First things, first.  I have a 1988 Samurai that I just bought after I became the victim of another driver texting and driving, totaling my 86 Samurai   The 88 is all stock, 151,000 miles, 235s (just balanced), just aligned (today), I just put on new shocks new shocks, and she got a full tune up.  She has always been garaged, never beat up, and well maintained according to the previous owner.

Now, for my mystery, it always pulls to the right just a little bit (No change after the alignment.) and from about 60 to about 65 it has a shake, not a wobble, the whole truck shakes.  The shaking got a bit better after the tires were balanced, but it is not great.  It feels like it is coming from the front, but the steering wheel does not seem to turn itself like described in the other threads or in the "death wobble" fashion that I have read about here.  I am going to rotate the tires to see if it changes, but I am doubtful of that making a difference with the recent balance.

With all of the stuff I have done so far to try and fix this issue I am looking at a couple of different options for my next step in uncovering the issue.

1.  Replace the front wheel bearings.  I think this could be contributing to the pull, especially with the pull still present after getting it aligned, and they may be the source of the shake

2.  I am also wondering if my driveshaft has shed a balancing weight.  While this may explain the shake, it does not take care of the right pulling problem.

Thanks in advance for your ideas on where I can spend more of my money on my favorite vehicle ever.

An out of balance driveshaft will be more of a high speed vibration,
it wouldn't cause a shake, more of a buzz

Did you get all 4 tires balanced? that could be the issue, if you change
the fronts to the back and it gets worse you'll know why.

The other cause could be a bulging tire from a bad section, or just out
of round, but I would think the tire shop would have pointed that out.

Pulling might be a bad caliper dragging on the pads

Wild

Yep, all 4 were balanced. I won't have time to switch them around until later this week.  I'll inspect the tires when I have them off for bulges.

Does anyone know if there is a way to check if the tire is our of round?  Wouldn't I feel that even at low speeds?  Maybe not if it is not a really flat spot. 

I will check the caliper next weekend.  Thanks for the tip, Wild.

Out of round you would see when the tires are spinning, but I just thought
about if the tires are older bias ply nylon they are really shakey until they
warn up and round out again, usually within 5 or 10 min of driving

Wild

not sure really on this one myself and if it didnt have the pulling I would say check the motormounts but hopefully you can get this figured out soon. I just talked to the last owner of my sami and he says it was doing that same thing so before I drive it I will get it checked out and if I find anything I will let you know. I do know however I need new wheel bearings so that may be effecting that problem.

Out of round you would see when the tires are spinning, but I just thought
about if the tires are older bias ply nylon they are really shakey until they
warn up and round out again, usually within 5 or 10 min of driving

Wild

Thanks for the clarification Wild.  The tires are newer looking radials (on the truck when I bought it with no apparent cracks or bulges that I can see from the outside of the tire), and it does it whether I have been driving a while or not.  The other day I was cruising on the freeway for about 30 minutes and it was still shaking if I got up to that magic 60 MPH speed.

I may just change the wheel bearings when I have it apart to check the calipers to make sure they are not dragging.  Heck it is only $40 and a little time and I will know that it has been done sometime in the last 50k miles..

Might be a longshot but make sure your hubs are unlocked or not sticking when they are in the unlocked position. Sometimes if they are rusty inside, they don't disengage when you turn them. I know I can tell if mine are still locked by a slight vibe at high speed.

A thought that comes to mind is I see that there are 99-ish Chevy Tracker wheels on there and I wonder if they come from a junk yard, more specifically a wreck.... If you're tire shop is sloppy, they'll just balance the wheels and will not inspect them. I wonder if one of the wheels is bent and/or one of the tires has damage, as others have suggested.

Carefully inspect the wheels and tires and watch them balance your tires. It's pretty easy to see a bent wheel, or messed up tire when it's spinning on the balancer. Look at how much weight is on the wheels. If there is one that is dieing of lead poisoning, that may be your culprit.

