What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Wheel balance issue???

S

skyhigh4by

1/2 ton status
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Posts
200
Reaction score
6
Location
Nanaimo BC
From 40-45mph my truck has what feels like a wheel out of balance (up and down sort of hopping) in the whole chassis. It's not felt in steering or driveline. The strange thing is I've tried 4 different 35" wheel/tire combos(all balanced) and it's still there. I don't really know where it's coming from?? I know I have a slightly warped rotor but I don't think that would do it?
 
It's so bad that I can see out the back window the front of the box nearly making contact with the back of the cab
 
Do you think that maybe you have an axle that is bent between the bearing and the wheel flange? But what axle is it? I know that bad shocks can play into a few things, but I don't know if it would give this symptom.
 
It's speed related...happens both on or off the throttle but worse when off the throttle. Shocks are bilstien 5125 and have about 5k daily driver miles on them. FF 14 bolt rear, D60 front. Stock rear springs w/diy4x shackle flip. Front springs are 8" BDS "massaged" down to about 5". Crossover steering with all new ends. Kingpin components new.
 
Well since you had already said that it was speed related, that was my best guess of a wheel hub bent, but I don't think that is your problem with a full float axle. Since you have tried different tire / wheel combinations, it has to be something else. But I would doubt that a drive shaft could do this and not be a problem until 40+ mph. My guess is that it would feel different than what you described as well. And I would think that a shaft that is out far enough to do this, would cause a bigger problem quickly.

And I am guessing that the shocks are dine since you listed the model #. This tells me that you know what condition they are in.
 
8" springs massaged down to 5" range ? ? ? how was it done ? could be to soft a spring setup now.

caster angle checked any time recently ? caster on these trucks has been prover to be a major player in death wobble .

and what exact components were put in the king pin setups ?

does this seem to happen mostly over bumpy roads or any road ?
 
Driveshaft is a little bit suspect because I got it used and it was home lengthened by someone by 2". It vibrated but I was able to get rid of the vibration by using hose clamps to somewhat balance it.

The 8" springs were originally 5 leaf and I removed the bottom 2 from the pack. It is soft yes but not so much that I really have any noticeable body roll. The bouncing is most apparent on smooth highway roads.

I had death wobble appear recently but not before this "shaking/bouncing" started. I replaced the bushings, springs, lower bearings, and one kingpin plus all steering components and that solved any death wobble I had.

I haven't had it on an alignment rack but by measuring off the flat surface on top of the knuckle I got approx 4°-5° positive castor.

The steering also wanders a little bit at times and I can tell that the steering pushes and pulls the axle side to side at slow speeds so Ive picked up a panhard kit just haven't installed it yet.
 
Last edited:
skyhigh4by said:
The steering also wanders a little bit at times and I can tell that the steering pushes and pulls the axle side to side at slow speeds so Ive picked up a panhard kit just haven't installed it yet.
Click to expand...

This could be a sign of the front axle shaft u-joints being stiff/frozen if I understand your explanation correctly.
 
I have had the D60 death wobble at 45.
If it were mine, I'd do that other king pin and check everything already mentioned above
 
bent72 said:
I have had the D60 death wobble at 45.
If it were mine, I'd do that other king pin and check everything already mentioned above
Click to expand...
I only replaced the one kingpin because I cracked it while trying to remove it. I did however replace all the wear parts. I see no point in replacing a kingpin itself when it only rides against a plastic bushing. I did have death wobble but I don't anymore. What I'm experiencing now is something different that existed before the death wobble I had appeared.
rampage said:
This could be a sign of the front axle shaft u-joints being stiff/frozen if I understand your explanation correctly.
Click to expand...
You could be on to something here. Another person has suggested checking axle u-joints and I will when I change front rotors next weekend. Although I don't really understand how they have any effect because the Huns are unlocked and t-case is in 2 wheel drive. I feel that I can't rule it out because it's been suggested more than once.
 
