Are your front hubs locked instead of in free? Did you keep the drive shaft in the same orientation while installing the ujoints? Did you smack the ujoints good after installing to free them up?
Vibration at Speed
- Thread starter bilbo
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bilbo
Full Access Member
It's a 2wd so no hubs to lock. Good to go there. I did make sure the drive shaft orientation stayed the same, and just for kicks tried all other combos as well. I did not smack anything; where would I smack the U-joint? I've never heard or been taught that.
Usually a good tap with a hammer, not too aggresive, on the yolk a few times in different spots while moving the joints around. If you put the joint in on the shaft say on a bench, and try to rotate it, its very stiff initially. Just need to get everything set and get the needles rolling.
The taps are to relieve the tension that causes the joint to bind that is caused by the friction of installing it. The yoke is usually a little distorted because of pushing the caps in. A little shock with a hammer tap helps It spring back to shape.
bilbo
Full Access Member
Good to know, thanks for the explanations. I will give this a shot. Also having wheels balanced today so we will see if that makes any difference. There were quite a few weights on the wheels. I remember when I worked at a couple Mechanics' shops while in school some of the GTs would never take off the old weights before spin balancing. Even when putting new tires on some times! Not sure what they were in such a hurry to get back to at that time as facebook and smartphones weren't quite as pervasive then.
As a side note, the wheel bearing must have been causing some issues, because it used to get this pulsing shimmy some times at freeway speeds. I figured it was the road surface because it was only occasional on the long trip home when I bought it, and always the same spots on the short section of interstate it's been on multiple times since I got home. My work commute is a 60mph road but if I go to town it's on the 70+mph freeway. Road surface may have been a factor to set things off or something, but same section of freeway and other attempts at 70+ mph have been shimmy-free.
The 70mph vibration/noise is also quite a bit more subdued. I'm going to look into the front bearings more, I just did my trailer method of light hand tight on the hub nut with a socket while turning the wheel. On the Ranger, I remember a torque spec for that while turning the wheel or something to that effect in the service manual. Just have to look for it in the manual for the F250.
As a side note, the wheel bearing must have been causing some issues, because it used to get this pulsing shimmy some times at freeway speeds. I figured it was the road surface because it was only occasional on the long trip home when I bought it, and always the same spots on the short section of interstate it's been on multiple times since I got home. My work commute is a 60mph road but if I go to town it's on the 70+mph freeway. Road surface may have been a factor to set things off or something, but same section of freeway and other attempts at 70+ mph have been shimmy-free.
The 70mph vibration/noise is also quite a bit more subdued. I'm going to look into the front bearings more, I just did my trailer method of light hand tight on the hub nut with a socket while turning the wheel. On the Ranger, I remember a torque spec for that while turning the wheel or something to that effect in the service manual. Just have to look for it in the manual for the F250.
bilbo
Full Access Member
So the wheels needed to be rebalanced but one is really off and she could not get it to balance. She said the tire is wonky. I’m not sure if it’s worn uneven or actually out of round some how. It would be the first time I’ve ever seen that.
One thing, my rear end seems to bind slightly when turning tight at very low speed. It’s a little worse backing up. It’s a 4.10 sterling LSD according to the door sticker. Could there be something wrong there that’s causing uneven wear?
One thing, my rear end seems to bind slightly when turning tight at very low speed. It’s a little worse backing up. It’s a 4.10 sterling LSD according to the door sticker. Could there be something wrong there that’s causing uneven wear?
If you really think the rear axle is binding then you might try adding some LSD additive, unless you know there is already some in there.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
From the last time that I worked in a Good Year shop in 2007, just about all of the tires were out of round compared to the ones that we put on when I worked at the first tire shop in 1994. We would have sent those all back. Like everything else, the quality of tires has suffered greatly compared to how they used to be. If it's really bad, there won't be a lot that can be done about it. One trick that can be tried if it's not badly out of round, break the tire beads loose, don't dismount the tire, and turn the tire around the rim 180*. Sometimes that helps if the heavy spot on the tire and the rim happen to be close to the same place. That's something else that we did at the first tire store I worked at but not the Good Year store. They would just keep putting on weights there.
silexis
Registered User
I had some out of round rear drums that caused only high speed vibration. I could see the bed vibrating.
bilbo
Full Access Member
Interesting, I worked in a Firestone shop around the same time (2006 I think) and we did the same thing. The balancer had a hood that had to be down to spin the wheel, so I never really watched how it looked while spinning, but once in a while I'd have one that either called for an asinine amount of weight or would call for more weight each time it was rechecked after putting weights on. I'd take those tires off and rotate 180* but I always figured it just had a heavy spot. We were always told to line up the valve stem with the 'heavy' mark on the tire. It was usually a little yellow circle on the sidewall. Not sure if that really matters, but seems when I have tires put on they are never lined up.
I suppose tires follow everything else with QC, cheaper to process returns and accept the poor quality than to spend the extra money on labor and QC up front. Kind of unfortunate for us consumers.
I had to use the truck to haul some stuff this weekend but will hopefully be parking it after today and digging into the rear end next week. Also have to build an skating rink in our backyard this week. Never seems to be enough time for it all.
Jim993
Registered User
Make sure that a driveshaft has not been assembled one spline off on the slip joint(s). Driveshaft U-joints at each end of the shaft MUST be in the same plane or strange vibrations will result. Easy to check. Cross cup 0--------------------------SLIP--0 cross cup
bilbo
Full Access Member
The slip joint has one larger spline with a matching gap in the other side, so it can only go back together as you described.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
Yep this was in '06 and most of '07. I HATED that job. You can see the bottom of the tire while it's spinning with the hood down. Those yellow and red dots are called balance dots. Nobody else in that Good Year store had seen them, heard of them, or knew how to use them other than me. Not tires have them and not tires with balance dots have red ones. You line the yellow ones up with the valve stem and it takes less weight to balance the tires that way. they do work because when I mounted the current tires on my truck, it had been so long since I had seen tires with them that I forgot which one to line up so I lined up the red dots with the valve stem. They were so out of balance that even the balance beads in the tires could smooth out the vibrations. I eventually had to break the tires back down, rotate them to line up the yellow dots, and then air them back up. It made a HUGE difference in how the truck rides.
