Front End Vibration (2WD)

[tugboatphil]

I word searched my subject line and the previous problems that came up involved 4WD's. I'm looking for some advice on my 93 D-350 2WD. We're having our 3rd day of rain here, so I can't get underneath (didn't realize the dually wouldn't fit in the garage when I bought it. )



A year ago I had a bad vibration on the front end, from about 50 mph and up. The tires had worn unevenly and the alignment was out. After fixing both, it rode like a new truck.



After a year, having known that my ball joints had a lot of wear, and my tires had worn out pretty quickly, I decided to get them replaced. Took it to my son's shop and they got everything done, and a new set of front tires.



Went for a road test and the vibration is still there. Steering is tight and it doesn't track either way when the wheel is let go. Double checked the balance on all the tires. Replaced the tires with an identical set. No help. Left brake rotor has a pretty good gouge from previous debris under the pad. Could this cause the problem?



Thanks for any help.

 

[JLEONARD]

I would not expect a small defect iin a rear drum to manifest itself as the vibration you are describing.

I solved a vibration in my D 250, but not until I had my wife follow me on the expressway... . being very observant she noticed that one of my rear wheels was "wobbleing" slightly.

The lug nuts were tight, but it turned out that the chamfer on the holes in the wheel were worn out and not allowing the nuts to torque it evenly.

Replaced the rim and that annoying hard to put my finger on vibration magically disappeared.

 

[JStraw]

I had a front end vibration and went through the usual list of cures. Finnally changed out the shocks and the vib went away.



You could also put your fronts to the rear to see if in fact it is a tire / rim problem or definitely front end related.

 

[Paychk]

what type of lug nuts do you have? the 1 ton rims have a flange on all the lug holes of the rim, but they alternate which way they point. So when you look at the rim 4 lug holes have the flange sticking out from the rim face and the alternate 4 will actually create a recess. What you need to get are 4 acorn style lug nuts that fit the 5/8 X 18 thread studs, and install them on the recessed flange holes, snug them up. This will properly center the rim on the hub! it is centered off of the lugs only! Then install 4 of the flange style nuts, tighten them to hold the rim in place and replace the acorn style with the other 4 flange style nuts. Last torque everything to 325 lb. -ft. and you are done. there is a service bulletin that addresses this issue any good dealer should be able to print it out for you, it will have the P/N for the acorn style nuts.

 

[JStoll]

it could be all 3 mentioned above definatly check the wheels for runout which would have been seen on the balancer but look at the lug holes too

the reason the shocks will help as they are there to dampen spring oscilation if a wheel is not centered or is bent & the vibration is of the same frequency the spring can resonate at & you have bad shocks boy O boy this can set up an awful shake so shocks are worth checking/replacing

does the shake feel like its at the speed of wheel rotation or is it faster? is it possible that the vibration is in the rear I being transmitted to the cab via the frame? on the C&C Im putting together it shook pretty good with no bed on it obove 50 MPH it was hard to tell where it was coming from & Im a technician when I got the huge service bed on it all but went away telling me it was prolly in the rear

& if you had work on the front & it remained the same Id suspect shocks if not changed or the vibration is at the rear if a slow vibration (wheel speed)

so thats all I got for now

good luck

JAK

 

[tugboatphil]

Thanks for all the suggestions! It's still raining and will be until tomorrow. Soon as it dries out, I'll start on the rear wheels. I had already gotten new shocks, but again, it's too wet right now. I can get the front of the truck into the garage just far enough to jack it up and still get the door open. All the rear work has to be done outside.

 

[Tulman37]

I just recently rebuilt the front end on my 92 D350 and still had a vibration until I replaced all four shocks. Make sure your rims are "true" do you have any that require a lot of weights is a good sign of this problem.

 

[DReeve]

Did you check the steering shaft for wear at the u-joint? They're notorious for giving out. I replaced mine with a Borgeson shaft which solved a lot of the problem, after which new ball joints solved the rest of it!

Dan

 

[tugboatphil]

Tulman,



When they decided to try a different set of tires to see if it made a difference, there was a mention of one rim showing signs of road force. I didn't think much of it, as I had never heard of that. But that rim requires the most weight.



Phil

 

[JStoll]

Ive used nice balancers that measure "road force" this is basicaly tire or rim runout verticaly usualy measured in pounds of force (as the taller part of the tire hits the roller measuring) pushing the roller away from the base circle measured

sometimes you can rotate the tire on the rim 1/4 turn at a time till the least weight is needed I have installed allot of tires & yes runout will cause the tire to go out of balance verry quickly & the shake will come back sometimes the same day

they may have also meant outboard treadwear due to cornering (do you live on a windey road?) this wont cause shake so much as it usualy wears the whole circumfrance evenly enough not to cause an out of balance problem

another 2 cents

take care

JAK

 

[tugboatphil]

JAK,



Does this mean that factory steel wheels will eventually wear out, so to speak? I always thought them indestructible. The truck was previously owned in the foothills of NC, and I drive many winding, mountain roads in Va and WVa. I am also on some pretty rough secondary roads at relatively high speed throughout southeastern Va.



