I'm hoping that someone will be able to help me out.

Lately I have noticed that while cruising down the highway, at times, it feels as though the truck is floating left and right, in an almost scary way. It feels as though the rear end is letting go, then grabbing, then letting go, then grabbing again and so on. This effect is so pronounced that I pulled over the other night to check that the freaking wheels were still on tight.

While this is going on, I can feel the weight shifting, and when the tires "grab", I can feel the lateral slide stop, only to begin breaking to the opposite side.

This effect causes something similar to a very tight slalom feel. The only thing is, at highway speeds and on potentially snow/ice covered highways, slaloming is the LAST thing I want to be doing.

Any suggestions out there would be great. I have been trying to figure this out for a few days now and can't seem to wrap my head around it.

I haven't experienced this on my '06 but here's some thoughts:
Does this happen on all road surfaces or could the car be following the grooves in the road ?
How's the tire pressure ? too high or too low cam make the vehicle do weird things.
Is it possible that there is a belt seperating in a tire ?
Is it possible you hit a pot hole & knocked the alignment out ?
Good luck.

thanks for the reply NVRDONE

It seems to be primarily in the right hand lane on the highway. I got my tires checked and rotated 3k miles ago, so they should be fine. I just got off the phone with a guy at Nissan here in town, and they are going to take my truck over night and see if there is something they can come up with.

Hopefully its either an alignment or a tire issue. I don't think suspension would cause something like this, without it happening all the time. My other fear is that is something with the limited slip diff. I don't know a lot about LSD, but I do know that when they are not working properly, strange things can happen.

*fingers crossed*

I've noticed with some of the heavier duty offroad tires, the additional strength and tread depth reduces the flexibility of the road facing part of the tire. The right lane (if in USA) sees more trucks and heavy vehicles, and heavier general use, and grooves form. The less flexible tire doesn't conform to the concave groove, and it causes the car to wobble as it tries to convert the potential energy of being at the 'top' of the groove, to kinetic (i.e. your car moving sideways) into the bottom of the groove.

Cheers, Al.

just got off the highway with a tech here at the dealership. He agrees there is something wrong. They r checking the alignment and ensuring everything is tightened and adjusted properly.

I should know more in a bit.

Sven1olaf wrote:My other fear is that is something with the limited slip diff.

The path doesn't have a LSD. It has an open diff (front and back if 4x4) and ABLS. (antilock brake limited slip - if a tire is spinning, it kicks the brake on that tire to throw the power to the non-spinning side).

As far as your wandering problems under certain conditions, a quick inspection of all suspension components is called for including tie rods, upper and lower BJs/control arms, stabilizers, etc etc.

Next would be alignment.

Good luck!

t

Have you checked your rear sway bar they have been known to come loose.

I have the same issue on my 06. What happens is the rear lower control arm bushings, the arms that the springs sit in, tear and wear out causing the wandering. I have noticed it getting progressively worse as the bushings were slightly worn and now totally torn on the one side. good luck!

driftedoffroad wrote:I have the same issue on my 06. What happens is the rear lower control arm bushings, the arms that the springs sit in, tear and wear out causing the wandering. I have noticed it getting progressively worse as the bushings were slightly worn and now totally torn on the one side. good luck!

I noticed that on mine too. I have a new set of rear lower control arms in my garage. I just need to find the time to put them in and then get the vehicle re-aligned.