Good luck, Eric

Rotate your tires, then you will know if the vibration follows.  I had a new set of tires and did 4 balance jobs on then to stop a 65 mph vibration.  When I took them back to the tire shop and told them that I could not accept the vibration, they trued the tires (shaving off rubber to make round) and they were then the best riding tire I have had.  It is tough to watch rubber going to the floor, when you could be putting mileage on them, but the ride will improve.
As for the pulling to the right, does it do it when accelerating, decelerating, or both.  If it changes between accelerating and decelerating, check your leaf springs.  I had a broken leaf spring that would pull one way when accelerating or cruising, and then pull to the right when I let off on the throttle.  Found that when I had it up jack stands and one side was hanging lower than the other side.

Thanks for all the ideas guys.  I will add them to my list of things to check this weekend.

Well, here is the midweek update.  I rotated the tires and that does not seem to make a huge difference.  It may start shaking a little bit earlier, but it is not enough for me to think it is one of the wheels.  I did inspect them all very closely while rotating them and it seems that there is no apparent damage/irregularities to either the wheels or tires.  One of the wheels has a couple of larger weights on it, one inside and one outside, but with the shaking not changing I am not so sure it is the wheel.

I did do the "grab the top and bottom of the wheel and wiggle" wheel bearing check and they did move what I would consider a fair amount, but I am not sure what would be considered normal.

Also I found that my passenger side hub was stuck in the locked position even with the dial on free, but I fixed that and no change in the vibration or the pulling.  I am wondering about the alignment.  The Haynes manual says that the only adjustment is the toe in?? So, how in the world is an alignment shop supposed to fix drifting to either the left or right??  Just curious.

Lastly, I checked the brakes.  They looked to be in ok shape and only had an intermittent and very light drag when I rotated the rotor and the wheel did not have any noticeable slowing when I spun it.  I took the caliper off and lubed the slides just in case and still no change. 

I am looking doing the wheel bearings next and while I have it apart I figure I might as well put some fresh rotors, rebuild the calipers, and replace the steering knuckle seals.

Anything else you guys think I should check for while I have it apart? 

Thanks again for all of your help and ideas!

Just a thought but maybe one or more of your tires are separated.  Maybe you have a bent axle.  Might be one of your u-joints.  Have you checked any of your front end suspension components?  It is possible you have a bent rim.  Just some thoughts to try to help you out.
Jason

Just a thought but maybe one or more of your tires are separated.  Maybe you have a bent axle.  Might be one of your u-joints.  Have you checked any of your front end suspension components?  It is possible you have a bent rim.  Just some thoughts to try to help you out.
Jason

Thanks, Jason.  I actually had a dream last night that it was one of the u-joints; I truly have the sickness 

All the suspension components look ok.  I am going to do another rotation on the tires to see if the vibration changes too.  I am also curious to see what the front wheel bearings look like.  I imagine they are dry and worn.  I am wondering if the front axle is shaking around in there once I get up to speed. 

Whatever it is, I am sure enjoying some more tinkering, especially since the problem is not something I have ever encountered before on a Sammy, and I get to learn some more useful stuff to apply to my future off road rig 

If it's a U-joint t then the vibration should go away if you are coasting in neutral. They are easy to check. Just run it for a while and crawl under and feel them. A bad one will be hot. As for the pulling, I was thinking maybe the pulling is not pulling at all. You have larger than stock tires on it and probably some kind of lift even if a small amount. Is it possible that the  steering wheel is not quite centered. When we drive we subconsciously center it which will make it feel like we are fighting it some.

If it's a U-joint t then the vibration should go away if you are coasting in neutral. They are easy to check. Just run it for a while and crawl under and feel them. A bad one will be hot. As for the pulling, I was thinking maybe the pulling is not pulling at all. You have larger than stock tires on it and probably some kind of lift even if a small amount. Is it possible that the  steering wheel is not quite centered. When we drive we subconsciously center it which will make it feel like we are fighting it some.

I had though about that with the ujoints but I think it slows down too fast from 60 to tell, but I will try on my way home just to be sure.  I had read the check the temp trick earlier and am going to try that tonight/tomorrow.

No lift, just 235s stuffed in there.  I was thinking about the steering not being centered after reading a couple of other threads this morining.  I do hold the steering wheel slightly to the left and it is at the end of the "sloppy" portion.  There was one discussing a portion of slop in the steering, but I really did not follow what he was saying