Could wind make a shimmy?
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 638
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From: Birmingham, AL
tripled140,
You might repeat the lift test that you described in your last post to verify that the new drums are out of balance. If they were balanced before and are out of balance now, and they haven't been removed from the van, then the condition was caused by uneven wear inside the drum. This could be corrected by having them turned on a brake lath to bring them back into round.
If the drums have been removed, then you might try removing them and putting them back on 180deg from where they are now before doing anything else to them.
The front wheel bearings shouldn't have noticable play with the wheel raised off the ground and the wheel wiggled by your hands placed at the top and bottom of the tire. Be sure the wheel israised when adjusting the bearings and that you rotate the wheel as you tighten. If you find that they are in need of replacement, keep in mind that when you buy a new rotor for these vans that it will have the bearing races installed in it. So it's easiest to time bearing replacement along with rotor replacement or you can drive out the old races and replace them with the ones from a new set of wheel bearings. Either way is fine, just easier to do it when you install new rotors.
Gene
You might repeat the lift test that you described in your last post to verify that the new drums are out of balance. If they were balanced before and are out of balance now, and they haven't been removed from the van, then the condition was caused by uneven wear inside the drum. This could be corrected by having them turned on a brake lath to bring them back into round.
If the drums have been removed, then you might try removing them and putting them back on 180deg from where they are now before doing anything else to them.
The front wheel bearings shouldn't have noticable play with the wheel raised off the ground and the wheel wiggled by your hands placed at the top and bottom of the tire. Be sure the wheel israised when adjusting the bearings and that you rotate the wheel as you tighten. If you find that they are in need of replacement, keep in mind that when you buy a new rotor for these vans that it will have the bearing races installed in it. So it's easiest to time bearing replacement along with rotor replacement or you can drive out the old races and replace them with the ones from a new set of wheel bearings. Either way is fine, just easier to do it when you install new rotors.
Gene
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Joined: May 2005
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These are a second set of drums that have been on there. The first ones were way out of balance and I think that these are also because now that that front is tighter I can feel the back more. I will lift the back up and try it for sure though. As far as the front bearings, I did have the truck off the ground and tightened them. I don't want to go too tight though. I can still feel a little play in them but if I go tighter then the wheel doesn't spin as easy. Should there be any drag in the bearings? I thought that they would burn up if I did that. Could the bearing be shot from the abuse?
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: Santa Cruz, CA
do not mistaken the bearing freeplay with ball joints freeplay. While off the ground, try to really tighten the bearing (do not drive like that!) and check for freeplay. If there is any, it is not bearing, but mostlikely ball joints. Ask somebody to wiggle the wheel by top and bottom. Put your hand on every joint to feel if there is any movement in that joint. The human hand is very sensitive to this kind of movement.
If you will make the bearing too tight, it might be heated up, melt and drive the grease out of the bearing, then overheated, rings and rolls will be seased, separator will brake, rolls will start moving chaotically, at which point the clanking can be heard from inside the vehicle if stereo is off; wheel is vobling, further driving is dangerous, but if there is no choice, slow driving might be possible, because hubb/rotor will be to some extend supported by braking components: pads, caliper. It is what sometime reffered to as "driving on the brakes".
I was once on first part of that scenario, and did not moved to second part because had the spare hubb with me.
den25
If you will make the bearing too tight, it might be heated up, melt and drive the grease out of the bearing, then overheated, rings and rolls will be seased, separator will brake, rolls will start moving chaotically, at which point the clanking can be heard from inside the vehicle if stereo is off; wheel is vobling, further driving is dangerous, but if there is no choice, slow driving might be possible, because hubb/rotor will be to some extend supported by braking components: pads, caliper. It is what sometime reffered to as "driving on the brakes".
I was once on first part of that scenario, and did not moved to second part because had the spare hubb with me.
den25
Elder User
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 638
Likes: 7
From: Birmingham, AL
There shouldn't be any drag in the bearings and no slop either. If you are tightening them to the point of detectable drag before the slop is gone, they are probably worn and in need of replacement.
If you have a Haynes manual or similar, there is a procedure in it for your front wheel bearings that will require a torque wrench that is in inch pound increments. I have done it that way but have found it to be no better than the usual procedure where us preload the bearing until the washer won't move when pried lightly with a screw driver and then back off until it will move when pried but you can feel the friction of the nut against the washer. Then back off until you can get the cotter pin in. If you put new bearings in, be sure to preload them first by over tightening the nut and then backing off. You may feel the bearings drawing down and seating as you do this. Check them again after 500 miles or so and then you should have a pretty good period of no trouble with wheel bearings.
Gene
If you have a Haynes manual or similar, there is a procedure in it for your front wheel bearings that will require a torque wrench that is in inch pound increments. I have done it that way but have found it to be no better than the usual procedure where us preload the bearing until the washer won't move when pried lightly with a screw driver and then back off until it will move when pried but you can feel the friction of the nut against the washer. Then back off until you can get the cotter pin in. If you put new bearings in, be sure to preload them first by over tightening the nut and then backing off. You may feel the bearings drawing down and seating as you do this. Check them again after 500 miles or so and then you should have a pretty good period of no trouble with wheel bearings.
Gene
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OK today I got the truck back up and found that the ball joints are loose. One wheel I can shake back and forth and the other wheel I can go up and down. I had to stick a pry bar under the wheel to make it go up and down but that is exactly what I'm feeling driving down the road. The passenger side feels like it's going up and down just as the ball joints are doing. The driver side they are going side to side and that is the knock I feel in the wheel when I turn slowly. Combined they seem to have all the symptoms that I'm feeling when I'm driving. I just bought the ball joints and plan to make the day of it on Saturday. I'll let you guys know how it works out. I really appreciate all the help you guys have been giving me. I guess the guys at Ford didn't shake them hard enough to tell that they were bad or they got worse since then.
Thanks again, Dan
Thanks again, Dan
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 78
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From: Santa Cruz, CA
dynamic balancing?
Originally Posted by tripled140
.....Then they put new $400 Ford drums on and it was smooth all the way up. I just can't bring myself to pay that much. I looked up some stuff online but I'm not sure that they are Ford parts and I don't want to deal with this again with cheap ones. Any ideas?
Thanks
Thanks
selling ceramic beads for dynamic tire balancing. Few oz goes into tire effectively balancing the whole assembly (wheel+drum+shaft+ mad stack on the wheel), as you drive.
I did not checked it myself yet thought. But seems like worth a try.
den25
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