Steering wheel wiggles on my Town & Country

I have a 97 AWD T&C. 242,000 miles (yes, you read that right). Great
vehicle. Just recently, the steering wheel is having a bit of back and
forth. At moderate speeds, neither acceleration nor deceleration seems
to make it worse. It just does it.

The tire wear doesn't indicate an allignment problem. They're fine.
The vehicle has original everything, save for an alternator, a
transmission, an A/C compressor, and front brake disks (they couldn't
be shaved anymore). Now, the disks could be shaved again, as they're
not perfect. The pads are fine, but there's a bit of pulsing on
braking. But, that's not what's causing the steering to pulse. I'm
pretty sure.

I'm wondering about the CV joints. They're original. And they go thru
heck. I do five miles on dirt roads anytime I leave my house, and as
you might imagine, I do that often. And I also drive fast. Cruise is
only good for 85 mph, btw. Some sort of safety issue, I'm sure. I
don't abuse it, but I don't exactly baby it.

Now, I could have an allignment problem. I just discovered that the
low tire condition (right front) I've been dealing with for a month was
caused by a cracked rim. Evidence that it had received some trauma (it
was bent a little). Second time that has happened, btw - maybe I
should move. So, perhaps my allignment was tweaked, and I'm just now
noticing the shimmy in the steering wheel.

So. CV joints? They don't make any noise, which is what I'd expect
'em to do were they finally wearing out. I don't think it is a tire
issue, for what it's worth. They're due for replacement by the end of
the year, but they're balanced and not cupped or saw toothed. Wheel
bearings? Again - where's the noise? None.

I'd appreciate any thoughts. Am gonna retire this pig one day, but I
was thinking about another 100k first.

 

If you have a bent rim, it might make the steering wobble. Also, you
could have a belt coming loose in your tire, causing your tire to not be
round. In my experience, the most common cause of steering wobble has
been a tire tread that doesn't trace a straight path when rolling.

 

Hi...

Respectfully suggest putting a (full size) spare on each front wheel
and going for a ride.

Had it happen to me on a Pontiac wagon long time ago. Intermittent
as well, sometimes the belt would flip over and I'd wonder who was
steering, then it would flip back and all would be perfect for a
while.

Take care.

Ken

 

That's an excellent suggestion. Put the rear ones on the front and see
what happens.

 

Well, the tire and rim were replaced. By the full size spare. Still
does it. Then again, the left tire and rim are the same.

My experience with bad tires has always been early in their life.
These aren't fresh, but I suppose it could be a problem. Am expecting
to do tires and brakes within a month. By golly, with fresh tires,
turned down disks - it had better drive like new at that point.

As to rims - anyone have an on-line place they deal with for used
parts? I know I lucked out when I found the replacement for the one I
broke a few years ago. $25 from my local shop who just happened to
have one laying around. But the one I bought on-line for the PT
Cruiser set me back a good buck and a half or better. Any favorite
folks to deal with?

 

Yes - it's caled every junk yard in the country at your fingertips:
www.car-parts.com

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

....called...

 

i would almost bet u have mud packed in rims from 5 mile dirt road ride
it's a all wheel drive and it's very important to have the same tire
diameter front and rear or it will damge the awd unit so don't be
swapping tires and driving a long time on them

 

nice catch.

 

I would, too.

 

....and JIT!!

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

It could also be worn suspension bushings.
A place many don't consider are the bushings used to hold the rack in place
on the K frame.

 

I have a 1995 T&C AWD

If what your experiencing is more of a vibration than an actual sawing back
and forth then don't worry about it. Mine does the same thing. What it
is caused by is your motor mounts are worn and the engine has shifted
slightly in the front cradle. You can get new mounts and have the engine
realigned in the cradle but unless the frame is perfectly straight it is
an exercise in futility. And the aftermarket motor mounts for this vehicle
are absolute shit you have to get factory mounts from the dealership if
you want it to work.

The slightest misalignment of the engine will put the driveline back to
the rear wheels out of alignment, and it does not take much misalignment for
the
driveline to start vibrating and when that happens the resonances in
the setup will start shaking everything up. When the mounts get old and
worn the engine will start rocking back in the cradle (since that is the
direction that the engine torque pushes the engine) and the driveline
will drop down and start vibrating.

Another problem with these are the CV boots on the driveline will
get old and rupture. A new driveline will cost $600. They do not
sell rebuilt ones. You can get a driveline specialty place to rebuild yours
for probably $250. Once the CV boot ruptures the CV joint on the
driveline will start to self destruct and cause a vibration. You should
crawl under the vehicle and examine the boots on the driveline, if they
are greasy then oil is being slung out from a ruptured boot.

Mine has brand new front axles on both sides and it still does it.

Ted

 

Hey, Bill Putney, you see this?

 

Heh heh! I don't think Ted has typed the word "you're" a single time in
the hundreds (thousands?) of posts of his that I've read over the years.
I just consider it his own personal shorthand - like me typing "thru".

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

My mother with her BS in English education used to complain about
this too, she finally gave up on it.

There are contracted words in the English language that have
lost their apostrophes. I really don't have a lot of respect for
the English grammer rules because frankly English as a written
language doesen't have a lot of respect for it's own rules, either.
If enough people use a word wrongly, it eventually becomes
codified as part of the language. your is definitely one of those
words. Otherwise we would be all writing and speaking Old
English today.

And in any case, with the "your" in the above sentence, the
meaning is the same if read either way.

He's assuming it's: "if what you are experiencing"

But, from the context is "If your own experience is" that is,
possessive.

Most readers are going to get the meaning, interpreted either way. Which
is the whole point of language.

If he's going to spend his life criticizing grammer, he would do
the rest of us a much better service by screaming and pissing and
moaning about stuff like:

"...those who wear the uniform have all the support necessary to win this
war on terror..."

I'll give you 3 guesses who just said that. Since when is a police
action in Iraq that had end of hostilities declared 2 years ago,
still a "war"?

Seems to me a far worse abuse of just plain language, meaning
abuse of what we use to communicate with, with that
sort of doublespeak, than a missing apostrophe.

Ted

 

Sounds like rationalization to me - one step better than the kids who
post with no punctuation or capitalization (I'll give you that in their
case, it's hard, or at times impossible, to get the meaning (not knowing
where one sentence ends and the next one starts). Irregardless, ain't
that so.

Admit it Ted - don't you get a different feeling about a person whose
(possessive) writing you are reading who wrote, as in my sentence above:
"I'll give you that in their case..." vs. "I'll give you that in there
case..." (unintended typos notwithstanding)? To me that is pretty much
equivalent to your "your" vs. "you're".

I am in the habit of putting an apostrophe before the 's' on plural
acronyms ("There were 56 TSB's on that vehicle last year" vs. "There
were 56 TSBs on that vehicle last year"). I don't know that there is a
rule about that, but it just looks/feels better. Never had a complaint
about it in the reports I write, so it must be OK.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

You should really think of it as Early American.

 

The "its" rule for instance?

That's a stretch.

And doubtless form perhaps incorrect opinions about the writer's
intelligence.

Who's "he"?

Guess that's the guy who says "neucular", or is it Limbaugh and "the
media is"?

Whatever you meant, I agree.