Blazer issues

[sstanton]

I have a 2001 Chevy Blazer I'm having some issues with. The front end vibrates badly when driving at highway speedsand kinda wobbles from side to side at 30 mph or less. I dont want to go and replace everything. The tie-rod ends are good and the ball joints are good too from what I can tell. Would the idler arm be the cause? It feels "loose" when taking corners. Any one have a direction I could take or what to look for? The wheel bearings are shot too.

 

[bbowman]

Scott;
You may have a separating tire. Look for sidewall bulging or deformation. My 2 cents...Bob.

 

[sstanton]

Tires are good, I just went out and checked them, I dont have broken belts either.

 

[aschumacher]

Scott, to add to Bobbys suggestion in case you didnt specifically look for it..jack up wheels and see if the main tread is separating. ie: spin tire with your hand on it. Had two of them in my life, gives a rocking action at low speeds. A.

 

[proessler]

Scott When U have the front end jacked up, check the wheel top to bottom play. Years ago I was driving a less than year old Ford 8000 Louisville & felt an unusual vibration in the front end. So stopped , couldn't find anything wrong(if I remember rite?) ; so I called in for lowboy to pickup. Truck Halfway winched on the lowboy one front tire & wheel fell off... The luck of great timing!

 

[dfrisk]

PAUL - Frt wheel bearing fell apart on the Ford 8000? Not a real common occurance but it DOES happen.

SCOTT - Not real sure what '01 Blazers have for frt wheel bearing anymore. But many companies, I know GM on K1500/2500's and Ford Super-Duties have non-servicable frt wheel bearings that can cause those issues. Could also be tires as mentioned, swap tires frt ot back to check that but keep them on the same side of the vehicle. I "ALWAYS" rotate tires that way whenever I rotate tires. Also could be a U-joint or CV joint going bad on the frt.
You didn't mention how many miles on the vehicle but I'd guess 100,000 Plus correct?

 

[proessler]

Dennis Yes,front wheel bearings on that very new 1980's L8000 .Front axle assembly supposedly was in outside standby storage before final assembly...

,who knows? Fortunately I pulled over and stopped; otherwise trying to stop at highway speed with one or two front wheels passing the truck with just the plow frame holding the up the front end wouldn't have been fun!!

 

[blanasa]

I agree. Spindle bearing assembly.
Common problem on these. Not a cheap fix either.

 

[dfrisk]

PAUL - Yep, I've always found that steering & stopping worked BETTER with front wheels too. Mother-in-law had a similar situation also on a brand new Olds 98. At about 5000 miles a front wheel fell OFF about 500 feet from Her driveway. Seems that frt wheel bearing grease was an OPTION that year!

 

[mhomrighausen]

Scott. My Dakota did that. It turned out the tires were separating. Hard to tell without looking up close.

 

[lhinds]

A lady at work had a Dodge Durango with 33,000 miles and she started home one afternoon and one front wheel ran off. The dealer fixed it and three weeks later the other one fell off. Next week she was driving A Ford.

 

[bbrigham]

Luckily I've only had a spindle bearing problem once, the biggest part of the luck is that I lived through it. Was driving around Kamikaze curve in Binghamton, a section where I-81 and I-17 meet in a sharp right curve, at highway speed when I heard a squeal and with no time to even slow down the left spindle on my 79 Blazer locked up tight. Tight to where the tire was skidding on the pavement. Ripped me across 3 lanes of traffic...tractor trailers and all. Instinct was to grab the wheel with a white knuckle to try to get the truck under control before hitting the guard rail on the other side and about the time I was in the 4th lane the damn thing let loose. Of course I had that death grip on the wheel so I get ripped back across the other way right off the highway next to the rock cut where I finally got it stopped. I got out of the truck barely able to walk in front of the truck my legs were so weak and shaking. I think I layed on the ground for 20min till I regained myself. 2 people that were behind me that saw what happened stopped to see if I was alright. I've NEVER been so scared in my life. I ended up driving the truck on the shoulder at 5mph till I got to the next exit then took me 3 hours to get 15 miles home. I got it fixed that weekend but it took me 2 weeks to get the nerve back to drive it.

 

[blanasa]

Spindle bearings should be plenty noisy before you get to the point of wheels locking up or falling off!
Of course if the music is always too loud..........

