Question for wheel balance experts

[Russ]

Truck is 88 V30 Crewcab Dually. It has an imbalance shake at approximately 38-43 MPH. The tires are 235/85r16 Michelins. I bought them from a buddy who purchased them new for his dually and only ran them for about 1500 miles with no problems. I have only put about another 1000 miles on them.

I have had them all balanced 4 times by two different shops.
I have rotated them all to different positions.
I have rotated tires to different rims.
I have replaced two of the rims that were not original to the truck with original rims.

I still have the shake at the same speed. It runs smooth below and above that speed. I am clueless as to what to try next?? If anyone has any suggestions as to what else may be causing this seemingly imbalance problem I would appreciate the suggestions.
Thanks,

Russ

 

[Stormin]

Sounds like it's not the tires. Check all your suspension components in the front. Ball joints, tie rods etc. Have somebody sit in the car and turn the steering wheel while you look at everything. See if somehting looks loose.

 

[Russ]

I have gone through the front D60 completely. New kingpin bushing/springs and all new wheel bearings and rotors. It is the same D60 that I was running in my Blazer with no issues also.

It is just very odd that it only happens during that speed range. That is what makes me think it has to be a balance issue.

Russ

 

[73k5blazer]

When the shop balances them, do they say they have any problems to do so? Do they need to use excessive weights to get them balanced?
You can have them check runout on the wheels too.
Are you sure your buddy had no problems. Some people, like yourself or myself, tend to notice shakes alot more than other people, some people don't mind it, or notice it.

I might suspect Driveshaft balance problem too, but you can usally tell that from wheel problems in that the vibration will be in the drivetrain, you can feel it in the 4x or tranny shifters pretty easily.

You could have a bad tire to, that just happened to me on my '04 GTO. Had a slight vibration problem, rotated, balanced, road forced the tires, on the road force machine, they told me one of the tires was bad (belts were mis-aligned or whatever), replaced it, good as new.

 

[Russ]

They have not said anything about any problems with balancing them. The shops always seem to think they should be good, then I get it back out on the road and the shake is back. The weights do not seem to be excessive either.

I thought about driveline out of balance, but the truck actually shakes like it would from a wheel. I figured if it was the driveline it would vibrate more through all speeds.

What does the road force machine do? I will have to check if there is one of those in this area.

Russ

 

[redneckdude]

Driveline vibes sometimes are only noticed at certain speed ranges. I know that before i shimmed my axle i had bad ones from about 15-45, not much before, not much after. Shimmed it and it made it all better.

 

[gone huntin]

Keep in mind, you can balance a square. Just because a tire balances does not mean it won't cause a vibration. Two questions: Why did your friend pull them off of his truck, and did you have a vibration before you put these tires on?

 

[73k5blazer]

The Road force machine is a newer type balancing machine, does more than just balance, you take the tire off the truck, and put in on this machine, it effectivly places a drag on the tire tread surface (like running it on a road), tells the operator alot of things a regular balancing machine cannot.
Mostly dealers have them. I've not seen one in a non-dealer shop yet.

 

[az-k5]

I've not seen one in a non-dealer shop yet.

Almost all discount tires/americas tires have them. Two out of three of our balancers are road force style. Road forcing usually costs a bit more than normal balancing. I would see if they can "finger balance" them and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Russ]

He pulled them off because he regularly tows his 38' boat with his Dodge dually and the 235's were taller than he liked so he went back to the stock size of 215's.

Unfortunately I never drove my truck without these tires. I bought it as a non-running project and put these tires on it once I got it going. I asked him about the tires and he did make one trip up to TN with them and had no shakes.

My truck is riding real close to stock height, only an inch taller so driveline angles appear to be good.

I appreciate everyones input.

Russ

 

[73k5blazer]

Discount tire shops here only have the chepo balancers.