased and never plowed snow than I would think it is ok. Just a thought. My 89 with 124,000 has all factory joints. I am also only on my 3rd set of tires since new. My other 89 has 237,000 and have had to replace some stuff.

uncleroty

What you should do is check if your rotors are warped, by eye . I thought mine were 4 years ago due to the same symptom. I checked, and they weren't, so I cleaned cleaned up the calipers where they slide (wire wheel), and worked the piston in and out. The symptoms disappeared and have not returned in four years, and several brake jobs.

Your problem could be worn tie rods/king pins etc for sure, but doing what I did first is free if you do it yourself, and might be a good place to start. Good luck with it.

Rampage1967

The shaking on braking is most likely a pair of warped rotors. The will do everything from pulsing on braking to a violent shake on braking depending on how they are positioned at the time. Check thier thickness at severaL points around with a caliper to verify this .

MAKE SURE THEY ARE NOT WORN BEYOND THE MINIMUM THICKNESS BEFORE TURNING THEM TOO. Or just get new ones & install them.