hopping/shaking dually -issue resolved.

(if your searching and this thread comes up,i'll save you some time now;this will only apply if you do not have a dually axle,but a SRW axle w/rear dually adapters.)


so iv had this problem with bad vibration and figured tire shops just couldn't balance dually rims correctly or something.
so finally i went to a large tire shop where i knew they had a lot of trucks go through.
had the tires balanced,and same thing on the drive home.it was closing time,so i just kept going.
i go up the next day and explain the problem and that iv been to 2 other places before them and they can't fix the problem.
they brought out a guy who really knew his stuff.he went for a ride with me,and couldn't believe it.
it's always been vibrating a bit since the dually conversion,but the first tire shop told me i had a few wrapped rims,and that was my problem,so i called up ACCURIDE for a couple rims.the sales department explained,that 90% of the time tire shops will tell people they can't balance their wheels due to bent rims,and explained the side to side warp you can't feel in the truck anyway.this was the sales department! i was ready to buy a couple new rims.talk about nice folks over at accuride! (the factory supplier of dually wheels for these trucks.) and they sure were 100% right too! -read on.
so i said ok,i'll try other things first.
so anyway,back to the last tire shop;
so we're on the test drive and he said turn around,we'll fix this and you'll leave here happy.
i was so relived.because it was getting worse,and worse the last couple months.

he checked the front,and then jacked up the rear and had me give it a little oil.when he saw the wheels spin,he said that's it.shut her down.
a few mins latter he comes and gets me in the waiting room,and shows me the issue.
dually adapters;
first i'll explain the issue.
on the rear axle,the hub slowly tapers out,this leads to too much space around the rim center hole so that there's no support-nothing to keep the wheel center as you tighten down the lug nuts! so the dually wheels are all off center.
so he shows me all the play there in the rim,and of course with some time,the lug nut holes were just starting to ream out a little making it much worse than it was at first.
he explains that dodge rims will work perfect for this,as he places one on there,because the center hole is a little smaller than the ford rim.
he used some cardboard to hold the wheel center just for a test,and then tightened the nuts up.did this for both sides and had me test drive it.
sssssssmmmmmmmmoooooooooottttttttthhhhhhhhh as silk! i was so relived.i had thought all this time my used rims i got where just junk because of the first and second tire shop claiming the same thing.
he's seen this issue a few times before and knew about the dodge rims.he also explained that a shim in there to hold would work.
it was like $400+ for 4 wheels,and then id have different fronts,i thought nah,i like to rotate easy etc.and for that $ id just finally put a true dually axle in there.
so anyway,i thanked that guy so much,and was one happy camper!
get her home,and followed his advice with the shim trick.he said to use steel that was just right to center the rim.
so i had a couple new gas tank straps that i never did use for my last truck.i cut two 15" sections for each hub center and bent them in a circle,and it was a perfect fit to keep the center hole of the rim center to the hub.it's a little hard to slide that in now when changing tires,but man what a smooth ride.
so anyway,anyone with rear DRW spacers experiencing a bad vibration/hop that's a good place to check first!
looks like i finally found the reason for my slowly declining fuel economy,as the hop got worse so did my mileage.the current tank is looking much better.so much power was lost with all that hop too.it feels like it used to finally.
in my quest,this lead me to a total diesel tune up.first with injectors and then an ip.im happy in a way,because it wasn't until after the tune up that i reilized just how bad my injectors were,etc.etc.but getting off topic.but point being,it sure wasn't in waste! age takes its toll on ip and injectors too! so don't be afraid of changing them sooner than 100k.probably every 100k or every 10 years max is actually a good rule of thumb.
so points being;
don't put a lot of faith in some tire shops.keep searching.i traveled an hour away this last time to a larger city.
find someone to help who knows what their doing.
now that this was done,i feel kinda foolish for not figuring it out on my own.i guess like anything though,hindsight is 20/20,cus before him pointing that out i never noticed it when i watched the other tire shops putting the tires on.
man.fuel cost too much to mess around.have to get these things fixed asap,or it's just gunna get ya for more in the long run.
sure hope this helps someone else down the line experiencing wheel vibration with DRW adapters.

the downside to this spacer in there; well,i suppose that means when weight is added that pressure will now in fact press midway of the hub a bit.but so be it.changing a wheel bearing once in a great while isn't going to hurt my feelings much.im happy to be driving smooth again.

 

SWEET! My dually had a similar problem. Turns out my hub was bent a 16th of an inch. Couldn't eyeball it but it sure was. My problem was so slightly different from yours but the results were the same. This is on my chevy. My fuel mileage went back up to normal too. It is amazing something so miniscule can have such a huge impact on everything else. Congrats F250. You have always impressed me with your posts. You are on methodical dude. I can respect and I do appreciate your posts. I have learned alot from you. So thanks good buddy! Keep on truckin' smooth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

thank the maker!!!! i nailed 15 MPG again finally.
i haven't hit that in forever! look;
Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - Garage FillUp Listing

and that's with 100 miles on the tank before it got resolved!
(though its rare i don't drive empty so much,but still. )
for the first time in since i can't even remember my overall average went up (or hell,just didn't go down for once is nice lol!)
14.42 to 14.43 hahah,but that's because i have so many tanks.it should finally start heading in the right direction now instead of down,down,and down.ugg.
i drove a little over 200 miles today,and what a relief to have a smooth running truck again finally.
wish i went to that tire shop sooner.i hate it when i put stuff off like this.i could have saved so much $ in fuel already.ah well,she's going great again now.

ADT,
oh yeah! i remember your issue! yours was worse then mine.scary! what was the cause of loosing your rear wheel again? it's been a little while now.
thanks for the kind words.im just a newbie diesel owner (lil over a year,20k+ miles) sharing his experience and passing on what iv read here and there is all.