i've been reading about road force balancing. is that how they balanced your new tires?

 

I'm going to say no. I'm so confused on why we would need such a fancy method of balancing tires. I never have had to do this kind of stuff before to a car/truck. I had a 1997 explorer, and explorers are very similar to rangers... I never had any of this crap. This is such a fusterating problem.

The truck is going into the shop that did the balancing Monday morning at 9am. They think they can solve the problem.... I hope they can, but I think i've ruled out most everything. I'm starting to think a wheel bearing could be ba. But I want the tires balanced at least another time before I go opening that rear end up again.

Ranger05, does your truck slow down quickly? I can't remember how fast mine did, becuase I was driving an F350 for like 3 weeks and the ranger sat. I feel like it drops off 65 real fast like i'm almost applying brake. I wonder if ford could figure this one out. I wish shops didn't charge so much for diagnostics.

 

Anyone that is into alignments. Here is the information from my alignment...

Before:

Left Front:
Camber: -0.5*
Caster: 2.7*
Toe -0.13*

Right Front:
Camber: -0.8*
Caster: 3.2*
Toe: -.12*

After Alignment:

Left Front:

Camber: -.6*
Caster:2.7*
Toe:0.10*

Right Front:

Camber:-0.8*
Caster:3.2*
Toe:0.05*

Cross Camber 0.2*
Cross Caster: 0.5*
Total Toe: 0.15*

Left Rear:

Camber: 0.2*
Toe: 0.10*

Right Rear:

Camber: -0.2*
Toe: 0.09*

Rear:

Total Toe: 0.01*
Thrust Angle: 0.10*

NOTE: * means degrees.

I don't know if this means anything to anyone, all it means to me is that the numbers changed really.

 

i know these are under a tundra forum but its a good read about road force balancing.
Load Force Tire Balance - Opinions? - Toyota Tundra Forums : Tundra Solutions Forum
road force balancing - what questions to ask? - Toyota Tundra Forums : Tundra Solutions Forum

every thing i've read tonight says it harder to balance LT or larger off road tires. i would try the road force because of the new tires. if there is a problem they can change it out for you.

nross, my truck gains speed on a down hill grade and coasts fine i think.

 

You have a standard though dont you ranger05? i drop from 70 to 50 very quick then the rest is coasting fine. I'm about to go find my truck on fire somewhere.

I found the search for the road force balancing. It can be found on http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm

I'm going to get it done. I've gotta rule it out. I've just gotta, I don't want to see a new set of tires get trashed.

 

if you mean a manual trans, then yes.

 

I've got an automatic, I wish I had a standard. The automatic I think stops the coasting. My exploder did it too... Im going to try and get that balancing done tomorrow. That shop does not have that machine, so they must have done it with the one that only spins the tires slowly. Apparently my truck would like more money spent on it :(. Shes such a greedy bi**h.

I'm goin to sleep, its 1:32 AM. I've been at this for 19 hours today. I've had enough.

 

So I found that my local dealership has one of these machines. I asked for a price on it and it would be 99.95 for this service to be done. I think im going to try and shop around a bit monday for it. I understand its a specialty service, but that seems high to me. They also want me to bring the truck in to look at it, and they will never get their filthy paws on it again, they just seem to do sloppy work.

 

ok this may sound pretty stupid but check a high school auto class my auto class has a road force balencing machine (cause of gov. funding) and our teachers have to go back and check in behind us and so far we havent had a car come back with any probs that we caused so it may be an option

 

I had same problem before.turned out to be the alignment,especially the camber.Alot of places will just adjust your toe.I believe they set all my stuff to 0.

 

Does anyone have the alignment data that works best with this truck? Maybe they have too much of one of the 3 for the alignment. I posted the alignment data before and after up a bit in this thread. I am going back to the same place monday, I want them to check the balance of the tire (incase I lost a weight when I drove away... wouldnt be the first person ever for that to happen to). Also check the alignment again that it held in position and is correct... maybe there was error. After that if they cannot find some problem quickly... Im going to have to have the tires road force tested for a slightly bent rim, and get an alignment at some other place... and if that doesnt work... I will just have to continue to change parts until it goes away.

 

aye man dont get down about this i know its frustrating but at least your better off than me mine started vibratein a lil and i didnt think nothin of it at first and then it got so bad my door panel got shaken lose and at first we all thought it was torque converter and we changed that and it still did it and who i bought my motor from said it was still under warnnty so we started to think somethin was wrong with the crank and the pistons so right now its in the prosses of havein the motor changed and im prayin that its not the tranny

all in all no matter what your better off than me

 

ah, that is terrible. This is definitally not a engine or transmission problem. It's something out of balance somewheres in the truck. I mean, I don't THINK it is any of that stuff. I'm starting to think that it is my rear brake drums being warped. I am thinking they are warped since when I lift the rear end the truck, and rotate each tire slowly, there is no brake drag in spots, then brake drag in others when rotating... These warped rotors could cause the rear brakes to be gripping ever so slightly while i'm driving down the road causing a shimmy. They also are balanced objects and once they are warped enough they would in theory become unbalanced if I believe (to what I know about balancing of objects). If it is not this it could be the rims, but I set up a runout gauge on the rim face, and I did not notice LARGE differeances in the readings. I think I am going to REPLACE the rear drums. I may also remove and replace all shoes, springs, and self adjusters. Then I can say I have FULLY NEW brakes all the way around the truck. Then they are fully ruled out.

