2011 Suburban - Front end shakes

[rmaker]

Finally able to get this thing on the highway today.

At around 60-65 there are serious steering wheel vibrations that seem to shake the entire interior (dash/seat/etc) with an audible component as well.
Also at slower speeds, it drives good but I did notice a forward wobble or chug along if you will while rolling to a stop.

Crawled under and the outer tire rod boots are split all the way around and I can roll them fore and aft a bit with my hand.
Checked on my 02 Yukon and there is similar play (they could probably be replaced too) - but no vibrations in the Yukon.

I will jack it up tomorrow and check for any wheel play/bearings. The tires look good/newish.

I've read through some threads, seems like many folks have replaced all sorts of components only to still have the vibrations.

I already planned on doing the front rotors/calipers/hoses/pads next weekend and might as well do the outer tie rods - then see how it runs.
Should I do the inner as well?
Upper and lower arms?


What has worked for you?

 

[Doubeleive]

inner and outer tie rods and a alignment couldn't hurt , but I would start with having the tires and wheels checked first.
vibration is almost always tire/wheel or alignment related, sometimes other things like driveline/u-joints

 

[OR VietVet]

Move tires and wheels from front to rear and post here what happens.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

+1 for tires first

Possible seized caliper on a warped rotor but you didn’t describe other symptoms that would have

 

[swathdiver]

Finally able to get this thing on the highway today.

At around 60-65 there are serious steering wheel vibrations that seem to shake the entire interior (dash/seat/etc) with an audible component as well.
Also at slower speeds, it drives good but I did notice a forward wobble or chug along if you will while rolling to a stop.

Crawled under and the outer tire rod boots are split all the way around and I can roll them fore and aft a bit with my hand.
Checked on my 02 Yukon and there is similar play (they could probably be replaced too) - but no vibrations in the Yukon.

I will jack it up tomorrow and check for any wheel play/bearings. The tires look good/newish.

I've read through some threads, seems like many folks have replaced all sorts of components only to still have the vibrations.

I already planned on doing the front rotors/calipers/hoses/pads next weekend and might as well do the outer tie rods - then see how it runs.
Should I do the inner as well?
Upper and lower arms?


What has worked for you?

Generally speaking, if your truck is at about 150K miles and 12 years old it is time to overhaul the suspension and steering.

Use GM OE tie rods and boots, ACDelco Professional and the others are not of the same quality, even the boots.

Is this truck a 4x4 or RWD?

 

[rmaker]

It's RWD.

Just to be clear, you are saying not to use ACDelco tie rod replacements?

 

[j91z28d1]

It's RWD.

Just to be clear, you are saying not to use ACDelco tie rod replacements?

the key word is "Professional" acdelco. it's cheap junk with the acdelco name on it for marketing. I don't know why they do that, besides licensing money, but is you rep really worth that little money?


normal acdelco from the dealership or like rock auto should be oem quality. Amazon has become knock off land. at this point I think eBay has more legit parts lol.

me personally, I don't rebuild suspension over a little slop. I grew up on warn out old school steering boxes and linkage before rake and pinion. until I see tire wear or play to the point of failure meh for a daily truck. I just haven't seen a cost to return on replacing a whole front end. now if someone drove 100k with out of balance tires and trashed everything sure. but that's pretty rare these days.

there's a 99% chance you have bad tires, bent rim or need a proper balance job. which is hard to get out of a chain tire store these days. they have like 3 mins per tire to mount and balance. you just can't do a nice hidden weight road force dynamic balance in that kinda environment. they set the balancer to static, which is supposed to be used for under 4in wide trailer tires and send it. most new tires and cars are fine with it.

good luck finding it. vibrations are super annoying to find. when first picked up a c6 used years ago, I chases a vibration off and on for over a year. tire shop balancer would say good but was still there. finally took it to a shop that let me balance it myself and damn if the rim wasn't bent and no one cared to tell me or didn't see it. had the rim straightened for 100$. rebalanced and was good after that.

if you have aftermarket wheels, make sure to tighten evenly and by hand without weight of the truck in the wheel at first. I've seen running lugs down with an impact cause so many issues.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Moog RK line and AcDeldo Professional series are budget parts

 

[rmaker]

UPDATE: Jacked up the front - front right tire moves side to side and the front left moves side to side and a lil up and down.
I know the tie rod ends are bad, can see them split and can roll them. Seems like the wheel bearings are probably shot too.

The plan is to take it to a more thorough and old-school mechanic and have him take a look before I go down the rabbit hole.
At this point, I'm already doing the front rotors/calipers/pads/hoses, might as well do the hubs/inners/outers - the U&LCA ball joints I'm sure should be replaced as well but I think I'll wait and see if there is any improvement first with the items mentioned above.

I was somewhat skeptical of all this drive shaft talk - but then I saw this (in the pic attached) - a big ass dent/crease in the drive shaft. Looks like it was hit by something. Got me wondering if this could have anything to do with it.

How would one determine if the drive shaft is bad or out of alignment?

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@rmaker When you take it to a shop they should be able to figure out safely if the driveshaft is out of balance