Steering wheel shake and pull. KO2s to blame?

Yeah I agree with that. I have another appt set up for next Monday to go back and get the balance with the finger plate. I'll report back again after that. It's just weird that I never had any issues until adding some armor (Weight change the geometry up front a little maybe?) and the spacers and then I start seeing it. If the second balance doesn't take care of it, I think I'll be asking the shop to remove the spacers just to see if it goes away. Maybe one of the spacers is out of spec or wasn't quite installed correctly. Just following the process of elimination. Maybe the stance is just to wide with the heavy tires and
Tmiesowicz is right in that the 4R just can't handle it.

 

I also was getting a viberation with spridertrax spacers. I just removed them.

 

Thanks for that. Good to know.

 

OK so after a realignment, 2 tire balances and a visit to the shop that did my lift... it turns out my shimmy is from my driver side UCA. It's an SPC UCA with about 12k miles on it. The issue is not with the ball joint though. It's with the flex joint bushings and it's allowing my driver side front tire to wobble since it's loose. Getting it replaced in a week and then hopefully I'll be able to say for certain that the issue is gone.

 

LOL- right? Move along, nothing to see here…..

 

Shimmy on my ‘17 SR5 began after Method wheels and E load tires.
My ‘21 (stock wheels and tires) only shimmies (and it isn’t every time) first couple minutes until tires warm.

I’m getting ready to go to Toyo 285’s in SL version. We shall see….

 

How did they diagnose that?

 

Showed them a video and the vibration they saw wasn't very consistent which is what an out-of-balance tire tends to do. They put it up on a rack to check the front end and found the tire was a little loose on the driver side meaning it had a slight wiggle. They chased it from there I suppose. While it's on the ground, you can wiggle the steering wheel and feel it on the UCA at the same time.

 

I wonder why they just didnt tighten down the bolt? Maybe they saw damage to the bushing though. If so, maybe it was installation error, or a defective part. Those are a paint in the butt to get a torque wrench on them, so it definitly possible it was never on tight enough. Those UCAs also have bolts that could be loose at the ball joint (since the ball joint can be moved for caster adjustment).

 

Yeah it's not the ball joint. Best guess are the bushings. I trust these guys to get the install right. This isn't the first vehicle they've lifted for me. They said they had never seen a UCA fail like this. We'll know more once they pull it off to send it in for warrantee.

 

OK the UCA's were replaced, got a new alignment and the issue persists. Went back to DT to have their best person do a balance, still there. We're going to pull the wheels and spacers, make sure everything is clean and reinstall minus the spacers to see if it still wobbles. Pretty sure this is down to the KO2s but we shall see.

 

It’s not just certain tires…figured that one out by wasting $1300

 

I hear you and that sucks. I haven't lost hope yet but definitely running out of options.

 

My question sounds dumb, but curious to see what wheels / rims running with KO2s those who has vibration?

Anyone with factory SR5/ TRD Offroad wheels with KO2 Load C have vibration? Just trying to understand why I did not experience problems after KO2 and Road Force balance.

Love to see pics of the setup who has problems.

 

I’ve got a TRD-OFF ROAD 2019 with the 275 (E) KOs with stock UCAs and no shims - developed a minor nibble in the steering wheel at 70ish mph - DT balanced tires and issue resolved. Took road trip to TN & back - no issues.

 

I run the OEM TRD OR wheels with LT 265/70/17, 6 ply BFG KO2's & have zero vibration. The main reason is that I found a tire shop that knows how to use a Hunter Road Force balancer properly. It took me a few years to find this shop, because at least 3 other shops with a Road Force balancer did NOT know how to use the machine properly. (ask me how I know)

 

Factory sr5 wheels with 265/70r17’s. Better than the dunlops but still has the problem occasionally

 

Ok so the 4x4 shop did some testing on my tires and wheels. I had one tire that was less round than it should be. They dropped another set of wheels and tires on and took it for a spin. No shimmy. Went back to discount tire and they replaced that tire. I think this may have solved my issue. \○/

 

Good to hear!!

 

For the record, the Discount Tire manager started to tell me that even if there is nothing wrong with the tire, it may just be that it's a KO2. He was aware that this is a thing with Toyota as his wife went through the same issues. If I didn't already know about it, I would have thought he was prepping an exit strategy on me to get off of the hook. lol

 

Shimmy was on my 2017 4R SR5P. Aftermarket Method 305 wheels and 275/70/17 KO2s Load range E and then also shimmied with Falken Wildpeaks in 275 Load range E tires. It had no shimmy with OEM wheels and tires.

 

Yes. Hesitant to post this, as evidently if you question the sacred k02 too much you get a temporary ban, but I absolutely have/had this issue on factory setup.

 

Feel free to DM me if you have questions, we can take the discussion to a secure channel using classified government satellites in order to prevent being banned.

 

General Grabber ATX in stock size, standard load, and I get a shimmy. It tracks straight, I haven't taken any steps to rectify it since I found the sweet spot to avoid it.

Pavement surface and weather seem to effect it as well.

 

Get them road forced balanced. Fixed my k02s shocking the wheel.

