Hi all, this might be a simple problem, but I'm not sure what to do next and I don't want to waste time or money. I'm fixing up my son's 97 K1500 while he's away with the Army. He is coming home in about 10 days and I'm down to one last problem. The truck runs and drives great with one exception. I get a shaking or shudder during initial application of the brakes while at any speed above about 40, it gets worse with speed. It is significant, the entire dash shakes. If I lightly pump the brake pedal when applying brakes, the shake is less noticable, but still there. It is not felt in the brake pedal or sterring wheel. I installed new rotors, and that had no effect. The calipers seem to be free and in good condition. The outer tie rods are a little loose, but the ball joints don't really show any looseness. The truck has 165,000 miles on it. Anyone have a similar issue that they've solved? Thanks for looking.

 

Have you bled the brakes? Air in the system can cause that.

 

No, but the pedal feels very normal, I know I mentioned lightly pumping the brakes, that was not to get brakes, but more to gently apply them, I can try bleeding them though, it won't hurt and it's free. I'm thinking more along the lines of worn out steering components.

 

Replace the drums

 

Will do that, however, I just went out and had my wife work the steering back and forth, and the Pitman Arm, Idler arm, and 1 outer tie rod have play, could this cause the shudder?

 

Usually anything that happens while braking has to do with the brakes. As long as those parts are not bad to the point of being dangerous they will not cause your problem.

 

Good point, I'll change the drums and see what happens.

 

I have a warped disc rotor or two on my 2004 Silverado - and get the "shudder" on occasion when stopping. My mechanic said everything is A-OK with the brakes and that I am fine so long as a minor shake doesn't bother me (I can live with it).

When my pads get replaced, I will have the rotors turned; but that's going to be at least another year or two..

 

well I was going to suggest maybe a slightly misaligned brake light switch. because at around 40mph you may be in torque converter lockup and when you brake you are causing the converter to shudder and so on. My lucky verter is doing that. if i go around 70 or so, then it locks up, then i try to hit the gas, it shudders ever so slightly, but when i go 70, decelerate it likes to shudder. its either my tcc circuit/valve or dead verter lockup clutch

 

I took the drums in and had them turned, big help. Almost all vibration is now gone. Very driveable as is, but still some looseness, I'll look into the calipers, hoses, and steering parts. Very interesting about the tranny, I'll look at that too. Thanks for the replies.