I think a torque converter would get bad enough it would create funny transmission noises such as clicking, grinding, chirping anything. I think i'm going to do the brake drums at least.

 

Today, I replaced the rear drums, shoes, and springs. I test drove the truck and the shaking is gone. There is still a vibration in the driverseat a bit. BUT I WILL TAKE IT! :)

Now, the drums did not give me any sign that they were warped, no brake pedal feel at all. Just the shaking. I am guess that becuase the truck is so light this is the sign of warped drums. The drums were not warped much at all.

Ranger05, I suggest that you jack the back of the truck up and put the truck in neutral. Turn each rear wheel very slowly and listen for the drag associated with the brakes. If there seems to be any spots that are more resistance than the others replace the rear brakes fully. If you have not replaced the rear brakes at all, mine I had to replace at around 40k miles. I found that the adjuster was frozen solid with rust and the springs basically snapped when I went to relieve them from the rear drum brake assembly.

I hope that this helps. As for the vibration in my seat and the truck still (but no shake)... I think I am going to get that fancy road force balancing done, see just how good I can make this truck drive... I do expect some vibration due to the mud terrians. But I'm just curious on how smooth they realllly can make it.

:) :) :) :)

PS: I test drove the truck on the interstate between 55 and up to 85 MPH there was no shaking. Before I would not go above 72 in fear of death.

Let me know what you all find in your searches.

 

thanks i'll check in to that.

 

If you don't mind me asking, how much did the drums, shoes, and springs run you?

 

about 80 bucks. I purchased them from advanced auto parts.

I got the wearver silver drums and shoes, and USA hardware.

There actually is a coupon online if you have advanced autoparts near you. its 20$ off 100$ it expires tomorrow. the coupon code is 20OFF. Just order the stuff and have it shipped to you even if there is not one near you... free shipping!

 

sounds like you have a lot of dirt and sludge build up all around the inside of your rims
take some heavy duty de-greaser and sunlight soap ( alot of soap )
with a green plastic scrub pad ,, clean every nook and cranny on the inside of your rims
and pressure spray them totally clean.
basically the dirt build-up cancels out your wheel weights at certain speeds

hope this helps

 

one of the first things i checked. thanks.

 

Now that the new brakes are on in the rear, it took alot of the shaking away. I still get the vibration in my seat... particually the a** of my seat. I'm thinking I've got wheel balancing issues. Ranger05 did you get the roadforce done yet?

 

have you tried taking out the front driveshaft completely? just to rule that out... I read you changed the u-joint on the front d-shaft but the cv-style joint that is on the t-case end likes to accumulate a lot of junk and mess up the ball bearings inside... doesn't cost you anything to pull it and take a drive to see if that is the problem...

btw, in my experience, alignment issues won't cause vibration when cruising... only things that will do that are driveshafts (front/back) and tire balancing...

Joey

 

where the front drive shaft attaches to the transfer case seems to be smooth rotating. i listened for odd noises at I had the front wheel turned.

Is it fine to drive without the front driveshaft? because when the front wheels rotate that shaft does too... wouldn't it screw something up?


-Nick

 

perfectly fine... I didn't run a front driveshaft on my truck for a year before I got rid of the lift kit... just careful taking it apart as it could get messy...

Joey

 

In the past i had major camber issues, but i took it in and they ended up changing both lower ball joints, added some camber kits, got an alignment, and got the tires balanced. It helped allot. . . . . but i still have some vibration issues. I will have to take a look at the drums. Now, road force, i know Discount Tires does road force balancing (if you have one near you) but you have to make an appointment (its not walk-in like everything else it does). In the past they quoted me in the $70 range. . . . but i never did it. I had a buddy (that owned a lifted F-150) get road force done and it helped his vibration problem allot. Might be worth getting done.

 

I have a 2005 Edge 4.0 with the same issue! Bad vibration between approx. 70-75 mph. No shaking in the steering wheel, no pulsating brake peddle. Feels as if it could be coming from the rear end or in the middle, but very hard to tell ast times. I just did a tire rotation with no difference from the before to after. I bought this truck used just 4 months ago so I unfortuantley have no idea what has or hasn't been done to it. Sounds like I am in for a journey though.