My steering wheel moves back and forth when I put on my brakes,at speeds , it will happen faster making the steering wheel shake. I checked the pads ,rotors for runout, calipers seem to be loose ? even though the bolts are tight. Could the calipers be worn ? I Have 206,000 miles on my 1995 Chevy Suburban 2 wheel drive.. Also , the idler arm has some play in it, could that be the culprit making the steering wheel pulsading only when I hit the brakes? Thanks.

Warped rotor, this would also cause the steering wheel to shake back and forth.

Your front rotors are warped. If they are in good shape and thick enough they may be able to turn them and make them true again.

If they are in bad shape or to thin they will need to be replaced. Check the amount of brake pad left while you are checking the rotors. If the pads are 2-4 mm they are ready to be replaced.

It also won't hurt to check the calipers to make sure the pistons move freely and check the caliper slides to make sure they are not frozen as well.

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If when applying the brakes the steering wheel shakes then your front rotors are warped and at the least need resurfaced and most likely the brake pads replaced. But more likely the rotors are too thin which has allowed them to overheat and warp which causes the shaking. In this case new rotors and pads are in order. If when braking tou feel the shaking in the seat of your pants then most likely the rear brakes are the issue. Same problem as the front, warpage, but your rear brakes are most likely drums. Again, possible resurfacing and new shoes; but more likely new drums and brake shoes.

But I wonder? Did this vibrating just start all of a sudden or maybe after a near accident requiring you to brake very heavily and possibly overheat the brakes. Or my main concern, to keep this from happening again, after pulling some type of trailer that you intend on pulling again. Pulling a trailer without its own brakes puts a much heavier load on your trucks brakes and just repairing them won't keep it from happening again if you ARE pulling a trailer. Higher quality rotors/pads/drums/ and brake shoes can help but if the trailer is too heavy for the truck nothing but installing brakes on the trailer or a lighter trailer will stop you from warping them again.

Lastly, in general when you let off the gas and the whole vehicle shakes the driveshaft/u-joints are common causes. Same with the steering wheel if it shakes when letting off the gas, but only on a 4x4 or AWD vehicle. So check your driveshafts and u-joints and make sure they are tight. But unless you find something obvious there I would wait until you have the brakes sorted out and see if that doesn't stop all the shaking.

Good luck!

Your tires need balanced.

Have a wheel alignment and suspension check . Check brake pads thickness and disc rotor condition. Shaking at speed indicates wheel alignment and worn tie rod ball joints and/ suspension badly worn

This condition indicates warped rotors. You will need to remove the rotors and have them turned on a brake laythe. Since you will have the calipers off, go ahead and replace the pads...its an inexpensive maintennance item. Good Luck, Hope this is helpful.

Very unlikely that the rotors need replacing. They may have warped a bit and need to be resurfaced. Doubt that though. If it's shaking that makes you think that, you may just need to have your wheels rebalanced or check pads.

try to replace the wheel bearings.

did you ever let somebody check the wheel allignment, it may be the camber shaft.

Sounds like your rotors are warped. First off, have the front wheels been off the car at any time recently? If so, someone may have reinstalled them and not torqued the lugs properly. Too much torque (or different torque on different lug nuts) can artifically warp the rotors. Also, hot rotors getting wet can warp (as if you slammed the brakes on or were braking severely on the way to the car wash, where you sprayed them down). Or, they could be just worn out. Chances are though that you'll need new rotors. Remember that when you change rotors, no matter how new the pads on your car may be, you need to put new brake pads on with them.