2011 Suburban - Front end shakes

[Foggy]

You will have to find a driveshaft shop specifically .. They can build/rebuild driveshafts
And are able to balance them..
The dent prob doesn't affect the balance much. And your post
stated your vibrations are Up Front... I'd get the known worn out stuff addressed first.

 

[j91z28d1]

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?

View attachment 398374

is that your drive shaft? if so just replace it. it's bent

if you Google a drive shaft shop near you, they should have a balancer. but I can tell you a dented shift, just replace it with one of gm. most shaft shops can build you one but I believe oem is better

 

[Gearz]

If you can smell brakes burning after a highway drive you might have a collapsed front brake hose that won't allow fluid to return back to the master cylinder causing the brake caliper to stay on causing a sever shaking. I have seen this many times and people start replacing all kinds to parts when it's just the brakes over heating. After driving just raise the front end and see if the wheels turn easily and if not you found the issue.

 

[donjetman]

Yes I had a brake hose colapse internally on me once, so when I do brake jobs I always replace the hoses too,

 

[rmaker]

UPDATE - So I took it to the old school mechanic to give a proper once over. He determined that the left wheel bearing and the right inner tie rod are in fact bad. He also says that the drive shaft is bent and should be replaced.

He quoted me on just the one-wheel bearing, tie rod, and drive shaft. I told him to go ahead and replace it all, both inner/outer tie rods and both hub assemblies. He won't let me provide the parts which kinda sucks but at this point, I don't really care. Just want to get it on the road safely.

He did say I could provide the drive shaft which he quoted me at $675, so if anyone has any info on a new drive shaft i.e.. part #, good replacements etc let me know.
I called a local Chevy dealer to get the part # and they told me 1st they don't give out part #'s, and I was like WTF. Then he said, oh it's discontinued so I can give it to you. I asked how am I supposed to determine the correct part, and he was like good luck.. WTH?

 

[donjetman]

Then he said, oh it's discontinued so I can give it to you. I asked how am I supposed to determine the correct part, and he was like good luck.. WTH?

I would never buy a driveshaft from a dealer. I've been having driveshafts built locally for 50 yrs without issue.

 

[dkad260]

UPDATE - So I took it to the old school mechanic to give a proper once over. He determined that the left wheel bearing and the right inner tie rod are in fact bad. He also says that the drive shaft is bent and should be replaced.

He quoted me on just the one-wheel bearing, tie rod, and drive shaft. I told him to go ahead and replace it all, both inner/outer tie rods and both hub assemblies. He won't let me provide the parts which kinda sucks but at this point, I don't really care. Just want to get it on the road safely.

How mechanically inclined are you? Reason I ask, since yours is RWD, the front hub and bearing is an easy swap.

I would replace both if they are original, if one is bad, the other isn't far behind unless you smacked a curb or nasty pothole with one.

A suburban is a heavy vehicle, I would want to know exactly what part is going on if they provide the parts....I honestly don't like that part, they are not hard to change. If you can change your own brakes, you can change a 2WD front hub.

Tie rod ends, do both since you will need an alignment once you change one.

A bent driveshaft will give a full-on vehicle vibration at highway speeds and tend to come in waves, like a slow sine wave...usually makes the rear view mirror vibrate as well.

 

[dkad260]

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.

Meant to add this...

You should be able to rotate the tie rod ends with a good amount of force, they shouldn't be super easy to rotate..but they do need to move up and down with the wheel in many different positions.

A good way to check is have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth very slightly and see if the tie rod moves back and forth, it should be solid with the steering knuckle and move at the same time.

Jack the front wheel off the ground about 1 inch by the lower control arm, don't let the suspension hang. Place a pry bar under the tire and lift up, see if the lower ball joint compresses as you lift the tire...if it does, replace it but that shouldn't cause a wheel shake, but a clunk over bumps.

 

[Geotrash]

UPDATE - So I took it to the old school mechanic to give a proper once over. He determined that the left wheel bearing and the right inner tie rod are in fact bad. He also says that the drive shaft is bent and should be replaced.

He quoted me on just the one-wheel bearing, tie rod, and drive shaft. I told him to go ahead and replace it all, both inner/outer tie rods and both hub assemblies. He won't let me provide the parts which kinda sucks but at this point, I don't really care. Just want to get it on the road safely.

He did say I could provide the drive shaft which he quoted me at $675, so if anyone has any info on a new drive shaft i.e.. part #, good replacements etc let me know.
I called a local Chevy dealer to get the part # and they told me 1st they don't give out part #'s, and I was like WTF. Then he said, oh it's discontinued so I can give it to you. I asked how am I supposed to determine the correct part, and he was like good luck.. WTH?

And that would be the LAST time I ever had any interaction with that dealer.

 

[swathdiver]

It's RWD.

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

Well this is historical information now:

Moog CK Series and ACDelco Professional/Gold are in many instances the same part. They are of good quality if you just need a year or two of service out of them generally speaking.

Moog RK Series and ACDelco Advantage/Silver are for when you are dirt broke and selling the truck to your worst enemy the next day, generally speaking of course!

GM OE is of the quality of parts that have last so long on your vehicle already, the stuff it was built with. In many cases, the GM OE is the same as ACDelco Professional/Gold.

From time to time we learn of manufacturers that are or were the Original Equipment suppliers and have hesitation with using their parts after determining that what we're looking at is indeed the same quality and not an RK series parts. Timken hubs are an example.

A few years ago we had a guy on here rebuild his front and rear suspension with parts from Mevotech, Moog, Bilstein and GM. It rode horribly, so bad that he soon sold the truck and bought something else. He was his own worst enemy mixing and matching all those parts and expecting OE ride quality when he did not use OE quality parts.

Are there men foolish enough to believe that a $150 ebay suspension kit is going to ride and last the same as original equipment when one control arm costs twice as much?