 

Yo! New owner to a brand new 24 TRD ORP w/KDSS. I saw this post and I’m hoping it helps me out, even though it’s a year and a half old now lol. Hoping to get some more info, the truck had pretty substantial shimmy with Nitto ridge grapplers 265/70R17 and black trd pro wheels that came with the package on the truck.

Flew out of state to purchase, had the dealer do a road force and alignment after the test drive before I drove away with it and the shimmy was slightly better but I figured the tires to be the issue.

Swapped out the tires 5 days later to Bridgestone alenza all season tires same sizing. Shimmy is better but still vibrates enough to drive me nuts when I’m driving between 60-70. Even cruising around 45-50 I can feel the wobble and shake in the seat and I’m baffled a brand new 4 runner known to be the bullet proof 20+ year tank had these issues.

Seemingly balanced with a lot of weights on it as well. I was half convinced the trd pro wheels were the issue and was going to fight with Toyota to just give me the normal ORP wheels but I’m at a loss. I’ve already had 2 sets of tires and 3 balances done and the issue still persists.

If the issue cannot be fixed I’m feeling tempted to get Toyota to buy the vehicle back from me considering I still have 3 weeks until my first payment is even due and I’d go find myself one of the last remaining new 23 GX 460’s and spend the extra 10k.

I’d much rather the issue just be fixed but I cannot fathom that just for the vehicle to drive straight and not vibrate or shimmy at all that I’m going to have to get and hope a road force balance works every 5k miles when I do a rotation and oil change.

Currently feeling defeated that one of the best vehicles put out by one of the best brands has this issue in the last model year of the beast of the truck this is. Spending 60k for a vehicle and having these issues really just should not be something the customer base should have to deal with imo. Any and all help appreciated from anyone!

 

They are definitely sensitive to out of balance tires. It's annoying, but it can be resolved.

My only advice is to try a different tire shop. I've had tires rebalanced at a chain only to wind up with a wobble. Then, I took it to an off-road shop, and they got them perfect. I've had stock size KO2's in load range C. 285/70/17 Toyo AT3's in C, and 295/70/17 Yokohama Geolandar M/T's in E, and zero wobble, aside from when they've been out of balance.


Edit: also, welcome to the forum!

 

Hmmmm. So now I wonder. I have a '22 ORP and have been fighting a wobble. I bought cheap tires and cheap steel wheels for the thing. I wasn't looking to spend a ton of money on things that will get destroyed on the trail. The tires were horrible. Took forever to get heat in them, and all-around were crap off-road. The wobble could be bad. I got them Road Force'd and it improved them, but still annoying. I decided to spend some money and get K03s. I knew within five seconds of leaving Discount Tire there was an issue. Went back, and they Road Force'd them, too. Vast improvement, but I still had a slight wobble at 60mph. I probably could've lived with it, but I do road-trip the truck frequently, and didn't think that expensive tires should be like this.

I'm still not certain if it's the wheels or not. I bought a new set, and guess I'll found out on Friday. I don't know what else it could be.

To really add another variable into the mix, a friend had K02s on his rig and had to get them replaced because they had wobble from new. He had to fight a little, but he finally got them taken care of.

 

Proper balancing starts with proper tire mounting on the rim. Tires have yellow and red dots on the sidewalls. Most shops will totally ignore the dots and just pile on more weights; this from the web:

The Yellow Dot
When tyres are made, they are almost never perfectly balanced, and most manufacturers will place a yellow dot on the section of the tyre where there is least weight. When fitting a tyre, you should line up this yellow dot with the valve stem as this is the heaviest point of the wheel. By aligning the lightest spot on the tyre with the heaviest point on the wheel, the tyre/wheel balance is as close to optimal as can be. So, you won’t use as many weights around the wheel to balance out the tyre and wheel. Fewer weights make for a more balanced wheel, which then means a quieter, more comfortable ride, and a longer-lasting tyre.

The Red Dot
In the same way that tyres are never perfectly balanced from the manufacturer, tyres are never perfectly round either, even when new. They have high and low points which occur where the belts are joined, and these points can cause vibrations when a tyre is rolling. The red dot indicates the tyre’s high point. Most of the time a wheel will also have a dot—either a drilled dot or a sticker to indicate its low point; if you have these marks, you should align the red dot with the mark on the wheel and ignore the yellow dot. By doing this you minimise the vibration caused by the high point of the tyre

Red over Yellow
If both red and yellow dots are visible on your tyre and you don’t have any dots or marks on your wheel, red takes precedence over yellow and you should align the red dot with the valve stem. Cancelling out the high point takes precedence over the lightest point of the tyre, which can be addressed with wheel weights.

 

You'd be surprised how few installers know this anymore. I had a guy doing mobile installation on a vehicle. I was getting mud tires, and he was having a helluva time getting them to balance. Thought he was going to cry. I told him to line the dot up with the valve stem. And it made his life much easier.

After I left Discount Tire, I looked at the sidewalls of the K03s and was surprised to see no dots. There's a possibility they could be on the inside, but I never looked.