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A friend of mine has an 05 Outback with about 180K on it. She asked me to check it out because of a steering shimmy that happens at high speeds. I did some research on the subject, and did a visual inspection of both front wheels and steering assemblies. Ball joint and tie rod boots still look good. No play when rocking wheel horizontally or vertically.

 

An interesting thing I noticed is that the shimmy kicks in only above 60 mph, and it happens when you let off the gas from accelerating. So accel from 50 to 70 quickly and then let off the gas, no brake, the shimmy will start, and continue.

 

It also has nothing to do with braking. There is no shimmy when the brakes are applied, even hard braking.

 

So I've seen suggestions of an alignment, which I may tell her to get.

 

But I noticed that the control arm bushing on the driver's side is starting to fall apart. (not the bushing that connects to the xmember, but the one where the radius rods mount to the car on the older gens)

 

Could this worn bushing be the culprit?

 

I'll upload a picture of it soon.

 

Thanks!

 

Driver's side:

4Lscdaml.jpg

 

Pass side:

ts4jvril.jpg

Edited by ystrdyisgone
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When you visually inspected, did you jack up each side of the front end to get the road wheel off the ground?? Then, did you move the road wheel up and down, left to right to find any looseness?? Also, with weight off the suspension, did you check ball joints and tie rods for looseness??

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So she's getting her tires balanced today, she didn't wanna fork out 76 for a full alignment.

 

I'll be ordering those bushings soon, gonna do the balljoints while I'm at it. How much of a pita are those bushings to R&R?

 

Another thought, she did have both axles replaced recently, I was thinking maybe the shop didn't torque down the axle nuts all the way?

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I'm guessing they were aftermarket ones, she said the bill was in the $150-$200 range, which seems like it would be a bit low if they had replaced with Subaru axles.

 

I'll ask her about when the shimmying started. I know that it was after the axles were done, but I don't know how soon after.

Edited by ystrdyisgone
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What I've learned here on Roller Derby is that after market axles are a crap shoot. Best to have the original axles rebooted or replaced with OEM.

Otherwise, odd symptoms are reported including shimmying or even your dog howling unexpectedly in the middle of the night ;-)

Edited by brus brother
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