Vibration at highway speeds 60 to 75

[KPotter]

Has anyone fixed the problem with the random highway vibrations? Tried road force balance helped just a little, but after a few miles just as bad. Please just results that produced a cure.

 

[Hoefler]

Do you have the stick on weights?? I know of a truck that the owner would power wash his off after getting in mud and cleaning up.

 

[TJJEEPER]

Had the same issue, eventually found a separated tire... no kidding, after the road force balance I drove it for another 500 miles. At first it was better but it got way worse. I was lucky to not have it come apart!

 

[LocoPilot750]

I just traded my '14 2500, but had a terrible time trying to fix the vibration. Had tires road force balanced a three different shops, all put the weights in a different place. Had the dealer swap wheels & tires off a new truck on the lot, still no difference, tried different drive shafts, it was always there. I put a set of centramatics on it, and that helped more than anything, but you could still always feel it just slightly. I even thought it was wind flow, or aerodynamic buffeting characteristic of the truck, because on the highway, it would get worse, but be at the same cadence, if I rolled down one or both rear windows. Never did find a way to eliminate it entirely, even with different tires. I ordered a '17 in august, the same identical truck except the new one has air suspension on the rear. It sits level, compared to the '14, and more importantly to me, rides smooth as glass.

 

[Minnow101]

I had my Transforce HT tires road forced balanced and that took care of the issue. However there are several other owners reporting that this did not fix their issue. I think there is more than one cause for vibration issues. Some have had a new drive shaft installed.

 

[Alan Reagan]

Rotated the drive shaft 180 degrees on the differential end and that helped a lot. Finally installed the balance masters I had initially installed on my 2011 and now it is smooth. The passenger seat would shake all the time until I did those two things. Now it sits still.

 

[LocoPilot750]

I got a set of Centramatics for my '14 2500 4x4, and that tamed it down quite a bit. When I ordered the '17, I pulled them off before I traded it, and just for the fun of it, I put them on my old '97 with worn out, out of balance tires, and to my surprise, they fit. And it's just a 2wd. When the '17 came in, I took them back off the '97 and put them on the new one, not so much to smooth it out, but to try and eliminate the need to have it re-balance after it hits about 6,000 miles. I've used many sets of Firestone TransForce tires over the years on the old truck (420,000 miles) and each set has to be re-balanced after the tires stretch & break in a little. In the spring, I'll put another new set on the '97, and probably order another set of Centramatics for it too. I do use a "BalanceMasters" mercury balance ring between the prop and hub on my small plane, and that took all the vibration out of that, so it's a proven principal to me.

 

[RustyJC]

Had the same issue, eventually found a separated tire... no kidding, after the road force balance I drove it for another 500 miles. At first it was better but it got way worse. I was lucky to not have it come apart!

The only time I had a vibration problem on my 2011 3500 DRW was just before one of the OEM General AmeriTracs came apart on the inside right rear - over $4K in damages!! I put a set of Michelin LTX M/S2s on it and it rode as smooth as glass. I transferred the Michelins with about 2K miles on them to the 2016 in my signature when I bought it, and I've never had any vibration problems at all.

Rusty

 

[shorthorn]

Well I joined the vibration club last night... Truck was smooth as glass on the worn out factory Nexen tires. Had a full set of Cooper AT3's installed last night and not I have a pretty bad vibration. Gonna have to give them a call today...

 

[Hoefler]

I had a set of AT3's on my 2010 that had and, developed further, flat spots in the center block on the mold mark. Not even or cemetrical around the tire. One tire had one at the 12 oclock position, one at 3 ant the next one at 7. No rhyme or reason.

 

[Minnow101]

New tires may need a break in period before the vibration goes away. Also, did they road force balance the new tires before installation?

 

[shorthorn]

New tires may need a break in period before the vibration goes away. Also, did they road force balance the new tires before installation?

Thanks Minnow and Hoefler - I am hoping these tires wear well for me... I had 2 sets of them on my 1/2 ton, a set on my 3/4 ton and now a set on my Dually... all the other sets have been fine.

I took it back to the shop yesterday. I talked to the asst. manager (who happens to be a huge Cummins fan) who agreed something wasn't right. He pulled off all 4 back tires, rebalanced them all and did a road force test on them.

Both outside duals were way out of balance (4 oz or more each). Once he pulled all the weights off and rebalanced them they each took under 3 oz weight total. He also road forced all 4. They all came up really good except for the outer dual on the driver side came up "marginal" and showed a road force of 30 lbs. The other 3 tires had road forces of less than 15 lbs. - It appears the kid putting them on originally had done less than a stellar job of balancing the tires.

Since doing this, they have been better... The vibration is almost completely gone now at 60MPH. It comes on now at about 65 and is pretty bad still at 70. Tonight I am going back in so they can do the rebuild on the TPMS sensors (they didn't have the right kits at first) and so they can rebalance and road force the two front times. The plan is if I still get a vibration after they have all been road forced and rebalanced they are going to replace the tire that road forced as "Marginal".

