Front end vibration

[CUMMINS_USMC]

Recently within the last week my front end started to vibrate and only gets worst at higher speeds. The truck was recently alligned however the front tires are still wearing on the outsides and now I have this vibration. Took the truck to the local Dodge shop here and they said everything is fine, I just need to rotate the tires. All they did is test drive the truck and not even take the tires off to check balance or for damage/defective tires. I have an appointment to get two new front tires today. Any advice??











2010 Ram Mega 4x4 Dualy Laramaie

 

[HBarlow]

A rythmic vibration at speed that worsens with increased speed is usually an indication of imbalanced tire or tires. I believe that once an uneven wear pattern is established in a radial tire it often continues. I don't know the reason for that but believe it is true.

I would buy a new set of tires and make sure the installer does a good balance.

 

[CUMMINS_USMC]

Thanks Harvey, I am leaning towards replacing the two fronts this afternoon.

 

[Okie-Go]

My right tire is wearing on the outside as well. had it lined and still wearing but not as bad. My truck drives straight with no vibration. The private shop said it was because of the weight on the rearend pulling the trailer throwing the front out of kilter a bit. going to look into the timbrens to keep the truck more level and the tires on fron on the same plane so to speak when empty. The dealer said it was the nature of the Michelins. He didn't have an answer when I asked why the other side was wearing fine.

Okie

 

[bigblock_doc]

I would go with air bags, for the ride comfort. Just get the self leveling kind

with the compressor. I have these on my 2012 and had them on my 03.

Kept everything level. They where Air-Lift brand.

 

[chopper698]

If you had it aligned they might have went to far with
your caster adjustment and it's your front driveshaft
vibrating. This happened to my 2011 I rolled the
Cam nut back to the 12 o'clock position and it stopped.

 

[TFrench]

I have a '97 3500 4X4 and I was getting servere front tire wear. When under warranty, the local Dodge dealer said the alignment was in spec, therefore, tire wear had to do with the way I drove and/or the roads and not the vehicle or aliginment (tires lasted 10K regardless of brand). I took the truck to an alignment shop and both sides could be adjusted just to the point they were within the outside limits of factory spec but that was it. I tried adding aftermarket camber/castor adjusters in order to try to reduce front tire wear and those helped but didn't resolve the problem completely. Fifteen years ago the adjusters cost me about $500 installed and aligned..... I'm now contemplating purchasing a 2012 3500 4X4 to replace my aging '97 but I'm concerned I may run into the same situation again. Do the new Dodges come with better alignment and/or alignment options or shoulld I be prepping myself for a dejavu experience?



Thanks in advance,

Tim

 

[TMRoper1669]

I have some vibration at 65-75 MPH, I think it does it at lower speeds but not as noticeable. Have larger tires and wheels installed and have had the tires balanced 5 times. Still have the same issue. Took it in today for alignment, rotate & balance still have the same problem. All U-Joints look good truck only has 29000 miles any ideas?

 

[Slow Six]

I've had centramatics on my 03 and now on my 2012. They do everything Centramatic advertises. This is the first time I ever had even wear and no cupping on the front tires of a 4x4. This may not have much to do with your problem but I really believe the centramatics prevent a lot of tire wear. I can run a set of tires to the end and never have to rebalance.

 

[Tryingit]

I've owned two Dodge Diesels and both have great tire longevity. But this truck was having some vibration issues that sears could not fix. So I recently bought the centramatic wheel balancers and that fixed my vibration issues. It's a deal at two hundred bucks for four of them. But you could also locate a shop that does THe Force roadbalance. This type of balancing did the trick on my old honda (new at the time). Problem is that you can't have regular balancing for the life of the tires or the vibration will be back.

Hunter GSP9700 Wheel vibration Control System solves wheel vibration and tire pull problems that balancers and aligners can't fix

 

[Beast2B]

Force road balancing is good for awhile, but Centramatics (as well as balancing beads) allow the balance to change as tires wear. I ran Innovative beads and Counteract beads in a couple sets of 37" mudders on my 2nd gen and swear by them. Not sure how the beads would work with TPMS, but I'll be looking into one of these setups as my new tires start to wear.

 

[denhammkc]

New to the TDR

I have had the same issues, got all 6 Generals replaced, made it worse, took it to Goodyear road-force balanced and alignment the tires were out but alignment was fine, took both drive shafts in to a drive shaft shop and both were out of balance got that fixed, made it better. However, still a vibration that is worse above 50mph to 75 mph. Ordered the Centramatics for mt dually, about $180 per axle, can't wait to get them. I will post to let everyone if it helps or fixes it.

I really like this site, glad I joined.

Kurt

 

[Tryingit]

Well I have had the centramatic installed since my Texas trip in April. Since then I've logged about 8K. I still have the 70mph shimmy. I brought the front shaft to a drive shaft shop. They said it was balanced but the grease cup was empty (even though I throw a couple of shots of grease in at each oil change). I bought the truck to a different sears store in my area (last week). Again the tires were far out of balance, with one of the tires needing over 2oz of weights. I had thought that the centramatics would be enough. Seems pretty smooth now. But these tires keep going way out of balance within a few thousand miles. But the tires are wearing perfect with over 45K- there is little abnormal wear. Not sure if there is something going on with these tires.

 

[BILLUA]

Too bad the OP didn't update...

 

[Blak Smoke 12]

I am having the same issue with vibration. . Between 70 and 80. What I have noticed though is that if I manually take the truck out of 6th gear an into 5th, the vibration goes away. Almost like there is an imbalance more related to engine rpm. Has anyone noticed this as well. I have rotated tires and no difference. I was thinking more like harmonic balancer or torque converter? I am getting ready to take it to the dealer to have it checked out. I thought that I read somewhere that when they changed to the 800lb ft program, they were having issues with engine vibration and had to change to a different balancer. Is there any truth to that? Maybe the problem is more engine related then tire related? Just throwing it out there.

 

[Tryingit]

I am having the same issue with vibration. . Between 70 and 80. What I have noticed though is that if I manually take the truck out of 6th gear an into 5th, the vibration goes away. Almost like there is an imbalance more related to engine rpm. Has anyone noticed this as well. I have rotated tires and no difference. I was thinking more like harmonic balancer or torque converter? I am getting ready to take it to the dealer to have it checked out. I thought that I read somewhere that when they changed to the 800lb ft program, they were having issues with engine vibration and had to change to a different balancer. Is there any truth to that? Maybe the problem is more engine related then tire related? Just throwing it out there.

Please let us know. I usually just get "we can't dupilicate the problem". Today I rotated my drive shaft 180 degrees. It seem very smooth on the highway. The passenger seat barely shook at all. Overall seems to be a big inprovement. But I'll need more time to test this out. The u-joints seemed to be fine.

 

[bigblock_doc]

Had problem with my 03. Vibration around 70. Rebalanced twice more and worse. Talked to the owner of tire store and suggested to him

if the machine needed to recallabrated. Since I am a retired mechanic (never really retired). That solved the problem.

 

[Tryingit]

Had problem with my 03. Vibration around 70. Rebalanced twice more and worse. Talked to the owner of tire store and suggested to him

if the machine needed to recallabrated. Since I am a retired mechanic (never really retired). That solved the problem.

I'm starting to think that my local Sears auto store might have a bad balancer, both times same guy and same machine. This time I tried a different Sears store. They said my tires were way out. Since I have the lifetime balance package I'll wait a few more months and have this second Sears store recheck the tires.