Bad shimie blues 96 pathfinder Help!!!

[Merkavor]

When driving my new (to me) 96 nissan Pathfinder SE and i hit small bumps, the front wheels feel like they start running/ or shimieing. my brother said it could be the struts but i am not to sure, and i need to be before i start spending money... can anyone help me with what this could be and what i should replace first?


Thank you so much...

[88pathoffroad]

If the problem is solely in the front end, it could be the steering rack bushings being bad...they tend to cause sloppy steering and the possibility of shimmy when they get loose. Could also be sloppy tie rods.

If the problem transfers from the rear to the front, it could be rear axle control arm bushings. That's a common problem with the R50's as well. The rear problem is most evident when traveling at highway speeds when you hit a bump or swerve a little. There are lots of posts about rear end sway here.

[laxman0324]

Grab ahold of the rear lower control arm and see if you can move it a little by hand...a good bushing has no play, i could twist mine quite a bit before I replaced my bushings

[racerken]

Hi had a 96 with the same problem where you feel like you are driving in a pin ball machine. It was the rear control arm bushings which I replaced with polyurethane.