I got the shakes

[Octaneforce]

My platform is 1993 fleetwood coronado class a p30 with rear disk brakes (p32?) and 454.

I put 6 new tires on it a few months ago and a shake developed as soon as i got it back from the tire shop, so i assumed it was the tires. They are sumihoto 8r19.5. They were not the cheapest tires i could get. I never cheap out on tires.
Anyway the rig has been back to the shop about a half a dozen times for this shake and it has not changed. They replace something say its fixed, and then the truck behaves exactly the same.
So far ive done 4 new bilstien shocks, bilstien steering stabilizer, supersteer trac bar upgrade, 2 new rims, 2 of the new tires replaced (warrantied). The front end is tight, springs and airbags are fairly new and i keep the bags at 80psi. Ive experimented with different bag pressures and never noticed a difference. If i continue to pour money into this pile of junk im going to change to non bag coil springs from supersteer. Thats would pretty much be the last thing i could think of. Unless my wheel cover simulators are making it shake, which i didnt think of until just now. The shake feels like an up and down shutter. It starts at 60 and gets worse as you accelerate. I will say the truck drives very steady and feels safe with all the new parts, it just shakes. Which is agonizing.

[Bruce_Brown]

camperdave wrote:
maybe they left the beads in the bag? :B

Believe it or not thats how they're supposed to do it. Drop in the number of bags required, they break open when you head down the road.

In ours they've worked well.

[Bruce_Brown]

Octaneforce wrote:


So the question now is, can i have these tires road force balanced with the beads still in the tire? Or does the tire have to come off and get cleaned out? Really amazing help from everyone here! I needed this

It sounds like you might be on to something.

With that said, if you want to balance them another way, the beads need to come out. The only way to do that is remove the tire.

[Octaneforce]

http://www.centramatic.com/wheel-balancer.rhtml?modelNumber=400-417

Heres what im thinking as a solution. They seem to have great feedback.

[Octaneforce]

DFord wrote:
I drove a big Penske truck from St Louis to Naples a couple of years ago. It had 22.5 inch tires and must have had beads to balance the tires. Every time I came to a stop and started off again, the tires would be out of balance. I'd have to drive a couple of miles for them to smooth out again. I'm not a fan of putting a bunch of beads, powder or dust inside tires. I'll always go with a good wheel balance. I'd rather pay for balancing my tires than have them put crystals inside them for free.

I have noticed that if i keep the truck on cruise control and dont hit any bumps sometimes the shake will seem to fade.

Ive been watching tons of youtube videos about issues with the bead balancing and im 99% sure the beads are my issue. The can clump up on any amount of moisture, and i can see on the tires where the techs used lube to mount them! Theres tons of it! If you ask me, that lube must have made its way to the inside of the tire bead and mixed with the beads, causing them to clump.

So the question now is, can i have these tires road force balanced with the beads still in the tire? Or does the tire have to come off and get cleaned out? Really amazing help from everyone here! I needed this

[DFord]

I drove a big Penske truck from St Louis to Naples a couple of years ago. It had 22.5 inch tires and must have had beads to balance the tires. Every time I came to a stop and started off again, the tires would be out of balance. I'd have to drive a couple of miles for them to smooth out again. I'm not a fan of putting a bunch of beads, powder or dust inside tires. I'll always go with a good wheel balance. I'd rather pay for balancing my tires than have them put crystals inside them for free.

[draboo]

It does sound like a worn u-joint(s) or a drive shaft center hanger bearing. Do you remember if it vibrated when you drove it to the dealer to get the tires installed?

[camperdave]

maybe they left the beads in the bag? :B

[oldave]

I figured beads were what he meant but I have heard of people using BBs or those plastic pellets the kids shoot
I bet dry sand would work too.
Many things could balance at least for a while
Equal powder is the one I have heard could clump.

[rgatijnet1]

He may also have used the balancing ceramic BEADS which also come in bags and will not clump or be affected by moisture and do not require special valve cores.

[Gjac]

I think he means Equal which is a powder,very common for truck tires. Why would you suspect U joints if you did not have this problem before the tire change?

[oldave]

I'm for lifting the rear wheels yourself, well not yourself but with the
jacks
let the wheels spin slowly and watch them.
You may be able to see a wobble or out of round tire.
Look at the wheels too, one could be bent a little.

Yeah if those bags don't break open and let the material
out they probably won't balance, also if there is very much
moisture it may clump up in the tire.
Are you sure when you say sandbags, is it really sand?

Ray

[2bzy2c]

Alignment will not cause shaking. Tire wear yes, shaking no. I would suspect first balance, second the rims being out of round or bent. Possibly due to the tires not being mounted correctly or some sort of debris not allowing the rim to be mounted to the vehicle hubs in a perfectly flat position.

[rgatijnet1]

Have you thought about getting a four wheel alignment? This is where the rear axle is aligned with the front axle so that they both roll down the highway in perfect alignment with each other. Not too many shops can do the four wheel thrust alignment so they will just tell you that it is not needed and all that you need to do is just the standard front end alignment.

[Octaneforce]

These tires were balanced with sandbags. Could this be a culprit? Also can they be road forced balanced even with the sandbags?

Just to clarifiy, The 2 tires they replaced were the drivers side rear. The shake does feel like its from the rear. The shop said they had the truck off the ground with the tires spinning and could see the two rear drivers side tires “hopping” so they swapped them. Again, it didnt make a difference.

I wouldnt be surprised if it was u joints. The shake seems to change with resistance. For example, its much worse when im coasting, but seems to clear up a little during acceleration. Also it wont shake too bad at all at 60, but if i go up to 70 the shaking fit begins and i have to go all the way down to 50 to make it stop. Its really weird. Almost seems like rear end to me now that i think about it.

Im also in an urban area and its hard to get the rig up to speed. Its a chore to drive it all the way to a highway which i why i think the shop is butchering the diagnosis.

[Gjac]

What actually shakes? Is it the steering wheel that you feel shaking or does the shaking come from the floor as noticing shaking in the seat? If coming from your seat it is more likely an out of round tire and you won't fix this by balancing the tire. Have someone follow you in your tow car and watch your tires on a smooth hiway and see if they are bouncing up and down. That would indicate an out of round tire. Also as Ron said, jack tires off of the ground one at a time and spin by hand with a wood board underneath and measure the distance from the OD of the tire to the flat board. Is it an 1/8 in or more? If so see if the tire has been seated properly sometimes just rotating and reinstalling will fix this problem. If not the only other way to fix an out of round tire is the true the tire where they actually shave some rubber off of the high spots to make it round again. If the ride was good before the new tires I would not change any other suspension parts but focus on getting the tires right.