Shakey steering wheel at 55-65mph

[2001RedSport]

I'm getting a shake in the steering wheel at 55-65 mph. It is much worse when braking. The truck is a 2001 Explorer Sport 2wd 4.0 auto. The rotors and pads were replaced about 50 miles ago (I thought the rotors were the problem, but they looked fine as did the bearrings.) What else could cause this? Tie rod ends or ball joints maybe? Thanks in advance!

 

[dondiesel444]

could be a tire out of balance. try getting all your tires balanced and see it that helps. if the shaking is worse when braking, that usually means a warped rotor. dosen't matter if the rotor are only 50 miles old, if you overheated them, they may be warped. new rotors/pads usually require a break in period. try balancing the tires first, then get the rotos checked out.

good luck!!

 

[mrboyle]

Warped rotors will not cause the wheel to sake unless the brakes are applied. The first thing I would do is have the tires inspected for a seporation. If theyare good have them ballanced and get the front suspension inspected.

 

[TheRookie]

Or just switch front and rear yourself and see if it helps. If so go get all 4 balanced, if not then prob a ball joint

 

[2001RedSport]

Thank you for your replies! The tires are new, with about 250 miles on them. They are BF Goodrich Land Terrain's stock size. I will rotate them tomorrow and see if this helps. If it is a ball joint, how big of a job is this? I do all my own mainenance, but I've never done any suspension work. Thanks again!

 

[rfuree11]

if they are new, they may have done a poor job balancing them when you got them.

 

[2001RedSport]

That could be the case, I got them installed at Wal Mart LOL

 

[jimbo74]

you said it gets worse when you stomp the brakes... i am thinking rotors......

explorers as one of their character quirks do tend to have a vibration at those speeds.....

ok its a whole seperate issue but who did the brakes? it is very common for a shop to use air tools to remove/reinstall wheels, point being, maybe walmart warped your rotors when they did the tires?

 

[2001RedSport]

Nope, I did the brakes after WalMart put the new tires on. One thing I did forget to mention was that you can feel the vibration while just cruising (and hear a whump whump whump sound) comming from the passenger side floorboard. But when I hit the brakes, the dash shakes and the wheel just about shakes out of my hands. Thanks again!

 

[rfuree11]

You never know- it could be both