2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Thump in R/F is back !%&*#!

[RAJohnson]

Can't adjust camber on a 4wd... well unless you use offset balljoints.

OK caster then. I new it was on of the two C's Oo. . I am not big on front end alignment terms

 

[Joe Mc]

Took wifey out for run last night - she says it's hard to tell - it seems better, but it's hard to tell. We're going out today taking the turnpike, we'll take the truck and see. Since the TP is a sustained speed, semi-straight/smooth road it should reveal itself soon enough.



More to come on the saga of "Joey Vs. The Vibra Mobile".







.

 

[Joe Mc]

OK back from turnpike trip. Wifey says it's better but, still doing it :-{} . Good news is she tells me I'm mistaken about truck always doing this as we've made three trips out west, and if it vibrated like this the trips would have been unbearable. So, it's definitely something that has not been happening since I got it, as I thought. Good thing someone has some brain cells left over from the 70's. :-laf



I felt where the axels penetrate the knuckles on both sides as soon as I got home, they were both of similar temperature - warm and able to touch for more than 30 seconds. So probably not wheel bearing? I took a big pair of channel lock pliers and clamped on the rod end joints to see how much they would give. The left side @ knuckle joint seems to only give about 1/16", joint at pitman arm is the same, track bar new (yesterday), right side (from pitman arm to drag link) end joint seems to give a bit more than 3/16" and the one on the right knuckle is about the same.



Now even though there's a bit more play on the right side than there is on the left - that shouldn't be the cause of the dreaded vides . . . could it Another thought, I've never changed the stabilizer shock (horizontal from housing to steering linkage) and it appears to be original. Could this be the culprit? Does Bilstein make stabilizer shocks?



Am I instilling too much faith in the fact that I'm using dynabeads???? It doesn't give the classic signs of unbalance - starts out and goes away or, is only noticeable at a certain speed then fades out as you go faster or slower. The vibe can be noticed at speeds as low as 35 and remain consistent throughout speeds as fast as I dare (90 - 95 mph - alone of course).





Help Me, please :{ :{ I hate to see a grown man cry - especially when it's the guy in the mirror.







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[Steve St.Laurent]

I had a set of tires (BFG) that had a vibration the entire time I owned them. I had them rebalanced several times which would help some but never go away completely. I thought I was starting to deal with suspension wear but when I got my next set the problem was gone completely. Acted much like you describe. Have you tried rotating your tires to see if the vibration moved?

 

[steved]

If it was the shocks the first time, I'd be looking at them again... I tightened the ones on my 99 as tight as I dared and they loosened on their own... I ended up tightening them several times.



steved

 

[Joe Mc]

Thanks guys - I'll check the shocks again and swap the tires around - but it was doing this before the new tires and shocks.

 

[Dual EE]

Did you ever find out what was causing your vibration problem?

 

[Joe Mc]

Wow! I totally forgot about this post until I saw the title and realized it was mine.

I think it's either a wheel or tire because I moved the tire to the back and now it's vibrating from there . . . I think :{. I'm at the point where I'm thinking of calling a friend up to swap wheels for a day just to see if it's in the tire/wheels combo. Not a bad idea maybe after I R & R the tank weekend after next.

Thanks for reviving this post Dual EE I might just get this one figer'd out yet

 

[fest3er]

Wow! I totally forgot about this post until I saw the title and realized it was mine.



I think it's either a wheel or tire because I moved the tire to the back and now it's vibrating from there . . . I think :{. I'm at the point where I'm thinking of calling a friend up to swap wheels for a day just to see if it's in the tire/wheels combo. Not a bad idea maybe after I R & R the tank weekend after next.



Thanks for reviving this post Dual EE I might just get this one figer'd out yet

The only time I ever had a thunking in the R/F (passenger floor, really) was when the lower right shock bolt was insufficiently tight. If I recall correctly, 150 lb-ft of torque is about right for those bolts. 'Tight as you dare' is probably too loose, unless you are a gorilla. 'Almost as tight as you can' is about right for someone of average strength. And this kind of thunk is independent of vehicle speed. Anything that depends on vehicle speed is almost certainly related to some rotating mass on the vehicle.



If the thump is moving with the tire, let the air out of the tire, break the beads and rotate the tire 180 degrees on the wheel, and re-air it. Of course, you'll probably have to rebalance it, too, though your beads might make up the difference. One of my OEM tires was mounted 180 degrees off; on the rare occasion when I have to use them, that one tire/wheel will bounce between 40 and 50 MPH.



Also, if it is the tire/wheel, you should be able to *see* the out-of-round condition. Put it on the rear, put the rear axle on jack stands, start it up, put it in gear (2WD, of course) and let 'er rip. You should see the out-of-round idling in one gear or another. Or you'll see a defect in the tread.



N

 

[steved]

Sounds like a tire with a bad belt... and you narrowed it down to which one...



Can you swap your spare on until you eliminate the thump?



