2015 Tahoe right side front end shake at 80 mph

[Rrunner]

My 2015 Tahoe (118,000 miles) front end on passenger side begins a shake/vibration around 80 mph, it's a smooth ride up to this speed. I've had all four wheels high speed balanced two times so I know it's not the wheel balancing. Any suggestions on what might be causing this?

 

[Jplasse]

With vehicle on the ground, have someone turn the steering wheel left and right gently and another person watch for any jumping/popping of tie rod ends or odd movements in the steering rack that are not linear to the left or right force. If you do not see anything there, while jacking up the passenger front tire (using the chassis frame behind tire as jack point), watch the upper and lower ball joints of the upper and lower control arms for slop. Once tire is in the air, you can put a pry bar or tire iron at the 6 oclock position and put pressure on the tire to look for ball joint slop, as well as a wheel bearing/hub assembly starting to wear out. At speeds of 45-60mph, that typically is a sign of out of balance tire

 

[Tahoe14]

Try a Road Force Balance.

 

[OR VietVet]

What @Jplasse and @Tahoe14 said. I would also be interested if the people doing the balancing are checking for a bent wheel.

What happens when the rf wheel is swapped to the rr?

 

[Sparksalot]

My 2015 Tahoe (118,000 miles) front end on passenger side begins a shake/vibration around 80 mph, it's a smooth ride up to this speed. I've had all four wheels high speed balanced two times so I know it's not the wheel balancing. Any suggestions on what might be causing this?

What tires do you have? Some seem to have this challenge staying balanced.

 

[Rrunner]

What tires do you have? Some seem to have this challenge staying balanced.

I have Mitchlen all the way around probably half life left on them. The two times I’ve had them balanced. The shake never goes away, even after just balancing.

 

[Rrunner]

What @Jplasse and @Tahoe14 said. I would also be interested if the people doing the balancing are checking for a bent wheel.

What happens when the rf wheel is swapped to the rr?

Actually, I haven’t tried that but very good idea. I will give that a try and let you know. Thanks.

 

[B-train]

I just had a similar issue on my 2017 yukon. We had new tires installed on the factory 22 inch rims. I've had a shake that shows up at highway speeds, annoying, but not lose control bad.

Took it in for a trans service and some other stuff. I asked them to check the tire balance and he said 1 wheel had 8 Oz on it! I said nothing has been touched since they did the work. The tech road force balanced it and had no luck. He broke the tire down, rotated 180 degrees and it balanced fine......which should've been caught the FIRST time, but not all techs are seasoned.....

So, in getting to my point, I agree with a possible bent wheel and with changing locations to see if the vibration follows. If it does, have a good shop inspect the wheel and tell you how much weight is on the wheel. You might actually be able to see that yourself and compare to the others.

If the vibration doesn't follow the wheel, then I'd look at tie rods and steering linkage for play that can let the tire flutter when rotating.

 

[OR VietVet]

Yes, I should have said this: Breaking down the tire and spin 180 degrees sometimes gets the heavy spot on tire and heavy spot on wheel, 180 degrees from each other. They could have been originally mounted right on top of each other. I have even had to breakdown again and spin an additional 90 degrees.

 

[Sparksalot]

I have Mitchlen all the way around probably half life left on them. The two times I’ve had them balanced. The shake never goes away, even after just balancing.

I've heard of it, and seen it myself with KO2s, but have wondered if any other AT types have the issue.