Chevrolet Repair: front end roughnesss, front wheel bearing, lower ball joints

Question
'98 Chev blazer front end seems to shimmy a lot when accelerating, but not too much when I am not.  It shakes to a point where I can feel it through the steering wheel.
I asked my mechanic and he seems to think it is the front axle(s), drive shaft, or possibly tranny mounts.  car has 145,000 miles and has not been beat. Mostly highway miles and I have been meticulous about routine maintenance.  I have also replaced both front wheel bearing hubs, replace the rear axles, and also the fuel pump.  Before I put anymore money into it, do you think I should cut my losses or is it possibly worth fixing.  I am pretty good with auto repair but somtimes you need a lift.

Thanks for any help or advice,

Chris

Answer
If you can inspect all the steering components and nothing seems the worse for wear or maybe loose then I would say that your tires may just need a good balancing. I'm not all that familiar with the steering components on one of those but what you can do is jack up the front of the vehicle and grab the tires, give them a real good push top and bottom, side to side, there should hardly be any movement at all. If there is top and bottom play check the upper and lower ball joints(one side at a time) if there is side to side play then there is a bad steering component somewhere(tie rod, tie rod end, idler arm, steering drop arm) if you see any grease or bad rubber around the joints it is probably bad. The cv boots should be the same way. To check the cv shafts themselves just give the tire a good turn and see if there is any vibration or grinding or any lag at all but I don't think there is any problems with the cv shafts. That's a good start at least, good luck.