# Steering wheel shake/wobble ('97 Pathfinder)



## JRM (May 3, 2005)

Lately I've been experiencing some pretty serious shake/wobble in the steering wheel when hitting washboard type bumps and imperfections in the road. If I am at highway speeds and hit a bump it is almost uncontrollable. Feels very unsafe. Any idea of what the cause of this problem is and what parts need to be replaced to fix this?

Thanks for any help and advice you can give.

Jay


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## tom434 (Feb 24, 2005)

tierod ends would be my first guess


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## 88pathoffroad (Jun 6, 2004)

Tie rods, rack and pinion bushings, rear axle control arm bushings or struts, possibly. I'm leaning more towards the rear axle control arm bushings, actually. They seem to cause exactly the problem you describe when they go bad.


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## X-Traction (Dec 21, 2004)

Don't the 96-2004 Pathfinders have problems with their strut damping when using tires that weigh too much? Seems to me they're very fussy about what tires they can use, and Nissan dealers can advise which are ok.


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## 88pathoffroad (Jun 6, 2004)

Not necessarily. Lots of people run stock struts with lift springs and 32" tires and drive around just fine.


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## Amir (Oct 6, 2005)

Same problem here with Nissan Pathfinder 2001; the steering wheel has shimmy play around 55+ MPH and the steering wheel feels so loose all the time, going over the humps will worsen the situation. I've had this problem for so such a long time and it is a shame that no mechanic cannot find the cause. I've done a lot in a attempt to fix this shimmy; i bought new tires, it did not help. New rims, it did not help....!! New control arms and boll joints...just waist of money!!

The interesting thing is when the winter time comes around and the temperature drops below 0 the shimmy play then is completely gone!!I don't know why but that is the only time of the year when i enjoy driving my truck.

And another thing when i drive on the highway i feel as if the frond end acts like a unstable small boat on the water...it's almost like it goes from side to side. So weird and it feels so unsafe.

Any ideas would be so appreciated! Thanks


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## Rc1800 (Jan 30, 2008)

Amir, i have 2000 pathfinder and i have the same problem around 55 mph . I have no idea whats causing the shake. Once i go above 60 the shimmy is gone but accelerating to highway speed around 55 is way it shakes for me. Let me know if you hear of anything to fix it.



Amir said:


> Same problem here with Nissan Pathfinder 2001; the steering wheel has shimmy play around 55+ MPH and the steering wheel feels so loose all the time, going over the humps will worsen the situation. I've had this problem for so such a long time and it is a shame that no mechanic cannot find the cause. I've done a lot in a attempt to fix this shimmy; i bought new tires, it did not help. New rims, it did not help....!! New control arms and boll joints...just waist of money!!
> 
> The interesting thing is when the winter time comes around and the temperature drops below 0 the shimmy play then is completely gone!!I don't know why but that is the only time of the year when i enjoy driving my truck.
> 
> ...


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## 96Finder (Jan 6, 2008)

I had shaking at 55-60 mph fixed by balancing my wheels - $10 each wheel. The guy just put each wheel on a computerized spinning thing and it told him where to put weights, 5 min each wheel. Problem solved. Hope this helps somebody.


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