My dad and I both had tires with bad belts that never showed themselves... but you would get a sensation like a warped rotor when you stopped (smooth on the road)... we both simply thought it was bad rotors until we changed tires for winter and the "bad rotor" went away...



steved

 

[Hammer]

It's a Lifetime Moog

Joe...

Let me start off with this,there is no such thing as a lifetime trac bar as you will replace it alot due to the poor design of our steering on our trucks. Now,lifetime warranty to keep getting new ones,well thats true,but why keep screwing with it,sounds like you may want to step up and go a different route rather than keep working on it. Trac bar problems drove me nuts and mine had a Luke's link in it for years,along with a Energy Suspension poly bushing on the other end. The continuous rebuild of the link and time to do it made me rethink the whole deal and while I was out to EEP I had the Solid Steel conversion done on it to the 3rd gen trac bar. With me being at stock ride height I didn't go to the adjustable one yet as I will wait till I decide what I want for height. I also did their DDS stabilizer which helped eliminate wander and play also,and the combination was the best money on the truck I have yet to spend.



Now off onto your thumping sound... .

After doing some research into your noise I have noticed that in your threads about this you have failed to say if you ever replaced the ball joints. One of Ma Mopars most well known problems on the 99 and newer 2nd generation trucks was ball joint failure and it was at a alarming rate. They are known to make popping or thumping sounds when they have failed and will drive you nuts with the noise. Jack your truck up one side at a time and then use a large long pry bar,slid under the tire,to pull up on the bottom of the tire. If there is any play or movement the ball joint/joints are bad. You may even be able to make it make the popping noise there also.



Next place too consider is the shocks themselves. I do realize you said you replaced them but I have seen the fronts fail,even aftermarket ones,in short time on our trucks. I have related that to the manufacturers not actually thinking about actual weight on the front of our Cummins trucks and the difference over the gasser pigs. Yes,I do realize most have different part numbers between the 2500 gassers and the 2500 diesels,but,how much different is the internal valving and does it actually equal the actual weight difference. I have asked all of my local shops,who deal with many different brands of shocks,and all I usually get is a stupid look. Our trucks front end weight at nearly 4500lbs has more up front than a gasser has in its complete truck and to have a gasser mentality for our shocks I believe leads to premature failure with the left front going bad first. If you have the time I'd also pull the shocks up front and either have them tested on a shock machine or just replace them as to deal with the lifetime warranty run around your better off buying new ones.



Last place to look...

The cab mounts on your truck,their bushings and are they properly torqued. IF they are loose,or the bushings wore they will cause a clunk in the front on the passengers side and you will feel it on the floorboards on the right side. I have seen this happen with trucks that guys have put side tubes on as they forget to go back and retorque the bolts after driving for a few months. The cab mount bolts in my truck are checked for proper torque every other service just for my piece of mind. If the bushings are wore they will allow for slop and cause the noise your hearing also. Its a good time then to think about going to a poly bushing for longevity. The factory torque on the cab mounts is 75 ft lbs I think with out looking it up.



Hope this helps some and good luck with it... ... Andy

 

[Dual EE]

Wow! I totally forgot about this post until I saw the title and realized it was mine.



I think it's either a wheel or tire because I moved the tire to the back and now it's vibrating from there . . . I think :{. I'm at the point where I'm thinking of calling a friend up to swap wheels for a day just to see if it's in the tire/wheels combo. Not a bad idea maybe after I R & R the tank weekend after next.



Thanks for reviving this post Dual EE I might just get this one figer'd out yet

I developed a thump in the same spot as you were describing. I took the truck back yesterday to Les Schaub and had them rebalance the front tires. They did as someone noted above. Broke the bead and rotated the tires on the rim. It appears that on my short 2 mile trip on the freeway this morning everything is smooth again. They also rebalanced the four rears and found one wheel off by 4 oz. So hopefully your fix will be just as easy.

 

[Joe Mc]

Hammer & Dual EE - thanks for the suggestions. I agree with the Moog track bar being lifetime replaceable, not life lasting:-laf Some time back I checked the ball joints and found too much play in upper right - replaced top and bottom right and had aligned. Shocks are new Bilsteins for 2500 w/CTD and I installed "new" lower shock bolts and when I said I tightened them as much as I dare I'm not sure if I mentioned I had a 4' cheater bar on my breaker bar and was using leg muscles to tighten them:--). However, I did check to see if they were loosening sometime after install - still tight and no slop between bottom of shock ring and mounting tabs (ears or whatever). So, they are tight.

Never thought about cab mounts as I did install step bars back in summer of 01 shortly after I bought it. Will have to check them. During my tenure working on autos and such since I was 13 or so, has always been to tighten the bejimminies out of things, but more recently I've been more friendly with the torque wrench.

I'm still considering trying some other tires for a weekend to see if it's "for sure" a bad tire. And, My spare is an old Cooper on one of the original potato chip wheels - I don't even think it was balanced - but, I do have a bag of beads left over - hmmmmm? Oh well after the tank R & R, I'll see what the deal is.

Thanks again