time line:

Bad steering wheel shake and front scalloping 315/75/16 BFG Mud terrain mostly one side. Had all tires balanced - didn't make mush difference.

Next week changed front shocks and rotated tires front to back. Seemed to help, at least a lot of the steering wheel shake was gone.

During the next six weeks truck begins to shake more and more. Feels like it is coming from the back. Crossed the rear tires and a lot of the shaking went away. Had the truck aligned. Was toed out 1/2. The alignment shop informed me only about 3k miles left on the tires. No difference in the shaking. Had all tires balanced. No difference as result.

Figured these big mud terrains are just gonna shake, and that is it till I get some new tires.

About 400 miles later blowout on the driver rear (ha ha), got some new tires. Hankook Dynapro ATM 285/75/16E. Left Discount with front at 55 and the back at 65. Truck feels like I'm driving on slippery mud if I wiggle the wheel a little at highway speed. Adjusted the pressure, 72 front 70 back. Its seems only slightly better on the feel but still a little wobbly. no more shaking or vibration, just the truck feels loose, not as responsive.

Throughout all of this the shaking/vibration has been the worst 45-55mph.


Finally my question. Could the large mud terrains have masked some other suspension issue, or am I just used to the big footprint and stability of the big muds? Any one else have the 285 Hankooks that could give some comparison comments?

Of course and as always, thanks for you replies.

 

Did you or the alignment shop check the ball joints for slack? I don't have the Hankooks, but have been thinking of going with them later this year when I need new tires. Are you running stock rims? I went with 8.5'' wide rims to get better wear from the larger tires and up the pressure for better stability.

 

I've been told by the shop doing the balancing that the driver side upper has small amount of slack.

As far as I know they are stock rims. With the 315s they would throw off a lot of the weights after balancing. The last time, and I mean the last time I'll ever go there, I didn't make it out of the parking lot and had a big weight come off.

 

How many miles on the truck? The steering box might be tired and allow a lot of drift (not uncommon near 200K). I had banging on bumps and had to replace stabilizer bushings, this helped. A little bit of upper ball joint movement will not improve with time... but I'm not a front-end expert so I'd just play it safe and do something about that if it were my vehicle.

 

Subscribing: I have been thinking of Hankooks also, but highway tread.

 

[QUOTE=bdostone;11942073]time line:

Bad steering wheel shake and front scalloping 315/75/16 BFG Mud terrain mostly one side. Had all tires balanced - didn't make mush difference.

QUOTE]

Was tire scalloping mostly on the driver's side? If so, the ball joint slack is a contributing factor. I replaced all my ball joints at ~140k miles. I was getting the scalloped wear also. IIRC, the upper one on the driver's side was the most worn; with slight wear on both lowers.

 

The slippery feeling should go away after a couple hundred miles, unfortunately not that uncommon with new rubber. I would replace ball joints if there was any slack at all, no matter how small.

 

I crossed the 200k mark a couple months ago. The steering does feel a little slack, so I'll take a look at the box.

More scalloping on the passenger tire. I'm sure every worn component in the front end will contribute to some abnormal tire wear. I was told by the alignment guy (35 yrs experience) most of what he saw on my old tires could be blamed on not balancing enough. Once those big tires wear a certain way its hard to stop.

The wobbly or slippery feeling - it seems like the back of the truck takes a second to catch up to where the front is going and when it does that momentum moves the front.

I dont know if i'm feeling something that is normal, cause I was use to the stiff ride of the 315 muds or does this sound like a tire problem or front end problem?

 

Just installed 4 BFG Commercial T/A Traction on rear (235-85-16). Installer put 80 lbs in tires. On drive home, felt like rear end was on ice. Dropped pressure to 60 lbs and corrected issue.