BobFunGhoul
10-08-2009, 14:41
I have a 1997 K2500 Suburban with 205,000 on the odometer. The previous owner had aggressive monster truck tires installed on it. I replaced the tires with standard 245/75/16s and noticed a serious, sporadic shimmy, and the truck was all over the road. My first point of attack was the front end. All of the components except the ball joints were severely worn, so I replaced the tie rod ends, pitman arm, and idler arm. She calmed down quite a bit, but I still noticed an annoying, sporadic shimmy in the seat of my pants. I checked the driveshaft and u-joints and I found them to be running smooth and true. I supported the rear end, started her up and put her in drive. I noticed a moderate wobble at the left wheel, and a slighter one on the right. I pulled the wheels and the drums, and did the same test. I don't have a dial gauge to check runout, but depending on where I eyeball the hub, I see varying amounts of wobble; the most serious being at the most inboard part of the hub. I don't feel any play in the bearings, and they feel smooth and noiseless. When I replaced the wheels I switched them to make sure that bent rims weren't exacerbating the problem. I started the engine and put her in drive again. The wobble actually looked worse on the left side because the tire hadn't been worn in from the wobble, and I could see how badly the tire I removed from the left side had worn by watching it spin on the right. What now? I know that it has a floating type axle. Could they be bent? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.