2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Truck likes b-ball

[DOUGMartin]

My truck it seems likes b-ball! At speeds of about 70+ the front wheels at least the front passenger side feels like it is dribbling. Is this the death wobble that i have heard of? It was pretty bad this am was lat for work and doing about 80 and it really felt like the tire was bouncing on the road. How can i get this to stop i have a trip to ks in a couple months and would like to have this fixed by then. Thanks Doug

 

[tp0d]

Sounds like you possibly either lost a balancing weight on your tire, or the shock on that side may be bad. Of course theres a few other worse possibilities, hopefully it isnt something with the hub,etc. Stop at a tire store and have em check the balance+shock for ya. .



good luck



-j

 

[TBeckman]

Death Wobble is a violent shake that the only way it stops is by slowing down. Usually caused by wear in the steering components and ball joints. Way more common on the king pin style Dana 60's from my experience. You should prob pull those front wheels off and check the ends of the steering components and the rest. I'm having a hard time seeing the "dribble" happening, maybe someone else has had some expereince with it.

 

[DOUGMartin]

About a month ago I had the truck on a lift to put the straight pipe on, and the front end seemd pretty tight (good) to me and my buddy. I will take the wheels off this weekend and take a look thanks guys any one else with any ideas?



Yeah it defanitly feels like dribbling or bounceing.

 

[DF5152]

i vote for bad shock and out of balance wheel. the death wobble would be the hole fornt end shaking in a L/R direction steering wheel too.

 

[John - K5AWO]

Rebalance & change shocks

I 2nd DF5152's remarks. Even if you had loose upper/lower ball joints, the wheel would not be hopping for that reason alone.



The job of shock absorbers is to control wheel/tire balance from imperfect road surfaces. Even with a wheel/tire combo that is perfectly balanced you will get some hopping on bad joints, etc... The shock normally will control that to one bounce.



On the other hand, a wheel/tire combo that is unbalanced will start bouncing "like a basket ball dribble" starting at speeds of 55+ and get more noticable up to about 75 or so.



1-2 ounces out of balance will just be annoying. 3-5 ounces will make you wonder if the truck is going to stay in one piece.



What you are describing is a classic example of an out-of-balance situation in the 2-3+ ounce categoy. If this exists long enough, it will destroy a good shock.



My advise is to have the tires rebalanced, AND replace ALL of the shock absorbers. The reason for this is, the vehicle's suspension must be equally dampened on all four corners. If it is not, you will get a severe "wobbling effect around the geometric center of the vehicle".



This will effect the steering geometry and if bad enough will produce over-steer when cornering.



I have a brand new work van. At less than 2,000 miles I had all of the shocks replaced with heavy duty shocks because of the over steer problem. This is a 9 passenger E-150 van with the rear seat removed and my tools loaded in the back. About 600 lbs. This rear loading accentuates the over-steering symptoms. I also had the front end realigned WITH all of my tools in the back. This because with the rear end about 4 inches lower than "empty", the steering geometry is different than when empty. The van is now perfectly behaved and predictable.



One other comment:

... . Depending on how long this condition has existed, that tire may not be any good. Have it checked thoroughly for flat spots and irregular wear. Even if it is balanced, "out of round" tires will cause problems.



Luck to you,

John

 

[RThompson]

Check your tires for broken belts. They should be smooth on tread surface, any bumps or irregular areas will indicate broken belt. Good luck

 

[DOUGMartin]

I need new tires so when i get new very soon i will replace shocks as well. Thanks guys for the ideas. Doug

 

[tp0d]

Re: Rebalance & change shocks

Originally posted by John - K5AWO

"wobbling effect around the geometric center of the vehicle".

oooo gettin scientific here





good description of it tho...



-j

 

[Joe Mc]

Doug,



I mentioned on an earlier post about Road-Force balancing. Up until about 6 or 7 months ago I hadn't heard of this. I heard about it right here on the good ol' TDR. It's great for all tires especially oversized. Do an internet search for "Hunter" and once you get past all the fan sites you'll come up on one that's for alignment & balancing. The site has a demo of the Road-Force machine in action, gives description on how it works and provides a search engine to locate the nearest shop having the machine based on your zip code. It cost me $50 - and worth ever penny. MHO

 

[John - K5AWO]

Would help to provide links when mentioning something like that. I have looked all over the place and have not come up with a "live movie demo". Only Flash Animations.

---------------------------------------------------------



A flash demo

http://128.242.141.111/pub/images/demo.cfm



Article from Tech News

http://www.techshop-ets.com/ts404/ts40406.htm



From Hunter

http://www.hunter.com/pub/company/news/



From: GSP9700. COM

Why The GSP9700?

http://128.242.141.111/pub/technical/4127T/4127t.cfm



Wheel Balance is Only Part of the Solution...

http://128.242.141.111/pub/features/intro.cfm

 

[raf2000]

Had this happen twice.



First time too low of tire pressure and too high road speed. Very violent.



Second time. After T-Rex install, tires were toe'd in a good bit due to the change in steering geometry from the 2. 5 inch effective lift. Again, very violent and scary!

 

[Joe Mc]

Sorry John - know what you mean. I was at work at the time and just taking a break. I didn't mention a live movie demo - just a demo on how the machine works - sorry I've confused the two?



Bottom line - worked for me and for $50 that's cheap to at least eliminate the tires from the troubleshooting aspects of what our friend Doug is experiencing. And it's not $$$ wasted like just throwing parts to see what works.



Bub bye

 

[John - K5AWO]

Joe Mc



Joe,



sorry that post come out sounding that way. It didn't feel that way when it was typed



But it sure did read wrong after I came back and looked at it today... . and as for reading TDR from work, well, I probably am more quilty than most for doing that trick. My home page at work is TDR, sure confuses those who "borrow" my PC without asking questions



The "normal" Fire Department issue computer has a Fire Truck for a background

 

[Joe Mc]

No sweat bro, glad to hear back from ya. Keep on Truckin`