I have a 2004 FX4 Scab with just over 46,000--about 3 weeks ago, I was out mudding with some old college friends, and I got stuck pretty good. Eventually we got it out, cleaned the undercarriage and pressure sprayed everything, but it still is not running right.

Everytime I hit the brake hard, the steering wheel vibrates side to side very rapidly. Do I just need an alignment maybe? It runs fine, it's just this pulsation in the steering wheel and brake pedal I cannot figure out. Thanks for the help.

 

What you described is not an alignment issue.

If the pulsation is in the brake pedal then that means you have an issue with your rotor(s). If it happened immediatly after you went mudding then it's possible that there's a stone or something causing one of them to not seat properly.

Take off the front tires, calipers, and rotors and see if there's any obstruction behind the rotors.

 

Thanks for the reply. It's in the steering wheel as well though, could that be related to the rotors? Thanks.

 

Actually I take that back.

I still believe it's in the rotors, but I don't think there can be any obstruction behind them. Once you tighten down your lugnuts, I don't see it being possible for anything to get behind your rotors.

I think you need to get new rotors or have them turned.

What's happening is that your rotor is not rotating 90º to the surface of the brake bad and therefore it's causing the brake pad/caliper piston/brake pedal to move up and down. That's the pulsating you feel in the pedal.

The pulsating in the wheel should also be there when the brakes are not applied, but it's probably getting absorbed by play in your wheel bearings and tie rod ends. When the brakes are applied some of that play gets removed because the caliper/pads are rigidly fixed and are forcing the rotor and therefore the whole wheel assembly into position. But if the rotors aren't rotating true it would cause the wheel to shimmy and that shimmy would be transferred to the steering wheel.