After months of driving with a noticible steering wheel vibration and noticebly uneven wear on tires, I brought my '94 IFS 4x4 to a family mechanic. Two lower ball joints, new pitman, new idler arm, new steering stablizer, and repacked wheel bearings, alignment job, and $400 in labor. All this work was completed and the truck still drives with the same vibration. Th alignment isn't even true! Are the tires to blame? I can't afford to put much more $$$ into this truck now, but the front end still vibrates on the HWY.
Anybody know what maight be going on?

Swap the front and rear tires, see if it improves.

Tried that before the front end work, it made it worse.
I'd better put it back the way it was.
Thanks for the idea. Will rotating the tires regularly wear them back into regular shape?

You might also fall under the relay rod recall

Swap tires as 4Crawler suggests, but do a visual inspection under there, and follow the instructions for the recall.

if you still have ADD, check out the front axles...

they maybe on their last mile...

oh one more...

brake rotors. see if they are beyond warpage...

Have you had the tires/wheels rebalanced?, Does the shudder go away above 55mph? What kind of condition are the shocks in? How bad are the tires worn?

Vibrations through the steering wheel is normally caused by out of balance tires/rims, bad shocks, tread seperations, or severely cupped All of the other stuff you had replaced tends to cause wandering, and uneven tire wear.

I would have the tires rebalanced, also have the rims balanced to make sure that one(or all) aren't bent. Also have the tire shop balance the tires for a higher speed(depends on the machine they have).

I do not clain to be a mechanic, or know what the hell i am doing, but here is my 2 cents. I had a similar problem and it was because I dinged up my drive shaft and it became unbalanced. It wasnt even bad, but that was my problem. Could be tire balance as well.

Have you checked your steering wheel for too much free play? I think the spec is anything over 1 inch is too much. It is very easy to check/fix - see to posted '93 repair manual for details. I did this recently on my '93 and I was SHOCKED <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> at how much more steady my steering wheel feels when driving the higher speeds.

I agree with the steering box play. You can do it yourself,just slacken the nut on the top and turn the screw 1/2 turn clockwise then try that. Another answer would be the steering damper. We have this problem with land rover discos in the uk and fitting a new steering damper is the cure.