1988 Toyota Landcruiser Horrible Steering Shimmy

MLAMMBEAN

MEMBER
1988 TOYOTA LANDCRUISER
6 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
168,000 MILES

I have a horrible shimmy on occasion. It happens when I hit some sort of transition in the road, say an expansion joint in on a bridge. It is a very violent shimmy. It feels as if the front wheels are going to shake off. It does not happen every time. Typically when I am going down hill or flat, not up. When it happens, hitting the brakes makes it worse, but the only thing that stops it is slowing down to under 25 or so. At high speed (60 - 70), you can feel a similar shimmy in the wheel, but very slight. I have had it aligned and balanced and it helped slightly, but not fixed.

5 Replies

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,938 POSTS

Hi there,

Thank you for the donation,

First check that the steering damper is ok, that's the big shocker on the steering track rod, have the track rod ends adjusted, check tie rod ends, wheel bearings and swivel hub bearings, start here.

Mark (mhpautos)

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Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 AT 8:13 PM

KOALA

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2 POSTS

I have a 87 Landcruiser Traytop 6cyl Manual and have what sounds like exactly the same problem. Started as an occaisionally vibration if I hit bumps on the road. Had shock absorbers, wheel bearings and hub bearings checked and OK. Drives fine offroad which is where it spends most of its time.

This morning I hit corrigagtions on tarmac with only the right hand side at about 60mph. This setoff a vibration which became much worse under braking to the point where I thought the front wheel was going to fall off (<- past experience).

I have the vehicle booked in for an inspection and will try to post what the result is back here when I find out.

And just to add, I have had this Toyota nearly 20 yrs. It spends most of its life working off-road and except for burning out the clutch once it has never caused me a problem.

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Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 AT 11:54 PM

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,938 POSTS

Check that the steering damper is OK, drop off one end and see if it still has retention, (no free travel)also check the adjustable track rod ends, these should be done up tight and then backed off 3/4 turn and re split pinned.

Mark (mhpautos)

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Friday, February 4th, 2011 AT 2:55 AM

KOALA

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2 POSTS

Problem repaired. The steering dampener was shot, not working at all. One wheel bearing was a little sloppy. The other main problem was slop in the steering box. Now that has been adjusted and a new dampener fitted it is as good as new.

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Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 1:13 AM

MHPAUTOS