Hi Everyone, I have been searching all over the net trying to find something similar to what I am experiencing, and not having a whole lot of luck.


We recently bought a 97 Chevy Silverado ext. cab 1500. It may be old, but I LOVE it. It's in great shape body wise, runs good. We knew getting an older truck it will need work, but it's hard to fix something if you don't know what to fix


Here is what I'm feeling:


*Shimmy/shake at 50-55mph that is really bad, then seems to get better/go away at higher or lower speeds.
*Feels like it's coming from the front end.
*Doesn't matter if you are accelerating or not, braking or not, if you are at certain speed it does it.
*Steering wheel has play, doesn't bother me, but if it's part of the issue? It doesn't shake violently, but you can feel the shake in the steering, your feet and seat. The shake gets really REALLY bad at times.


We have an old 2 horse trailer we also just recently got as a fixer upper. Pulls fine/not an issue, and it's very light weight. We use it to haul our kids 4-H goats back/forth to shows. The shaking is always worse with the trailer.
Saturday was the first time at interstate speeds with the trailer, and my observations:
0-40mph not an issue, seems to drive fine.
40-45mph you can feel it started to shimmy/shake a bit
45-50mph becomes more noticeable
50-55mph Very violent shaking, even gets the trailer shaking! It seems to start in the front and work it's way back
55-60mph gets better
60-65mph, eases more
70mph+ drives much smoother


***once you get 60mph+ a pulsing/rhythmic vibration sets in, feels like it comes from the middle of the front end. It's hard to explain, it's quiet, but feels like
vvrrmmm.......vvrrmmm......vvrrmmm..then it just sort of goes through the center of the truck and echoes toward the back of the truck. It starts over and does the same thing 30-45 seconds later, a rhythm.


So far we've put new struts on the front, new tires on the back, new rear wheel bearings & fluid.
* It needs rear struts badly
* New back tires
Both are getting done this week.


I did hear some noise in the front drivers side tire, so on Friday the mechanic swapped the tires & put the new ones on the front/old on the back. I don't hear the noise anymore. he checked the wheels, and everything underneath and can't find anything loose, he said everything looks to be working normally. I am going to ask him to check the driveshaft again.




The steering wheel does have play. One mechanic said get the gear box adjusted, the one we have been using said to get a new gear box.
Steering wheel doesn't bother me at all, but again there is play in it so I wonder if that could be part of the problem.


Thanks for any help or suggestions. This has been so aggravating trying to figure out what the problem is so it can be fixed :/

 

Hello. I have a 2002 GMC Sierra that does the same thing. After I bought it I took to get an alignment and was told the wheel is bent a little bit and that is what is causing the vibration. It is really annoying and plan on getting some new wheels here soon just to make sure it is only a wheel....

Good luck!

 

Did you ever get this problem fixed? My 02 Silverado is doing the exact same thing.