Real bad rear wobble

[Yanman]

Well, I thought I might have gotten away from jumping my truck undamaged, but now I'm not so sure.

I dove up to mrdoug's place with Sucka to do the "grey wire mod" and to get my tow hitch receiver bent back.

Anyway on the way up there and back, I've got a real bad wobble on the passenger's rear. Its real bad at high speeds and especially on concrete roads.

In fact its so bad it has caused my bed to flex into my cab and dent it a little.

While at mrdoug's, doug regreased all the zerts in the drive line and we also put the rear up on jack stands and ran it and didn't notice anything. However we didn't get it up to high speeds.

So, I'm not sure what to do. Should I just suck it up and realize that I was not that lucky and take it in and get it fixed, or is there someway I can fix it myself?

Thanks

[Avsfreak1234]

loose any tire weights?

[Yanman]

Hmm...maybe...

I could try taking it in and getting the tires rebalanced. I'm going to need to get it realigned anyway so I could try that.

Hopefully its just that simple.

[Quick Draw]

Yeah I had a period of time where I just couldn't seem to keep all 4 wheels balanced for very long. If it was the front tires, my steering wheel would violently move about 30 degrees back and forth very rapidly as soon as I hit about 45 mph. If it was the rear, the truck would hop. I could look in the mirror and see the rear corner of the bed bouncing very rapidly....but that was far less annoying than the front wheels. It didn't really feel like a wobble as much as a bounce, though.... So that may not be your issue.

What provokes it? Speed? Throttle? Nothing?

[Yanman]

Originally Posted by Avsfreak1234

loose any tire weights?

Another thing on that, I was using a different set of rims and tires when I went on that run when I jumped my truck. But still, the rims and tires that I have on now have always given me balancing problems.

Not sure if its the BFG Rugged trail tires or the TRD Ivan Stuart alloys or a combo of both.

Or again I might have F'd up something when I jumped my truck. But, I've been told that if I jacked something up it would more likely be up in the front.

Originally Posted by Quick Draw

Yeah I had a period of time where I just couldn't seem to keep all 4 wheels balanced for very long. If it was the front tires, my steering wheel would violently move about 30 degrees back and forth very rapidly as soon as I hit about 45 mph. If it was the rear, the truck would hop. I could look in the mirror and see the rear corner of the bed bouncing very rapidly....but that was far less annoying than the front wheels. It didn't really feel like a wobble as much as a bounce, though.... So that may not be your issue.

What provokes it? Speed? Throttle? Nothing?

I think speed is definately one of the factors. At low speeds 0-10 it rides smooth, 11-60 a little wobble, 61 + its BAD! And it does feel a little like a bounce.

[RedRunnertc]

The alignment shop should find anything bent in a hurry.

[ike]

like troy said, an alignment shop is where you should go.

I would get an alignment and get the tires balanced, and then if you still have the wobble start to worry.

[mrdoug]

heh, sounds familiar... I didn't realize you swapped wheels too, you might want to check your lug nuts, make sure the wheels are all on there good and square, lugs torqued, etc.

Here's to hopping it something relatively simple/cheep.

[ike]

I had forgotten about your loose lug issue there doug.

[mrdoug]

snap, crackle and pop... yeah, stupid mistakes happen.

My "sounds familiar" comment was because the tire balance and alignment were the first things I mentioned when he brought it up. Simple, pretty cheep (comparatively) and good to rule out.

[ike]

Yep, I currently get a wobble at 60-65, but i am sure it is tires being out of balance. Time to go back to my freindly local discount tire

[TacoBlanca97]

Originally Posted by Yanman

Hmm...maybe...

I could try taking it in and getting the tires rebalanced. I'm going to need to get it realigned anyway so I could try that.

Hopefully its just that simple.

Was there any wobble driving back after the New Years day run?

[Yanman]

Originally Posted by ike

like troy said, an alignment shop is where you should go.

I would get an alignment and get the tires balanced, and then if you still have the wobble start to worry.

I'll do just that on Sunday.

I know a friend who had something similiar happen to his minivan and he had to get new tires because the tires he was running were so jacked.

Hopefully I won't have to do the same, althought it would be nice to get rid of those crappy BFG "Rugged Trail" tires!

Originally Posted by mrdoug

heh, sounds familiar... I didn't realize you swapped wheels too, you might want to check your lug nuts, make sure the wheels are all on there good and square, lugs torqued, etc.

I did re-torque my lugs a week after our snow run when I noticed the wobble and as you can guess it didn't help.

Originally Posted by mrdoug

Here's to hopping it something relatively simple/cheep.

I'll toast to that!

Originally Posted by TacoBlanca97

Was there any wobble driving back after the New Years day run?

Hard to say because those mud tires have thier own wobble due to the tread pattern. But when I have those mud tires on my truck it rides alot smoother than those street tires and the wobble is not as bad.

[ike]

That is weird that the MT's ride smoother than the AT's.


Just caught your signature line. All too true after your pull on MrDoug.

[Yanman]

Originally Posted by ike

That is weird that the MT's ride smoother than the AT's.

I know, and its not supposed to be like that.