Any idea what a factory rim costs new? Would it be close enough to warrant buying an aftermarket wheel? Also, how do those of you with aluminum wheels hold out?



Phil

 

[JLEONARD]

Factory rims go bad from time to time. .

When I bought the truck one of the rims was bent, and I already told about the one with the hole chamfers worn out.

That's 2 so far for me and with a 2wd that rarely sees anything off road other than a driveway!! Of course Ct roads have some pretty deep potholes this time of year.

Jay

 

[ERMiles]

Sure can! I spent major bucks trying to get rid of a shake and found that it was a dragging front brake. It sounds like you must have the same problem with that scored rotor. Jack it up and try to spin the wheels - you'll probably find that there's drag somewhere. I had to replace the caliper assembly because it wasn't releasing completely.

Good luck.

 

[JStoll]

Im sorry it took a while for me to get back on the wheel thing the roadforce thing may have been outboard tire wear due to cornering or an alignment of rim & tire orientation as to allign the high spot of the tire & the high spot of the wheel which causes the road force problem I mentioned before jack up the truck in the front spinn the wheels while looking across the top of the tire if the tread moves up & down 1/4 inch or more you have an out of round problem enough to cause shake spinn it again to see if its the rim look at the rim & see if it is the cause of the runout check it lateraly & axialy (up & down & side to side) & while you are spinning them feel for a draging caliper too like smiles said in fact you can with a big screw driver pry outward on the caliper as to colapse the piston if it colapses with relative ease its cool but if it wont or is VERRY hard to colapse its prolly bad the other way to tell if the caliper is dragging is to simply look at pad wear it sounds like this has been going on for some time & you may see more pad wear on the side with the sticking caliper

do you ever smell brake burninator after driving even when not braking alot?

Ill try to be more prompt on the answers in the future

hope this helps

JAK

 

[tugboatphil]

Partial Success!



I had the shocks waiting to replace them and finally got them on. The others could have possibly been originals. I could push the piston closed with one finger and they'd stay closed for several minutes before slowly extending. The ride is good up to 60 and then I get a slight shudder from the front end.



When I had the wheel off the left front, I realized that the rotor will not pass inspection later this year, so that will be my next replacement. Just to keep it right, do rotors need to be relaced in pairs? The right isn't new, but is in great shape and appears to have never been turned.



Thanks for everyone's help! I'd have replied sooner, but I had an unscheduled road trip come up.



Phil

 

[JStoll]

it is not manditory that both rotors are changed BUT I usualy do what you realy dont want is one near min thickness & one new one because the thinner one will heat more quickly than the other making the pads behave diferently so mabey measure the old one you want to use & see if its within . 020 or so of the new one you are prolly Ok

did you spinn the rotor & feel for excessive drag? (also you can feel warpage) did you pry out on the caliper to see if the piston retracts fairly easily?

did you check for an out of round tire/bent rim?

Im glad you got the shocks on Ill bet it feels better

take care

JAK

 

[JStoll]

tugboat phill all day today that name was stuck in my head

wasent there an old silent mickey cartoon called tug boat willy? I kept thinking of black & white silent cartoons about tugboats

yeh I may have burned one too many brain cells painting the new truck

have fun

JAK

 

[tugboatphil]

I think that was Mickey's first cartoon, but I wasn't in it. However, some of the stuff I used to do on the tugboat seemed Mickey Mouse at times!

 

[dpuckett]

Ttt

I have been chasing a vibration in my 92 D350 since replacing the fronts with used (80%) Michelins. New shocks, bushings, ball joints, calipers, rotors, and pads. Still vibrates at hwy speeds, and still shudders when stopping, though neither is consistent with load or speed. Sometimes it will smooth out all the way up to 75+, then start vibrating suddenly. Same for stopping- I can gently aply the brakes, and it will vibrate; others it wont. Same if I stab them hard- it's a crapshoot.



I also have one bad u-joint on the front of the driveshaft, but never had a problem withit til the "new" tires. I am running with no shocks on the rear since axle replacement, and will put the worn stockers back on just to eliminate that possibility.



Anyone interested in an $800 truck?



Daniel

 

[btoscano]

Heck yeah, I sent you a PM.



Brian