Really Bad vibration!!! UPDATE!!

[Josh B]

I realized that after I read it, shoulda come up with something better.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

This happened to me...

Got a vibration, narrowed it down to center support bearing, swapped it but maybe messed up the phasing as it did not solve the problem.

I did the 1 piece driveshaft swap based on info I found here and other forums...problem solved.

 

[MarcosLopez77]

so i had the tires rotated and balanced few days ago. Starting to think this vibration is coming from the wheels. Truck seems to vibrate at all speeds now more so at 45mph seems to be smoother at 60 and above. thinking maybe a bad job on the balancing? i did grab hold of the ujoints in the front axle. center ujoint does have some play not sure if it would cause such a vibration but i suppose its possible

 

[Uncle Gump]

Isolate where you think the vibration is coming from... rotate the suspect tire to a new position. See if the vibration follows the tire.

 

[pjtoledo]

vibrations below 40-45 are something bent or out of round.
above 50-60 it can be balance or bent or both.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

so i had the tires rotated and balanced few days ago. Starting to think this vibration is coming from the wheels. Truck seems to vibrate at all speeds now more so at 45mph seems to be smoother at 60 and above. thinking maybe a bad job on the balancing? i did grab hold of the ujoints in the front axle. center ujoint does have some play not sure if it would cause such a vibration but i suppose its possible

Find out if they did a "static" or "dynamic" balance.
The difference is wheel weight placement, sometimes only on inside or only outside (static). A better balance has the wheel weights wherever they need to be, and a good balancer machine will tell you inside or outside weight.

And yea it might be bad balance job...you cant just pile on weights, there's a limit to that...it should only take a few here and there...otherwise its just temporary covering up another problem. But some guys just keep adding weights until it shows balance. I think good machines indicate a limit for that too, or show an error.

Also I have lost/flung off wheel weights ..I duct tape over them on the motorcycle wheels. Maybe check for marks indicating there used to be a weight there, you might have lost one.

 

[James Morse]

bead balancing?

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I worked at tire shop one college summer. I remember the balancer you could set to static or dynamic...and that would balance it based on weight being only on the inside of the wheel or both...or you could set it to dynamic with was tell me where the weight needs to go and how much.

From there weight installation also mattered. The heavier ones can get pretty long and centering em up nice matter...grease monkeys just hammer em in ballpark location, then it calls for more weight, then they half aimed hammer in more...so on and so forth..next thing you know it's caked in weights.

Some wheels only allow weights on the inside, or just to maintain look of fancy wheels, guys will demand that.

Just like most things, it's not rocket science, yet lack of attention to details will bone you.

 

[MarcosLopez77]

I worked at tire shop one college summer. I remember the balancer you could set to static or dynamic...and that would balance it based on weight being only on the inside of the wheel or both...or you could set it to dynamic with was tell me where the weight needs to go and how much.

From there weight installation also mattered. The heavier ones can get pretty long and centering em up nice matter...grease monkeys just hammer em in ballpark location, then it calls for more weight, then they half aimed hammer in more...so on and so forth..next thing you know it's caked in weights.

Some wheels only allow weights on the inside, or just to maintain look of fancy wheels, guys will demand that.

Just like most things, it's not rocket science, yet lack of attention to details will bone you.

thank you for the info, well i checked my wheels and theres weight both on inside and inside so im assuming they did dynamic balancing? i did find a nail in my tire last night when i was looking at my wheels so i made an appointment to get tires rechecked and nail removed and repaired.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

thank you for the info, well i checked my wheels and theres weight both on inside and inside so im assuming they did dynamic balancing? i did find a nail in my tire last night when i was looking at my wheels so i made an appointment to get tires rechecked and nail removed and repaired.

Yep sound right...Get it patched/plugged whatever...I still plug my own tires lol...
it could be a bad tire not misbehaving until there is weight and speed involved...or something else steering/suspension/driveline/chassis related...

 

[MarcosLopez77]

well got my tire fixed and rebalanced. there is a huge improvement but still has some vibration. Think im gonna have to live with it as this truck is over 30 years old. May look into changing ujoints on the front axle next time i do brakes and rotors. May also change ujoints in the driveshafts since its pretty easy and cheap job to do.

thank you all for your suggestions. If i ever find the culprit ill be sure to give an update

 

[rusty ol ranger]

well got my tire fixed and rebalanced. there is a huge improvement but still has some vibration. Think im gonna have to live with it as this truck is over 30 years old. May look into changing ujoints on the front axle next time i do brakes and rotors. May also change ujoints in the driveshafts since its pretty easy and cheap job to do.

thank you all for your suggestions. If i ever find the culprit ill be sure to give an update

It didnt vibrate when it rolled off the lot 30 years ago.

No reason to live with something it shouldnt do

 

[MarcosLopez77]

It didnt vibrate when it rolled off the lot 30 years ago.

No reason to live with something it shouldnt do

i agree but after all the parts, money and time ive put into this i dont really know what else to do? ive done just about everything i can think of to find and eliminate this vibration and havent been succesful

 

[Josh B]

Sometimes you can do well to drop back and punt, maybe it's somewhere you never expected and need time to let it sort itself out. I believe you'll likely discover it eventually, possibly in the most unexpected place

Just don't let it completely escape your attention in case it's a steering or safety issue

 

[Danno1985]

i agree but after all the parts, money and time ive put into this i dont really know what else to do? ive done just about everything i can think of to find and eliminate this vibration and havent been succesful

Feeling the vibration at 65 with the truck in neutral makes me feel like it's wheel-related. Which wheels are you running? Steelies? I wonder if you have one or more bent rims. I was chasing a minor but annoying 65+ vibration all last summer until I put my winter tires on last fall - installed on a set of never-used dealer-takeoff steelies. Bingo, no vibration. Took the other set to Discount Tire to see if they could balance them and they brought me back into the bay to show me that two rims were in fact bent and would wobble back and forth on the balancer. Rare, but it happens. I just wonder what the previous owner ran over or jumped in a lowly 2wd Ranger to bend two steel wheels at once. Or they could've been two separate bomb craters potholes. Who knows?

Unless I missed it, I don't think you mentioned where the vibration seems to be coming from. Are you feeling it in the steering wheel, the seatback, or both? Before tossing in the towel on this, I would try to rotate the wheels around a couple times and see if you can isolate it to the front or the back.