Attention: TDR Forum Junkies My truck turned over 120,000 miles a while back, and I've never had to do anything to the front end suspension except replace the OEM shocks with Rancho 9000s and "links".
I'm very careful to lube all the components when I do oil changes every three thousand miles, and I'm a stickler for rotating the tires, too.
Recently I've noticed a vibration at about 65 mph, which I can feel in the steering wheel. It's not violent, but it's annoying. If I speed up to 70, it goes away; ditto if I slow down to 60. At between 65-67, it's an annoying irritant, and it's unaffected by the road surface. I also notice a "rattling" noise that seems to be coming from the front, passenger side, but it's faint and seems to be caused by "washboard" in the road surface, and not necessarily related to the vibration.
The vibration seems to be worse and sensed through the seat-of-the-pants, too, from the right side of the truck and front end. I took the truck to a local, chain tire store (NTB) and they inspected the tires, which I rotate every 5,000 miles. The guy told me that there was "moderate cupping," which I associated with what I've always referred to as "fletching" on the inside edges of the front tires. This is (said the NTB guy) "very typical of heavy 4x4 trucks running oversized tires. "
I had them rebalance and rotate the tires again, and check the alignment. They said the alignment was fine and they didn't mention anything about obvious signs of front-end component failure. Nevertheless the same vibration was noticeable on the drive home; if anything, it was slightly worse.
I'm on my third set of BFG AT 285 75 R-16s, and this set has probably around 35,000 miles on 'em. I don't usually get more than 45,000 because I do a lot of city driving and this truck is very heavy...
I'm pretty anxious to find a solution, including the possibility of running
some taller, narrower, dedicated "truck tires" of the kind that used to be advertised in the TDR (where'd they go?).
Any input would be appreciated.
I'm very careful to lube all the components when I do oil changes every three thousand miles, and I'm a stickler for rotating the tires, too.
Recently I've noticed a vibration at about 65 mph, which I can feel in the steering wheel. It's not violent, but it's annoying. If I speed up to 70, it goes away; ditto if I slow down to 60. At between 65-67, it's an annoying irritant, and it's unaffected by the road surface. I also notice a "rattling" noise that seems to be coming from the front, passenger side, but it's faint and seems to be caused by "washboard" in the road surface, and not necessarily related to the vibration.
The vibration seems to be worse and sensed through the seat-of-the-pants, too, from the right side of the truck and front end. I took the truck to a local, chain tire store (NTB) and they inspected the tires, which I rotate every 5,000 miles. The guy told me that there was "moderate cupping," which I associated with what I've always referred to as "fletching" on the inside edges of the front tires. This is (said the NTB guy) "very typical of heavy 4x4 trucks running oversized tires. "
I had them rebalance and rotate the tires again, and check the alignment. They said the alignment was fine and they didn't mention anything about obvious signs of front-end component failure. Nevertheless the same vibration was noticeable on the drive home; if anything, it was slightly worse.
I'm on my third set of BFG AT 285 75 R-16s, and this set has probably around 35,000 miles on 'em. I don't usually get more than 45,000 because I do a lot of city driving and this truck is very heavy...
I'm pretty anxious to find a solution, including the possibility of running
some taller, narrower, dedicated "truck tires" of the kind that used to be advertised in the TDR (where'd they go?).
Any input would be appreciated.
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