About two weeks ago I got 4 new tires and new upper and lower ball joints on the passenger side. Within the past couple of days my truck has started randomly having vibrations that seem to start when I hit a bump in the road and stop for no apparent reason. They are not real violent vibrations but definitely noticeable. It feels sort of like riding on the thing on the shoulder of the road that is there to wake you up if you fall asleep but not as loud. The first thing that came to mind was that I may have slung a wheel weight but they all appear to be in place. Also, the vibrations randomly come and go. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

The first thing I would check is that all the wheels are torqued, since they where just off possibly some where not tight or possibly became loose.

 

good idea kart. ill check that asap

 

I checked all of the lug nuts and they were all torqued properly. Anybody have another suggestion.

 

Yes, take the truck back to where you bought the tires and had the work done and complain to them.

 

Break all your lug nuts loose and retorque 'em. Also, check your tie rod ends to see if your hiem joints have slack??

 

If your truck is a 4X4 it might be the needle bearing in the hub. The needle bearing supports the 4X4 axle shaft as it passes through the hub. If the knuckle seal is bad or not seated properly you will get water in the hub and it will ruin the needle bearing. Look from behind at the seal and see how it looks, also grab the ujoint and try to move it up/down. If there is a lot of play the knuckle seal is probably shot. You will have to remove the hub to see the check the needle bearing. Don't wait too long or you will ruin the $$$$ axle. My truck had the same problem and it was the D/S needle bearing and yes I had to replace the shaft. Good luck.

 

i took the truck back to the shop and they re-tightened everything and could not find anything wrong. I am still feeling the vibration the same as before. Also, now i have noticed that the four wheel drive is not working if this could have anything to do with it. I can lock the hubs in and when i turn the dash switch to 4 low I can feel it lock (or feel it do something) but the front tires wont spin.
Rob, I will try checking that needle bearing. Could that cause the 4 wheel drive to not work completely? What exactly am I looking for if it is bad?

 

In order to check the needle bearing the hub will have to be removed. When the ball joints were done the hub was removed and the shop should have greased the bearing. A bad bearing will have no grease in it, it can look rusty and as mine did all the needle rollers fell out. It is possible that this is the cause of the 4 wheel drive not working however you will have to solve the vibration issue first.

 

On my last truck, I bought a set of Michelin LTX A/S tires to replace the originals with 100k miles on them. Perfectly smooth the whole way with no rebalance. New Michelins started to vibrate just like you described within 5k miles. I rotated front to back and the vibes moved more to the rear. Bout drove me nuts as it seems everyone believes Michelin is incapable of producing a less than perfect tire. The replacements were labeled "new tread" and I believe that had something to do with it. The were highway rib treads but it was like a harsh tread squirm that resonated into a vibration a little lower than drive shaft vibration frequency. Just the same, I had the drive shaft rebalanced with new U-joints. Shop said the DS was fine to begin with and not the problem. I propped up the center bearing, checked wheels bearings, replaced lower ball joints and finally replaced the truck (2500HD Ram) as it had 120k on it anyhow and I wanted an F250. I still think the vibes was in the tires.