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goddess girl
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 29
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 Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:19 pm Post subject: Wobble in the Steering Wheel |
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I have a 2001 Chrysler Town & Country LX (basically a glorified Dodge Caravan) and I have an issue with the steering, alignment, or suspension. 
When I'm driving, there is a wobble (not a shimmy) in the steering wheel starting at about 20-25 MPH. The wobble rotates the wheel slightly side to side about 1/2", and as you accelerate the wobble frequency increases but rotational displacement side to side decreases. All this happens until about 50-55 MPH where it's not noticeable at all!
About 60K on the vehicle, and new tires and brakes this spring.
Any help would be super!!!! |
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sf340dvr
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 57
Location: Appleton, WI
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| Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:05 am Post subject: |
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This could be a couple of things:
- Warped brake rotors - though this only occurs during braking
- Frozen brake caliper guide pins - though this only occurs during braking
- Unbalanced tires, or bent tire rim - ussually shakes the whole car, starts at higher speeds, and intensifies with increased in speed.
- Worn/broke tie rod ends or ball joints - this ussually causes the problems your having and this is what I would suspect, especailly if the wobble is only in the steering wheel. Have a technician check these first!
Let us know what you find out! |
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goddess girl
Joined: 17 Jun 2006
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 3:57 am Post subject: Loose Lug Nuts |
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Just thought I would let everyone know what the problem seemed to be.
I wanted to check ball joints and tie-rod ends before I took it to a service center to see if the tires were unbalanced or a rim was bent. When I went to loosen the lug nuts I found they are not all that tight. They weren't loose but they came off easier than normal. I took the tires off anyway and inspected the rod ends and ball joints to see if they were the least bit loose, and they weren't.
I then remembered that I didn't check the lug nuts after the recommended interval, after I had new tires installed. So, I put everything back together, made sure the lugs were tight, checked the tire pressure, and took it for a test drive. Lo and behold, that seemed to fix the problem! I called the dealer to see why loose lugs would only cause a wobble at a certain speed, and the only thing they came up with is that the wheel acts a gyroscope at higher speeds and keeps the tire stable
I'm driving to my parents house for Thanksgiving tomorrow...we'll see if it holds!
Happy Thanksgiving!  |
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