Hopefully I can't get this thing knocked out tonight before I hook up the 5er and head out for the weekend!

 

[SmokeyMtn16]

I recently purchased a 2016 RAM 1500 Bighorn Ecodiesel 4x4 crewcab and after the first 1,000 miles I noticed a vibration at 60 mph +. I have since taken the truck to 3 different dealership service departments. Two shops took it for a test drive and gave it back to me saying that is drives like a truck. One of the shops did balance/rotate the tires (road force balance, etc.) but this did not improve the ride. Third dealership replaced the front shafts and again ... vibration is still noticable. Very annoying after spending this much money for this truck. The truck is stock with Goodyear SRA's.

 

[Cummins12V98]

I recently purchased a 2016 RAM 1500 Bighorn Ecodiesel 4x4 crewcab and after the first 1,000 miles I noticed a vibration at 60 mph +. I have since taken the truck to 3 different dealership service departments. Two shops took it for a test drive and gave it back to me saying that is drives like a truck. One of the shops did balance/rotate the tires (road force balance, etc.) but this did not improve the ride. Third dealership replaced the front shafts and again ... vibration is still noticable. Very annoying after spending this much money for this truck. The truck is stock with Goodyear SRA's.

You should be posting in the 4th gen EcoDiesel forum

 

[Thump]

Has anyone also considered shocks as a contributing factor?
They can create a harmonic, of sorts, on a freeway (it seems as though the pour lines are our exact wheelbase or something!) if marginal or flat worn out. If they can't control the road force, then oscillation begins and will act like a ln out of balance tire.
Had all six tires balanced by a big rig tire dealer friend to dang near perfect, but still had issues on some areas of freeways here in Phoenix - with I-10 in L.A. being undriveable above 50 - until I put on some good shocks. Tested balance after installing the shocks just to see and they had not changed on road force or spin weight.

 

[Sticks]

Anybody try going out without the hub caps? They don't balance the tires with them on...

I've seen decorative valve stem caps throw balance out.

 

[AaronOregon]

Look at #10 here: https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/258425-Sold-my-POS-2015-today-Never-looking-back!

 

[EDankievitch]

figured I'd share this. For the past two years, Since I put on my current set of Cooper Discover At's that the local tire shop talked me into. I had wanted Toyo's but they couldn't get them. I've had a vibration starting around 60 mph and really getting bad above 70mph. I'd get the tires re balanced, added Centramatics an it'd be better but it's hard to tell as the roads here in Long Island really suck. But it was never right. I'd rotate the tires and the vibration would be worse. Go back an have them re balanced again same issue. 3 tire shops later an about to scrap the tires I remembered a small tire shop in Speonk, Ny. Zima tire. I had stopped in to price an see if they could get me the Toyo's. The guy said why did I want to scrap tires with almost half their tread left. Told him my tail how the tires don't hold balance. He said let his guys try as he's never had an issue with Cooper tires. The first thing they did after removing all weights was to mount the tires/ wheels on this plate with lugs. Hmmm No one ever did that before. The guy said the Ram Cast Aluminum wheels the hubs are not true you have to mount the wheel on the balancer machine by the studs for it to turn true. You can't just slip them on the machine an expect them to spin true.
My wheels took way less weight than they ever did before. While I was skeptical the vibration was solved I took the truck for a run even at 85 mph it was smooth as anything. I still can't believe this is the same tires and same truck. I'm willing to bet most tire shops don't have a clue what they are doing and we're suffering with in explained vibrations as a result.

 

[Too Tall]

I had issues with the Firestone Transforce on certain roads. These tires are the worst I've ever had on a truck. I got 29K and I drive like the papa I am. I put Michelin Defender XLT's from SAM's, regular spin balance and the difference was night and day. Now my truck is so smooth, I'm at 80 mph sometimes and don't realize it. These are not on off the road tires, regular highway tires. I highly recommend the Michelin. Actually less expensive than the all terrain. Also, I run 65/80 psi.

 

[EDankievitch]

I had issues with the Firestone Transforce on certain roads. These tires are the worst I've ever had on a truck. I got 29K and I drive like the papa I am. I put Michelin Defender XLT's from SAM's, regular spin balance and the difference was night and day. Now my truck is so smooth, I'm at 80 mph sometimes and don't realize it. These are not on off the road tires, regular highway tires. I highly recommend the Michelin. Actually less expensive than the all terrain. Also, I run 65/80 psi.

How many miles have you gotten out of them? I almost bought them but was steered away by the sales man. I use to run Michelin "X" on my 89 they would last about 80k miles I'm lucky my truck allows for light and heavy load settings on the tire pressure. I run 60 on all 4 unless i'm towing long distance then I'll pump up the rear to 70-75 psi