2011 Suburban - Front end shakes

[rmaker]

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.

I did the hubs and front suspension on my 02 Yukon Denali, and on my charger. But I'm tired... So I said f it and had the mechanic do it. Put the Timken hubs and ac Delco inners/outers. I'm gonna slap new front rotors/calipers/hoses/pads this weekend and take it to a drive shaft shop next week. Then alignment/balancing and with any luck I'll be good to go. I've already spent more than I wanted too on this thing.

 

[rmaker]

Swung by the drive shaft shop, they couldn't get me in today, dropping off Monday. He mentioned potentially replacing the aluminum shaft with a steel shaft. Has anyone done this? Are there any inherent issues? I was reading about the class action for "Chevy shake" and one of the solutions was to replace aluminum shaft with steel.

Curious if anyone has done this?

 

[dkad260]

I would try to source a driveshaft from a boneyard, then replace the U joints.

 

[mikez71]

Thought I heard the stock driveshaft was not that strong.. I'd prefer the steel myself, don't think you'd notice any difference.

 

[dkad260]

Any updates on this?

I had a slight steering wheel shake for about a month, I did need to change my RF hub and bearing so I replaced both along with moving the front wheels to the rear for a test.

The shake diminished alot with the tire swap F to R, but was still there slightly.

Wheel was straight, tracked straight, I noticed some slight wear on the edges but nothing drastic

So I went to have my alignment checked and the LF was toed in just under .5 deg..ouch. So fresh alignment and the wheel shake is gone.

Something to consider.