2002 Xterra Vibration / Shake / Shimmy at Speed

[yeti]

so I've been searching through this and other forums and I can't seem to get a Definitive direction on where to go tons of people have posted simular issues but nobody has ever posted the solution, so unfortunatly I need to post a question that has been asked 100 times before

here is my Situation

2002 Nissan Xterra

SC SE Autotragic 4X4

at 100 km/h (60 MPH) my truck starts to shake its consistent and does not change when increasing speed


first I thought it was my wheels so I did a quick rotate swapping front for rear
thinking if it were my rear tires/wheels me swapping them to the front of my X would cause my steering to shake this did not happen.

I've checked the rear driveshaft and there appears to be no play then again I'm not too sure.

what should I look for in Driveshaft play or Ujoints? should I look at Motor Mounts?

I also noticed when accelerating from a stop I can feel engine vibration through my transfer case shifter is this normal?

[Drake]

If there was slop in the driveshaft U-joints, you should be able to wiggle it even just slightly. The motor mounts (mainly the drivers side) are known to fail but I wouldn't think it would give you a vibration like that at speed. One way to tell is when you rev the engine, the t-case shifter should torque abruptly to the side.

Have you jacked up the front-end to see if there is any play in the wheels? Jack it up and see if you are able to wiggle the wheel from side to side, in and out, etc. It could possibly be a bad BJ but I'm not 100%.

[saberz]

My X has started to make a vibration sound when decelerating/braking(sometimes, not all the time). I can hear it inside the cabin like a vibration sound. Still haven't been able to track this down, started doing it recently like a week ago. This is also coming from the rear like the OP.

[yeti]

but if it was a bad BJ wouldn't I feel it in the steering wheel?

shouldn't any side to side motion transfer through to the steering wheel?

the X tracks straight on the highway

the vibration is not coming from the rear as I originally throught this is why I'm asking the questions

its more like the entire truck shakes

[saberz]

The truck will shake due to balancing which will come out of wack often. When is the last time you had your truck balanced? Given that you have it happen in the 60MPH range I bet you its the balancing on the tires.

My Impala maybe 2 times a year would need to get balanced because of the crappy roads in NJ and the shimmy shake would just eat away at me. Tell me this, at 60MPH, if you take your hands off the wheel(not fully off but light so you can still grab it) does the wheel shimmy/shake? If it does, take it for the balancing, its usually like 5-10 bucks a tire and takes like 10-15 minutes.

Balancing could be from tire wear, a weight on the rim falling off etc. Its a cheap fix and worth it if you haven't had it done recently.

[yeti]

this is my problem I've done the steering wheel test and it does not shake

the truck will drive straight at 60 MPH but it shakes pretty badly

[rgallant]

It is weird because almost all vibration issues that are not tires will occur at any speed. But try this, if you have a tach figure out the RPM at 60. Then put your transmission in to a lower gear and see if you have the same vibration at the same RPM at lower speeds.

If you do then you have a drive line issue somewhere, if not it is somehow related to the tires and or rims.

But it could be a whacked rotor, if one of your disc brake rotors has been warped you will get a funny vibration, but you should also feel it when braking hard before the ABS kicks in.

[yeti]

so I swapped out new tires today again the shake is still there
I just spent the past hour underneath the X shaking just about everything and I still can't find anything

i'm at a lost

[yeti]

would bad struts cause excessive shaking?

[yeti]

well I broke down and dropped the Truck off at the stealership

now just waiting for a phone call