OK, when I'm driving on the highway going 55-65 mph my truck and steering wheel shake. As I speed up the shaking settles a little. Honestly I think it's my front tires. I want to have them rotated and balanced, just the front 2 tires.

I went to check the weights on the tires.

FRONT DRIVERS SIDE HAS NO WEIGHT ON IT AT ALL.

FRONT PASSENGER HAS A WEIGHT IT.

BACK DRIVERS SIDE HAS 2 WEIGHTS ON IT.

AND BACK PASSENGER SIDE HAS A WEIGHT ON IT.

Can someone please explain what's going on here? I have the money to rotate and balance them, but I'd like to only rotate and balance the ones that need it.

 

Each tire is balanced individually, the balancing machine tells you how much weight and where to put it. One tire might need 1 oz in one place, another may need .5 in one spot and 1 oz in another. Having different amounts in different spots is not out of the ordinary.

With that being said, getting them balanced again is not a bad idea, the symptom you have could definitely be bad balance.

 

ok I balanced only one tire (the one missing a weight) and it seems slightly better. Still have shaky steering wheel just not as bad. Should I just balance all 4 ?

 

yes...

 

Ok I had the other 3 balanced. The steering wheel still shakes, only now it shakes when I'm doing 35-55 mph and when it's slowing down when I let off the gas. Vibrations get harder the slower I get, until I put my foot on the brake, then the vibrations stop.

 

It's strange that it stops when you put your foot on the brake, but it's possible you have a bad cv axle. I've picked up some nasty front end vibrations when cv's started going bad

EDIT: assuming this is 4x4

 

Yes its 4x4. I drove it on the highway for the first time after the balancing, and really paid attention to the gauge as I'm driving. As soon as my steering wheel starts to shake, the speedometer is at 40 mph and shakes until I'm at 45 mph then it settles. Coming from 45 mph, steering wheel doesn't shake until I'm going 65-70 mph, then as I speed up it goes away. As for braking, the steering wheel doesn't shake when I brake. It shakes when I take my foot off the gas, decelerating from 70 mph, but doesn't shake until I've dropped to 45-40 mph, and stops shaking after it drops from 40 mph. Sorry for the braking misconception. Anything over 75 mph doesn't shake at all ... Should I have had them rotated when I had them balanced ?

I don't think its a bad CV axle, I don't hear anything (clicking or popping) as I turn the wheels in any direction at any speed. Do you know of any other tests to test the CV axle ?

I'm going to look up where the location of the engine mounts is and check them too. Ill take pics and upload them for opinions. Anything else you need pictures of, just let me know and I'll upload them.

In case someone mentions brakes, I have uploaded pics of my brakes with the wheels off. Opposite sides look the same...2nd pic is the front brake pad.

 

I found this on my front drivers side !!!...But this would make it vibrate all the time as I'm driving right ? Not just between 35-40 mph ?