78, F25 2WD 460 C6


Carzy way I got to where I am but the problem is the front end feels like it's going to vibrate the doors off somewhere between 35 and 50 mph.

Instead of getting a new set of all season radials I ended up with a set of Denman tubeless nylon tires. 9.50-16.5 10 ply. You can see the full spec here http://www.denmantire.com/catalog-choice.php. The ones I have are the A style. I thought they were trailer tires when I first saw them and that's where they may end up. :-)

The truck had steel belted radials on it before and they were definitely worn out but worn evenly and the truck did not shake. There has always been some mild play in the steering but nothing serious.

Immediately after these new tires were on when I'd hit aroudn 35 or 40 mph the front tend would and still does today start a fairly serious shimmy, shake, vibrate, not sure which word to call it.

The place where I got these took 4.5 hours to get me out the door and had to ship them out to another dealer cause he said he could't get the bead to seat; something about the valve stem was too short. Bunch of idiots I think. Add a different style valve is what I'd have done.

I called them up a couple of days later and asked itf they'd spin balanced or if they had used an old bubble balancer. There were tire weights all over the wheels, kinda like they had measels. They said computer spin. The rims are not stock, some kind of mag that was on the truck when I got it so I can understand some balancing issues but the tires on there before didn't seem to require very many.

I took the truck to a Tire Kingdom and had them spin balance the tires and that didn't solve the problem.

I've tried different air pressure settings (they had 65 lbs in them to start); no luck.

Today I got the wheels off the ground (one at a time) and could shake the drivers side a little so I checked the bearing nut and it seemed a little loose so I reset both bearings; that didn't help.

I can't see any play in any joint and I also don't really "feel" the shake in the steering wheel when it happens. Both doors sure as hell rattle though.

So I'm looking for what else and how else I can troubleshoot this thing and resolve it. I'd appreciate any clues.

 

Forgot, the shocks are about two years old. I don't drive the truck very many miles, there might be 10K on these shocks.

 

I would go back and have the Manager test drive the truck . also have them check the wheels to see if one is warped they could have bent it trying to get the tires to seat or using an impact gun to tourque the wheels . if one is warped I would ask them to replace it or refund my money

 

Amunition to revist the place IS what I'm looking for. This helps Red. I hadn't thought about them warping a rim. I was thinking this morning I'd see if I could find a temp set for the front for a test drive and also migrate the front to the rear and test.

I REALLY don't want to go back there because I'm seiously pissed at the folks over the whole deal. I have my doubts I'll get any satisfaction without and attorney. My estimation is I'll just have to go somewhere else and start from scratch for tires (rims).

Appreciate the suggestion.

 

To be fair to the dealer I wonder if I would have been able to notice a warped rim if it was on the rear axel? I'm pretty sure they didn't get the same rim back to the same hub it came off of.

 

$10 says they are pulling your chain and did not balance then correctly. did you watch then do the balance?? if it is that bad, it would knock the machine off the ground. i can almost guarantee that they bubble balanced them. i would also swap from front to rear to make sure it is the tires, but you know it is, because it was not there before, correct? take it back to the shop that claimed to high speed balance the tires, and take the manager for a ride and show him what it does.

 

try some one with a road force ballancer. as you say you didnt have the problem before. good luck.

 

You best option is get rid of those 16.5 wheels and get a set of 16" off of a newer Ford that still uses the standard 8 on 6.5 and is stud pilot wheels. Then run a Lt-238-85R16 those old 8.50 and 9.50-16.5s are old and obosete nobody really uses them anymore.

I know you bought new tires but your going to have to take the loss and get a set of 16" wheels.

 

Anyone have a brush pile they'd like to burn? :-)

 

???????????

the above quote makes no sence.there is absolutly nothing wrong with 16.5 rims, and nothing wrong with bias ply tires. it is a simple matter of improperly balanced tires. nothing more. i have a 33x12.5x16.5 10 ply bias ply tire as a spare for both of my trucks. tough as nails, and will not dry rot in 2 year like radials do. as a matter of fact, i still have a set of 6.5x19.5 12 ply bias tires & rims from my mud buggy days. they are at least 25 years old, and i would not think twice about putting them on and running them

 

Well I migrated the front to the rear. The shake didn't go away but it was moderated considerably. So I guess it's not just a warped rim. It's got to be these tires. I've had them rebalanced by another tire shop and that made no change in the shake.

When the old tires were on the rims there were very few wheel weights. The rims now look like a cheap call girl in sequins. I've never seen so many wheel weights on a rim before.

I'm going to take it back to the tire place and see how that works out. I hate to for sure, it took them 4.5 hours to put these tires on the truck. I've done tire work before and I could not believe the morons. Maybe I can get a set of decent tires out of them to keep from taking them to court. :-)

Thanks for all the comments!

 

Look at the tread, sounds like it might be a ply seperation, if it is you will see the tread shift over at a certain point on the tire surface. The size of the tire is perfectly fine, that has nothing to do with the shake. A ply seperation would not knock the machine off the ground, but it would make for a harder balance job. Easiest way to tell if they were bubble balanced is if the weights are only on 1 side of the rim, if they are on both sides it was spun.

 

just a thought did they put 16" tires on 16.5 wheels I know you bought 16.5 tires but mabe they just grabed a set of 16" tires mabe thats why they could not get the tires to seat

 

Lots of weight is usually indicative of a bad tire, find a place that can do road force balancing - http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm - or replace the tires, or at least the bad tires. It's possibe that only one or two are really bad. (usually the ones with the most weight)

 

Thanks for all the comments. I don't have a resolution to this yet and not willing to put any more money into what's on there now. To prove it's the wheels or a particular tire just isn't worth the time, trouble and cost.

I've got a line on an outlet that can get new, stock like wheels for this truck and I'll just get a set of radials like I set out for any way.

I'll get the tires dismounted from these mags and when I have my spring garage sale, well ....................;-)

thanks folks!