4WD doesn't matter. When the wheels turn the axle shaft u-joints need to move. If they are rusty and stick then the wheels don't want to go back to being straight and want to stick in the turned position. If you pull the axle shaft out it should easily flop from side to side. If it doesn't them they are bad and need to be replaced. Make sense now?
 
rampage said:
4WD doesn't matter. When the wheels turn the axle shaft u-joints need to move. If they are rusty and stick then the wheels don't want to go back to being straight and want to stick in the turned position. If you pull the axle shaft out it should easily flop from side to side. If it doesn't them they are bad and need to be replaced. Make sense now?
Click to expand...
I'm hoping that's the problem so I don't have to keep scratching my head
 
I drove a truck that had seized axle joints once. It had steering problems, but no out of balance tire feeling. Even at 75 mph.
It only had steering problems.
 
I post this from time to time. Its amazing that no one ever seems to think of it. The best way to start to get to the bottom of this, will take a second vehicle and two friends.
Make sure to use two. One is dangerous.
Find a nice smooth section of road with no traffic. Four lane is best. Let the two friends follow you in the second car. One of them drives. ONLY drives. The other watches the wheels and axles of your truck. Nowadays, they can video it with their phone.
You drive at whatever speed makes the most vibration.
Your friends follow, lead, and if possible drive on each side of your truck.
This is why a four lane is best. You can swap sides and they can watch both sides.

If you have a decent vibration, it will be obvious where the trouble is, and often what it is. A warped rim is easy to spot. Although its hard to tell the difference between a warped rim or axle flange sometimes while driving.

Either way, you should be able to quickly determine where the problem is, so you don't waste time on all 4 wheels. Video is nice because you can play it back and narrow things down even farther sometimes.

The important part is the two friends. The guy driving MUST drive only. He should ignore what is going on with your truck. He needs to keep his truck on the road and watch out for other cars.
And let the second guy do all the looking at the problem. Otherwise, he will start paying too much attention to the vibration and forget about safe driving.
I have been riding in the chase car when the idiot friend of mine who was driving, said " I think its a bent rim". Just as we left the road and headed out through the trees at 45 miles an hour.........

The ironic part was, after we jumped the ditch and finally got stopped, he had a bent rim on his car.......
 
BTW, DO NOT do like I did back in my younger stupider days. I had a noise under my Jeep. Kind of a rattle that seemed to change with speed.
Put it on a rack a few times, crawled under even more times. Just could not find it.
Finally made myself a harness and suspended myself under the jeep while a friend drove it around a parking lot.
Had to stop and reverse the direction I was hanging so I could see the problem, a loose flange on the driveshaft.

I survived, but later read about another guy with a big dumptruck that tried the same thing. Apparently some part of his clothing snagged the driveshaft, and when the driver stopped to see if the guy had found the problem, discovered him wound tightly around the driveshaft.........
 
That would probably work. Just mount it far enough away from what you are looking at to get the whole picture. In other words, if you suspect your left rear wheel, and you put the camera so that it looks at just that wheel, and you see it vibrate, you could spend a lot of time trying to figure out why before you realize that its actually coming from the right rear.
You will need to see the whole axle to see what is what.
But it sounds like a great idea.
Might take a couple of tries, but I think it will narrow things down.

And, as a bonus you might post the video here to get ideas as to the cause.
 
skyhigh4by said:
Driveshaft is a little bit suspect because I got it used and it was home lengthened by someone by 2". It vibrated but I was able to get rid of the vibration by using hose clamps to somewhat balance it.

.
Click to expand...

I did a set of u-joints 1 time on a 1 piece shaft with slip yoke in tranny was 2wd truck .

didn't mark the slip yoke and got it 180* off from way it was balanced .

well I had a vibration at highway speed . was small but was there .

took it to drive shaft shop not knowing the yoke 180* could do that much balance problem .

they flipped it and ran smooth as glass after done .

so maybe worth checking the shaft at a shop with drive line lath/balancer.
 
Can a 1 piece driveshaft really be out of phase without cutting the yokes off and turning them?

I think that I've isolated the shaking to something in the rear. Watching in the mirror the box moves around a lot. The frame is kinda bending between the box and cab. I pumped tires up from 30psi to 50psi and that exaggerated the problem even more.

Sometimes when applying the brakes I can get the same feeling shake happening but not at the speed it normally happens. I'm starting to think possible warped drums??
 
@Fordum

So what your saying is don't hang off the tailgate of a pickup with a homemade harness head about 6" off the pavement going 55 mph looking for a vibration .

It's amazing I'm still alive
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom