Nissan Frontier Cabin Shaking?????

[IBEX]

Got an 07 Frontier, 4wd, 6ft box for hunting. Very smooth driving up until I hit 100 kph, about 2000rpms when the cabin starts shaking, past 120kph the shaking stops! and then starts again as soon as I decelerate to 100kph.

I discovered the shaking a couple of months ago, looked under and found some minor wear on the carrier bearing so replaced it. I have also replaced the front wheel bearings/hub assemblies and all shocks/struts. Also, got the tires re balanced but still the shaking is still there.

Truck drives silky smooth until I hit 100 kph, not sure what to do next? Any of you ever faced something like this?

thanks

[bucksnbears]

Could
Be a u joint?

[Attilathecanuk]

Check U-joints and drive shaft after you have eliminated all tire possibilities (pressure, balancing bulged tire etc).

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by IBEX

Got an 07 Frontier, 4wd, 6ft box for hunting. Very smooth driving up until I hit 100 kph, about 2000rpms when the cabin starts shaking, past 120kph the shaking stops! and then starts again as soon as I decelerate to 100kph.

I discovered the shaking a couple of months ago, looked under and found some minor wear on the carrier bearing so replaced it. I have also replaced the front wheel bearings/hub assemblies and all shocks/struts. Also, got the tires re balanced but still the shaking is still there.

Truck drives silky smooth until I hit 100 kph, not sure what to do next? Any of you ever faced something like this?

thanks

Sounds like a tire balance problem. Or more correctly, tread separation causing an imbalance.

Tire balancing doesn't always find this sort of problem.

See the problem is, a tire balancer spins at 100 to 300 rpm at full speed but your tire is turning 800+ rpms at 100 km

Some of the most recent balancers spin faster but still well below what your tire spins at 100 km.

What happens when a part of the tread starts to separate from the casing it will pull away from the tire under centrifugal force.
At lower speeds this will be very little and will cause no discernible effect but at higher speeds is can cause severe tire vibration and more.

http://www.floridatirelawyer.com/tire-tread-separation-causes-warning-signs/


If it is tread separation the problem will worsen and probably quiet quickly.

At some point you should stat to see signs of it on the damaged tire.
There may be a bulge, deep cracks on the face or even a flap of loose rubber.
There should also be a patch of excessive wear but it may be hard to spot or too subtle to spot.

[MR.K]

X2 on the tire seperation

[tirebob]

Tire seperation shows up usually at low speeds and presents as a tug or wobble... If it shows up at high speeds only it js probably not an actual seperation. Tire seperation is commonly mis-diagnosed. Many things people call seperation are not actually ply seperation but are instead poor wear patterns due to many possible issues.

The least expensive means to try and solve your problem, or at the very least potentially diagnose whether or not it is a tire issue, is to have a loaded runout check on a Road Force balancer and if their are no out of round issues etc, then have them rebalanced and see if there are any changes and go from there...

[tirebob]

I would also suggest for a quick test you can maybe do yourself is to do a simple rotation and move the front tires to the back and the back tires to the front. If the vibration changes, as in now the steering wheel shakes more but the cabin is a bit smoother etc, you can be pretty sure it is a tire/wheel issue rather than a mechanical one. If nothing has changed, it may be a sign you need to look deeper, althought that is not a 100 percent guarantee.

Do you notice the shaking only under load as in while you are speeding up or decelerating? If it starts to shake and you pop the transmission into neutral, does the shake disappear or does it remain constant at that speed? That is another quick test you can do yourself just to try and eliminate possibilities...

[Sooner]

Originally Posted by MR.K

X2 on the tire seperation

Agree, I have had a set of tires, good brand, separate early. Every 6 months i was back for a re balance. We were beginning to think the wheels were square. Some days not too bad at 100 to 110 km/hr, some days when the tires all matched, shake mud off the frame.

Too cheap to throw away 800 plus bucks of tires so when they finally wore enough, we could see the separation showing up, on went a used set from Kijiji and bam, smooth as silk. Only time in years of replacing tires that I seen that kind of shake with a new set.

Do you have someone with the same bolt pattern that you can swap wheels and go for a spin? Easy way to eliminate tires.

[KegRiver]

I have experienced tread separation a few times, on passenger vehicles and transport trucks as well.

In every case where it happened on a vehicle I was driving, it showed up first at highway speeds, not at slow speed. And it was clearly separation because in the end, the tire either developed a significant bulge at the point of separation or the tread actually came off the casing.

In one case the only sign was crooked tread pattern that had not been there before. In all cases I experienced, the first sign was a tire shimmy at high speed. In every case, at that point I could find no visible indication on the tire of any problem. It was only later after many more miles, that bulges, complete separation or distorted tread patterns became visible.

What I am saying is this problem can be hard to diagnose. Even the experts can have trouble finding it when it first appears.

[tirebob]

I wasn't intending to say it never happens, but just in most cases I see, (I have been working exclusively in the tires and wheel industry for 30 years now so I have seen it more times than the average bear) tread seperations present as a low speed wobble/tug first as the air pressure is usually twisting the tire out of shape so every time the tire turns at low speeds, it causes a tweak. Absolutely a mishapen tire shimmy at high speeds as well. It usually shows up at both speeds. If it is high only though, there is a much higher probability it is something other than a seperation than if it also occurs at low speeds.

No matter the cause, diagnosis on a road force balancer will definitely be the easiest way to either find it or discount it.

[birdee]

tend to agree with bob 80 to 100 km is balance. 100 to 120 km is wheel tire combination no amount of balancing will fix this issue. every wheel and every tire is not round and the chance that the high spots of the rim and tire is opposite of each other without either road force or laser balancers are practically zero .I would start with find the shake and pop it into neutral and rule out drive train. then go for road force balance.to many times people blame tires when it is something else.Had a customer blame the tires because they felt a vibration at 40km and 1200 rpm and and would go away when it shifted
i told them because of millage i would start with tuneup 180k plugs never been done but the tires were the problem.because there friend (mechanic) told them.
everybody has a friend that is a mechanic lol

[dmac]

I had an 07 Frontier, shaking started at 80 km, it was the U Joint, Inexpensive fix.

[veggieredneck]

Check the inside of your wheels.

I have an Xterra and have the same issue if I don't keep the inside of the wheels clean. I live on a gravel road and the crud in the wheels has been bad enough I needed a chisel! Usually hitting the inside of the wheels with the power washer does the trick.

[tacomama]

Originally Posted by veggieredneck

Check the inside of your wheels.

I have an Xterra and have the same issue if I don't keep the inside of the wheels clean. I live on a gravel road and the crud in the wheels has been bad enough I needed a chisel! Usually hitting the inside of the wheels with the power washer does the trick.

x2
Had a vibration/balancing issue like this before as well. Checked all the wheels, washed out all the caked on mud from the previous weekend and problem went away. It wasn't much but enough to make a difference I guess.

[IBEX]

Firstly, thanks to all those that responded, I found more useful technical info and tips here in less than 2 days than I did while searching for countless hours on Nissan specific forums. You guys rock!

As I mentioned before, I had replaced the front wheel bearings, shocks/ struts/ carrier bearing on the drive shaft, spark plugs, lubricated all bushings under and had the tires re balanced twice from two different places but the shaking was still their.


The first time I experienced it, my initial thought was checking the inside of the wheels for any dirt or mud as I seen it happened before after a day spent in the backroads on some muddy lease roads. But they were clean.

I read that quite a few people had trouble with a bad Ubolt so put the truck on ramps this morning and looked at all the u bolts, tried shaking/ moving them with full force to see if there is any play but couldn't find any, even the clips and bushings are nicely held in their place.

Lastly, I looked into the tire/ tread separation mentioned here. I had rotated the tires twice before but the shaking felt the same each time. The truck came with after market wheels and tires so I thought that could be it. I also got the old factory set with barely any tread left on them regardless I decided to try them on. But before I did, I decided to locktite all lug nuts, as they were aftermarket also, and took it on the henday......and wouldn't you know it, the shaking is gone!

However, I am still not fully certain that its the nuts that are bad so I will drive around more tomorrow on the Hwy to see if it comes back. I hope it doesn't as buying a new set of lug nuts will be a cheaper fix than buying new tires. I hadn't tried shifting to neutral before so if the vibration starts again, I will give it a shot! But thank you all for your troubleshooting advice, I learned lots today!

[gtr]

It's always a good day to learn something. Glad your having luck finding the source of your shake.

[tirebob]

Originally Posted by IBEX

Lastly, I looked into the tire/ tread separation mentioned here. I had rotated the tires twice before but the shaking felt the same each time. The truck came with after market wheels and tires so I thought that could be it. I also got the old factory set with barely any tread left on them regardless I decided to try them on. But before I did, I decided to locktite all lug nuts, as they were aftermarket also, and took it on the henday......and wouldn't you know it, the shaking is gone!

However, I am still not fully certain that its the nuts that are bad so I will drive around more tomorrow on the Hwy to see if it comes back. I hope it doesn't as buying a new set of lug nuts will be a cheaper fix than buying new tires. I hadn't tried shifting to neutral before so if the vibration starts again, I will give it a shot! But thank you all for your troubleshooting advice, I learned lots today!

Are the aftermarket wheels hub centric? If they are only centering by the lugs, that is commonly the issue and may simply require hub centric rings. I can almost guarantee this is your issue if the rims are only lug centering.

BTW... DO NOT use locktight on lug nuts!!!

[birdee]

yes people no liquid on lug bolts threads or seating area,as it could produce a over or under torque condition and a wheel off condition.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by IBEX

Lastly, I looked into the tire/ tread separation mentioned here. I had rotated the tires twice before but the shaking felt the same each time. The truck came with after market wheels and tires so I thought that could be it. I also got the old factory set with barely any tread left on them regardless I decided to try them on. But before I did, I decided to locktite all lug nuts, as they were aftermarket also, and took it on the henday......and wouldn't you know it, the shaking is gone!

However, I am still not fully certain that its the nuts that are bad so I will drive around more tomorrow on the Hwy to see if it comes back. I hope it doesn't as buying a new set of lug nuts will be a cheaper fix than buying new tires. I hadn't tried shifting to neutral before so if the vibration starts again, I will give it a shot! But thank you all for your troubleshooting advice, I learned lots today!

Let me get this straight. You changed nothing, just took off the wheel lugs and put locktite on them?

I'm no expert but if that happened to me I'd be looking for new rims.

I don't believe the nuts themselves would cause an imbalance. I've had one or more go missing without causing any perceivable imbalance.

But as bob says, if the wheel isn't centered you sure would get vibration.
I think that's a rim issue, not a nut issue.