 

[bbrigham]

Well...it started out as a Blazer but we took the cancer riddled body off and put a p/u cab on it then Thrush side pipes up the back of the cab for stacks. It was pretty loud for sure but it had the most pleasing sound I've ever heard. I picked up those pipes at a Carlisle car show and have never seen that style since anywhere. They were nib...got them for $50

 

[blanasa]

BTW I was talking about S10 spindle bearings on a 4wd.

 

[bhowe]

I asked for help three times over the last couple of months about my model 100 Cub Cadet concerning jumping out of first and reverse gears so for the umpteenth time looking for a response I get information about spindle bearing failure on a chevy blazer . if I wanted info about cars or trucks I would not look at this forum. Have you ran out of questions about Cubs,aparently not because I am still waiting for a response.

 

[bbrigham]

Robert..being that this is the "Sandbox" this section is for topics not Cub Cadet related hence the Blazer wheel bearing discussion. It did slide a little of topic seems it was for Scotts Blazer question and gets hijacked by L8000's and old Blazers, Olds 98's, Dakotas ..hehehe sorry Scott
I don't recall seeing your post about your 100 jumping out of gear in the main forum but I may have missed it. All IH Cub questions need to be in the main forum if you did happen to put it elsewhere, it happens. Did you maybe ask on another forum as this was your only 2nd post here ?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Robert, I should point out that less than an hour and a half after your post in February you had a response. Perhaps you missed it or couldn't find the referenced post? I didn't find any other post from you, and your profile says you've only posted twice, the second time being your post this evening.....

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

By Robert H. Howe Sr. (Bhowe) on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 06:14 pm:

I have a model 100 that I use for pushing snow here in Ohio, which we have more than enough. The problem is at first it would jump out of first gear, that has stopped now it jumps out of reverse. Is it an adjustment or major problem Thanks in advance bhowe<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

By John Charles Lazar (Jclazar) on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 07:41 pm:

ROBERT H. HOWE,SR.- vault: archive through jan. 28, 2009 by Kraig McConauqhey on thurs. jan. 29, 2009 at 10:23am. see if this relates to your alements.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Here's a link to the referenced archives: LINK Click on the link then scroll down until you see the photo of the open transmission. If this does not answer your query please let us know.

 

[sstanton]

Dennis, that Blazer o' mine has about 95,000 miles on it. It is four wheel drive but the front end is set up like a front wheel drive car, which I think is stupid but I'm not that chevy engineer either! I am still kicking myself in the rear for getting rid of my Jeep Cherokee! At least it had a solid front axle, a Dana I believe. The brake, abs light comes on which often indicates a bad wheel bearing, but the puter at a shop my buddy works at isnt specific to just Chevy's like a dealer's would be. I had a 94 S-10 with the same set up in the front and never a problem with it! Go figure. I think I will go back to a jeep!
Marlin, I think I will have to take those wheels right off, I think if they are seperating it is on the inside bead.

 

[theaton]

Scott S., To my knowledge Jeep is one of few brands still using solid front axle in 1/2 ton vehicles. Ford/GM use solid front diffs, but you have to get into the F-250/Superduty,2500/HD to get one. I think Toyota was one of the pioneers of using CV joint shafts for the front 4WD setup.

Back to your Blazer. From my experience, a tire with a broken belt/seperating causes a thumping noise with each revolution of the tire and considerable vibration at all speeds. From your original post you said the wheel bearing are shot too...? Both? When you are driving, can you make the noise go away when going around a curve in the road. If so you may only have one bad hub assy. Not sure how you checked the ball joints and tie rod ends? The proper way to check ball joints on your blazer is to place the floor jack under the lower A-Arm and jack the vehicle up so the weight of the vehicle is off the ball joints. GM ball joints are allowed some up and down movement, but no side to side movement. Tie rods, pitman arm and idler arm should be checked with the vehicle on the ground. Have an assistant sit in the vehicle and turn the steering wheel side to side. while doing this you can look for movement/slack in the tierods and up and down movement of the pitman arm and idler arm.
Front end parts on your blazer are more likely to cause tire wear than vibrations.
The last thing that could cause a vibration in the front end is the CV joints. This is hard to diagnose without removing and inspecting the joints themselves. An obvious cause for concern would be a split grease boot.
With 95000 on the clock, I suspect you have slight wear on front end parts. Unless you do alot of off-roading. I would try rotating the front tires to the back and see if the vibration follos the tire/s.