97 Silverado Vibration

all4leisure · December 11, 2002

Suggestions please...i have a vibration which is felt slightyl in the steering wheel between 40 and 50 mph. Ive checked the following:

Drive shaft balanced

Tires balanced (Fancy GM machine)

Front end inspected (ball joints etc...)

The general says its the drive shaft still....however

when i put the steel spare rim on the left front it almost goes away....but rotating any of the aluminum rims to the front does nothing to change it.

Ive been told to look at the bearings....any ideas?

varmint2506 · December 11, 2002

What kind of tires? You may want to check for out-of-roundness. You can NOT balance out a roundness problem!

If available, I would swap out both front wheel/tire with another truck and see what that brings out.

Just my 2 cents worth. :thumb:

Shaners · December 12, 2002

I agree, an out-of-round tire could be the culprit. I'd also check to make sure the wheels are true and not bent. You can check "run-out" on the wheels with a simple homemade gauge. Jack the truck up in the air and set some type of feeler gauge by the edge of the rim. Spin the wheel and see if it is true...

I'd also check the front rotors, but if it goes away when using the spare, I'd lean towards an out of round tire, or an untrue wheel (bent).

woyster_00z71 · December 12, 2002

I too have a '97 Silverado with severe vibrations felt in the steering wheel between about 40 and 50 mph. In fact, the whole truck shakes. I have tried everything. Balance, rotation, alignment, had the dealer look at the front end, replaced the tires, nothing. I am running BFG A/T's and have just about given up.

Before I bought the new tires, I noticed one of my old BFG's had a blown belt that had started protruding through the tread. I removed that tire and the other front tire and put the original wheels and tires on the front. The truck looked dumb but the vibration seemed to go away. So, I replaced the tires and the vibration has returned.

What to do now??? I thought maybe either the pitman or idler arms were bad but two different dealers said that wasn't the case but had no answer for me.

B.J.

varmint2506 · December 12, 2002

all4leisure and woyster_00z71,

Are the tires cupping bad on your rides? I have a 97 Tahoe that gets a slight vibration when the tires need rotating. Not sure what to say beyond that.

all4leisure · December 12, 2002

Really appreciate the suggestions...thank you.

It seems to point to the tires....especially with the spare making a big difference. I have rotated my tires with no noticeable difference...perhaps its time to look at trying some new rubber....The truck came with Tiger Paws....Im sure I could do better....?

woyster_00z71 · December 13, 2002

Yes...my front tires cup badly. I have only had the new front tires for abut 3500 miles now. I am going to take it in sometime in the next couple weeks to have the tires rotated (free since I bought the tires at Discount Tire). But like all4leisure, rotation doesn't seem to alleviate the problem. His problem is occuring on the stock Tiger Paws and mine is occuring on 31x10.50R15 BFGoodrich All Terrain KO's.

I just don't know what else to do.

B.J.