I'm almost positive that if I come away from the tire/alignment shop and I'm OK, then it will be the same old song and dance with those street tires and rims, they are just a pain in the ass and they will be until I get different tires, different rims, or both.

Or, I say screw this I'll always run my MTs and 15" rims.

[Volcom]

Could be a bent rear axle tube. Cubuff4Runner bent his 96 4Runner rear axle housing last summer on either Holy Cross or BV Carnage. I followed him out of BV Carnage and it was wobbling bad

[RedRunnertc]

Good point volcom - Yancey - have you had anyone drive behind you and see if it's wobbling?

[Yanman]

Originally Posted by RedRunnertc

Good point volcom - Yancey - have you had anyone drive behind you and see if it's wobbling?

No I have not, but I will now.

Thanks!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that its just the tires.

[Yanman]

OK well I got someone to follow me out on the highway and the first go round it didn't want to cooperate and ran smooth as a baby's butt at 80 mph.

Before the second round I switched the rear tires from one side to the other, and then took it out. This it I felt a wobble at 71-73 mph, couldn't tell if it switched sides, and my tail couldn't see anything wrong.

GRRR...

So now what I'll do is go ahead and go get 'em rebalanced and aligned and see where that leads me.

I wonder if it was just a bad patch of road I was on on I-25 and my suspension is too sensitive. Like I said it was REAL BAD on concrete sections and not asphalt.

To be continued...

[Sucka]

Originally Posted by Yanman

I wonder if it was just a bad patch of road I was on on I-25 and my suspension is too sensitive. Like I said it was REAL BAD on concrete sections and not asphalt.

It wasn't the concrete because i had a smooth ride up and back with you following. I suppose it could have been your rear suspension, but i would rule out the balancing first.

[Quick Draw]

It could have something to do with I-25. Sections of that road do all kinds of terrible things to my truck. One particular section about 3 miles south of Ft. Collins has broken the welds (not my welds) on my shock mounts twice. Then all of the sudden that crappy ride gets REALLY crappy....

I only have the bumpy ride issue on I-25 however. I-70 has a whole batch of handling problems with the truck wanting to follow worn in grooves in the pavement...which is not really as cool as it sounds....turns out you have to pay more attention to your steering... Some of those damn grooves seem to go straight into the guard rail!

[Son of Mayhem]

Make sure you get the sticky weights on the inside of the rim... No weights to be knocked off.

[devinsixtyseven]

Is it possible there was some debris stuck in the rim somewhere?

Wobbles don't fix themselves, unless it's something like that.

[Yanman]

Originally Posted by devinsixtyseven

Is it possible there was some debris stuck in the rim somewhere?

Wobbles don't fix themselves, unless it's something like that.

Could be, or like what Avsfreak suggested maybe I lost a weight.

I didn't notice anything in the rims when I swaped sides.

But it's wierd how it comes and goes. Its like it has good days and bad days.

The saga continues, I'll be getting them re-balanced and re-aligned this afternoon.

[Gerdo]

****I would never do this nor would I ever recomend that you do this.****

If someone was so inclined to be riding with you when you have the wobble. That someone may look out a window and see what the tire/wheel is doing.

A safer way would be with a video camera.

[Yanman]

Originally Posted by Gerdo

****I would never do this nor would I ever recomend that you do this.****

If someone was so inclined to be riding with you when you have the wobble. That someone may look out a window and see what the tire/wheel is doing.

A safer way would be with a video camera.

Interesting idea...but as you stated, its not recomendable, because it might be dangerous.

But, I did do what Troy suggested and have someone follow me, my Dad, on two runs.

On both runs he drove along both sides of the rear of my truck looking closely at the tires and rims and was looking at the bed to see if anything was jumping around...nothing.

[Gerdo]

Bent driveshaft? Bad U-joint? A little of both?

[Yanman]

Originally Posted by Gerdo

Bent driveshaft? Bad U-joint? A little of both?

mrdoug was thinking that might be the case too, and I'm thinking that also.

My old '91 Toy Pickup had to go in several times during the time I owned it (12 years) and had to get the drive shaft fixed because it would get out of balance.

[Gerdo]

Originally Posted by Yanman

mrdoug was thinking that might be the case too, and I'm thinking that also.

My old '91 Toy Pickup had to go in several times during the time I owned it (12 years) and had to get the drive shaft fixed because it would get out of balance.

That would be an easy check/fix for a DS shop to do.

I would, in this order, check ballance of tires (again even if you already have). Have someone watch the tires when you feel the vibes on the highway, sounds like you already have done that. Take a look at all suspension parts for something bent or loose. Get the DS looked at.

My first thought was a bent wheel or a bent axle.

[mrdoug]

The ujoints were in need of some grease but there wasn't any noticeable play in them. The slip joint was pretty dry but again, no noticeable play. Can't really speak for the balancing tho.

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure with an out of balance drive shaft the vibration would be pretty constant, and not come/go with changing wheels.

As for the dent in the cab. I'd be willing to bet that might have happened when you caught air on the snow run (or rather when you came down after catching air). The bed/cab move quite a bit more than you'd expect.