Scary front end shake....

[danzo]

...and no, this one doesn't come with fries. After a few hundy highway miles the shake has gotten much worse in the last few weeks, so much so that I am not driving the car until rectified. There is some clunking in the left front at city speeds, but at 65 + the demons take over and it feels like the car will shake itself to death. Curiously it smooths out a bit around 80mph.

I removed the left front wheel but didn't find any looseness in the ball joint or tie rod end. So I looked at the top of the strut and found the dust cap missing and a large crack in the rubber mount. It goes almost all the way round the strut insert nut. I'm wondering if a failed mount could cause all this shaking and since I know it is bad I will replace it first. Fortunately my local Ho' reilley's has one for $44 so I'll slap it in tonight and go from there. I did some searching of old posts but couldn't find this particular situation, but hopefully the mount is the prob.

[Petros]

Not likely it would cause a shake. It could be a bad CV that causes that, how old are your axles? Condition of the boots? If it is the CV axle it would be a good time to replace it when you replace the upper strut mount.

you will need a spring compressor to install the strut top mount. YOu can either remove the strut from the steering knuckle (and risk the alignment, so mark it carefully), or pull the whole strut with the steering knuckle attached (hang the brake caliper), pull the two 14mm bolts from the lower ball joint and pop the cv axle out of the trans (so you dont not have to remove the axle from the hub), change out the top mount and install it all back keeping everything attached. of course if the cv axle needs to be replaced you will have get that large nut off the hub anyway. Never easy with hand tools.

You and everyone else in Texas already got fried, how many days now over 100 deg?

[danzo]

When I removed the strut assy the mount rubber fell apart in my hands, i.e. the bearing had separated from the metal with the three studs. Surprisingly replacing the mount/bearing really made no discernable difference in how it drives. Next I will actually do the FSM ball joint test (got one from AZ at $20), then attack the outer tie rod end if the problem persists.

The car has only 132k on it, so it's strange it vibrates this much. When I say scary shaking I mean scary. I've tried two different tires that, although not purchased new, have both been mounted and balanced within the last 6 months. The original CV axles/boots are in great shape. I've never experienced a prob like this due to worn CV's and I've had a few bad clickers.

Unfortunately we had three sub 100* days (99 or so) that broke our streak two days shy of a new record. I for one am dissapointed - the forecast is for another 10 days of 100* temps. We could have had a 50+ day record. All that suffering for nothing!

[Petros]

I have seen badly worn CV joints vibrate badly, but you usually have other symptoms too. Like clunking in turns, loud clacks at low speed, etc. I would not go around replacing good parts at random trying fix the problem, find out what is wrong first.

One thing you might check is the condition of the rubber doughnuts on the ends of the sway bar, the ones that go at the lower control arms. I have seen those not look too bad, but go soft, and cause very scary shaking at certain speeds. These rubber parts get tiny cracks as they age which has the effect of making them go soft. I made a rubber washer out of 1/4" rubber sheet and put it behind the thick metal washer (under the large nut on the end of the sway bar). This had the effect of pulling the arm forward 1/4", increasing the caster, and stiffening the connection. The scary vibration also went away and made the steering more solid feeling.

I think if the caster approaches zero if these bushings allow the wheel to move back, it makes the steering directionally unstable, and you get a harmonic at certain speeds causing large oscillation of the wheel. Both my left and right side sway bar ends now have this extra 1/4" rubber washer in the connection. Try it, very cheap fix and only takes about 5 min to install.

[danzo]

The mystery continues. Today I slapped on a wheel/tire that I bought new and I definitely know does not vibrate on my other than T4. Still vibrates on the Terc. Then I toed in the right front wheel thinking maybe it was splayed out and causing wobble. No diff. BTW I realize I said earlier the vibration was coming from the left front, but it is actually the pass side that's the prob. Sorry for the error.

All four rubber swaybar-to-control arm donuts have been replaced (complete with anti-seize) in the last 1.5 years. New right ball joint (old one was very questionable), replaced the busted strut mount, the CV boots are great, replaced both inner tie rods 2.5 years ago. The outer tie rod grease boot has been very broken for awhile. It doesn't seem to be loose but I might replace it next since I know it will need it. Otherwise I'm running out of ideas. Maybe the control arm bushing is bad? Any suggestions? It's just seems so weird that none of the things I have done have made any real difference.

[splatterdog]

Hopefully it isn't rust/cracks in the unibody. I think one person here had death wobble from a not rusted out control arm area that was coming apart. Maybe have someone steer the car back and forth(on the ground) while you look for chassis flex.

Also, check toe in/out. Out of spec toe can do some strange things. You should notice choppy wear on the inside or outside edges of the tires as well, if it's off.

Hopefully you didn't put antiseize on the rubber bushings. They don't like petroleum products. Dialectric grease is a much better choice for rubber contact. Between the sleeve and bar is OK though.

[danzo]

Thanks a ton for the help guys, I think I have found the cause. This morning I enlisted the help of 'friend' (in the form of Mom) who turned the steering wheel as I looked underneath. The steering rack actually moved side-to-side about a half inch in each direction. Bad rack bushings, as the driver's side is completely soaked in oil. I'm stoked it wasn't a cracked control arm housing, I wasn't worried about rust.

The problem is locating new bushings. The local discount parts hauses don't carry them (strange since they are pretty common to many models), the local Toy dealers can't get them within 10 days (?!?), but village toyota theoretically has them for $37 including shipping. Hopefully I will hear from them soon and have a driver again.

[ARCHINSTL]

These for PS were $16 / pair from Butler in 2006 - dunno price now, but I'd not think it would be $37.
See https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6519
and https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... ing#p16379
Tom M.

What my DS looked like - PS was OK, but installed new anyway. Pix of motor mounts included - meant to add these 5 years ago but forgot...
Left click to enlarge

[danzo]

Thanks for the links/info Tom. Village Toy has the pair of bushings for $20, shipping is $17, which is in line with butler. Still about the same as getting them from local parts stores if they had them. The trick will be to protect the new ones from future oil contamination. I believe the only oil leak I have is the dizzy o-ring. I'll renew it with some sealant this time.

[ARCHINSTL]

Alright! Sorry I misread your post about $37 including the freight.
Frankly, though, I'd check with Butler on Monday, as $17 seems awful high for shipping. My 2006 on just the two bushings was $9 - unless you are paying for Priority or similar.
Incidentally, someone brought this up some time ago, but I always wonder why all companies, whether in the auto or other trades, continue to use various commercial shipping services, when the USPS is always a lot cheaper - and virtually as fast. Oh, well...
Tom M.

P.S. Have fun installing the bushings...once you are able to get them (particularly the DS) around the rack, it is a PITA to get the clamps snug, settled, and the bolts pushed down enough to tighten.