60+ MPH Shake

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Zipper369

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So I've had this ongoing problem in my '99 Tahoe. Whenever I get close to 60 MPH I start to feel an intermittent shake. It comes and goes about every 30 or 40 feet (35 ft. of shake, 35 ft. of smooth, repeat). It feels like it's coming from the front somewhere. It's far more noticeable in the seats then it is in the steering wheel. The shake is on the slow side (about 10 or 20 Hz) because I can watch the passenger headrest move about an inch in either direction. The further past 60 I go, the worse it gets. At around 70-75 it feels like the front end is gonna start jumping off the ground, so I haven't pushed it past that. About 4 months ago I replaced the tie-rods, balljoints, and pitman arm. This made the shake less violent, but it's still there.

My first though was the wheels, but I had this problem before and after I got all 4 balanced and rotated. Also, if it were the wheels, wouldn't the shake be constant and not go away every other 30 ft.? I also thought about a warped brake rotor, but wouldn't that also be a constant shake?

I can't think of anything else that may be causing an intermittent shake like this. Any help is greatly appreciated!

P.S. I've also noticed that when coasting downhill, if it starts to shake, I can give it just a tiny bit of gas and the shake diminishes somewhat. This leads me to believe that it may be something in the driveline, but I don't know what it could be.
 

lesterl

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Sounds like you were indicating the shake was side to side?
 

lesterl

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If you carefully drop into neutral at around those speeds will the shake quit?
 

Zipper369

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Hmm.. I haven't tried that so I'm not sure. Tomorrow when I go fill up the tank I'll see what happens. If the shake stops, then that means it's something in the tranny, right?

I saw one other thread on here about a similar shake. The guy said he had a little bit of water in his tranny. He got it all flushed out and the shake is gone. Do you think that could be the same issue with mine?
 

lesterl

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Well, I think dropping into neutral if shake goes away, then you eliminate drive axle, shaft, front end and point suspicion at trans..... How about leaving trans in 3rd gear?
 

Zipper369

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Haven't tried that yet either. I've been searching around the front end suspension. When my dad gave me the Tahoe, it had a LOT of play in the steering. That's when I replaced all the parts I listed.

Btw, I have fairly wide tires on her right now. I remember reading on here somewhere about Tahoes not being able to handle wide tires without shaking. Is that true?
 

lesterl

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Check the rag joint also, mine was TOAST.....
 

Zipper369

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When I pulled the steering box to replace the pitman arm I don't recall much (if any) play in the steering shaft. I'm pretty sure my rag joint is still in decent shape. Most of the play that I had in my steering was due to worn balljoints and pitman arm.
 

Zipper369

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There wasn't enough room for my pitman arm puller to fit. It worked out for the best, because when I replaced that, I didn't have any air tools on hand, so it helped having the box in a vice when I had to torque on the new arm.
 

lesterl

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Gotcha, yeah, forgot you said it was 4x4, perhaps I need to log off for the night......
 

Zipper369

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Haha, I think that's what I'm about to do. I'll report back when I test out 3rd gear and neutral when it's shaking.
 

Zipper369

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So I tested 3rd and neutral just now and I don't think the tranny is the issue. Leaving it in 3rd, the shake is less noticeable, but it still starts at 60 and gets worse at 65. I didn't push it past that. While it was shaking at 65 I dropped her to neutral. The shake diminished a little, but it was still very prominent. I tried going up to 65 in 4th before dropping to 3rd with no change. She still shook a lot. Tried the same again but dropped o neutral. Same thing. Not sure what's going on, but at least I can go 60 in 3rd with a little bit of shake, whereas before I would go 55 in 4th when the shake started to come on.

Edit: I probably should have mentioned this earlier. Last summer when my dad got new rims/tires (285/60 R18), he didn't tighten the lugs down all the way. The front driver tire fell off and the Tahoe ended up sliding into a ditch. That was when I replaced all the steering linkages and balljoints. I also got the tires re-balanced after that. There was also a very loud clunking noise when the truck leaned left/right. I later found a broken torsion bar mount that I also replaced. I'm pretty sure the torsion bar mount broke when it went in the ditch, but I'm not sure if there's any other damages that may be playing a role in the shake.
 
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lesterl

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Hmmmm..... Bent axle I would suspect....... Jack the rear up, and spin the wheels and see if one has a wobble to it......
 

Zipper369

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Well the rear is off the ground now. I spun the wheels by hand, but I can't see any sort of wobble on either side. Is there any way I be certain that it's not bent a tiny tiny bit that I can't see? Because it's kinda hard to tell if it's off-centered while I'm spinning the wheels.
 
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