Recently I purchased a lifetime front end alignment and balance/rotation policy from a local tire shop for the dually. Ever since they balanced the tires I have a harsh vibration, mostly from the rear end. I took the truck back last week and they rebalanced the tires, the vibration is still there. :o:

I'm wondering?? Since the outside rear tires on a dually are inverted from the inside rear and front tires, if the outside rear tires are put on the balancing machine the same way as the inside/front tires, that is rim out, is it possible the outside rear tires are not performing correctly since they are turned around from the direction from which they were balanced? OK, that's hard to explain in a sentence, but hopefully you get my gest. ):h

It is amazing how many tire shops don't know WTF they are doing when it comes to dually wheels and tires. I have to stand there to make sure they have the valve stems 180* from each other, they are rotated in the proper direction, etc. :o: Later. JJ :)

JJ, I have had the same problem several times with several differant tires and tire shops. We went to the dealer and they recommended a "road force balancer" for the dually's. It appears that it seats the tire to the wheel before balancing, and checks for any out of round issue's. We had 1 or 2 that they had to rotate the tire on the wheel before balancing. Since we stated using them to balance our tires we have not had a single problem.

JJ,

I agree with you, Only a handful of shops get that. I have gotten home and when I go to check the tire pressure in a month or so, I realize they did not set them off and I now have to move the wheel myself. here is another one to add, I have yet to see a shop take out a Torque wrench and check them. This is another issue I have with shops. I get home and check them all, especially now that I have Alcoa's

As for your question, I do not know. Why you would go from no vibration to vibration seems odd. The wheels in theory are the same. You should be able to move them anywhere on the truck and have them function as normal. I have rotated the tires numerous times and never had a problem. I did not have them rebalanced, just rotation and I did it myself.

I had my 1 ton truck tires bakanced and rotated just before we took off for the National Air Races last September. I started getting a vibration in Nevada, but I thought it might be the road surface. Afterwards, we headed for Washington and when we encountered some new smooth highway re-surfacing, the vibration was still there so I knew I had a balance problem. I got the tires re-balanced at the Discount Tire store in Renton and they found several tires out of balance. They thought some tire weights had come off by not being put on properly. They fixed the problem as the vibration was gone.

I have experienced my rear duals being misclocked two different times in the last two years!!! The last one I caught before I left the shop. I check every time now before I LEAVE the store!!! I also tell them to torque the lug nuts to 140 ft. lbs. I started doing this after my two right rear wheels came off our truck as I pulled away from a stop sign in Texas. I checked the work sheet and Sam's Club in Ft. Worth, Texas had torqued the lug nuts at 80 ft. lbs.!!!!! It was written on the work sheet!!!! Sam's Club denied my claim since I had failed to re-torque the nuts after 100 miles!!! I turned the $1500+ bill over to my insurance company and let them handle it.

After that experience, plus one at Big O tires, I re-torque the nuts after 100 miles plus during our long trips. One time the local Big O store only finger tightened the nuts on my wife's car!!! The next time they cross threaded one of the nuts. I don't do business with them anymore.

Cougarjohn brings up an interesting point I hadn't considered. When they put the tires back on and hit the lug nuts with the impact wrench I always assumed they were getting tightened "very tight". 140 ft lbs of torque tight? :confused: Maybe I need to invest in a torque wrench and double check them every time before I tow the 5ver and after any tire work. :rolleyes:


Anyone have any idea what tq the impact wrench goes to? Mama JJ also had an experience several years back where they only hand tightened the lug nuts on her car only to have it start wobbling off one day coming home from work. Fortunately she didn't damage the wheel or vehicle. JJ :)

I would invest in a nice Torque Wrench. I always check before I go off on a trip with a trailer out back, especially since I have Alcoa's now.

You dont have any rust build up or anything else stuck to the rims where they meet each other do you?

A impact will tighten down 150-400 depending on how good of a gun they are using. Generally they use a torq. stick for torq. the wheels with an impact.

Recently I purchased a lifetime front end alignment and balance/rotation policy from a local tire shop for the dually.It's not from Tire Kingdom, is it?
If it is, man do I have a story about them. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/images/smilies/censored.gif



Gary

If you want to torque them with an impact, use a torque stick. It limits the torque to a certain value no matter how much the gun will do. Then you don't have to worry about damaging stuff. Regarding balancing, I used to work for FMC and serviced wheel balancers. Between balancers being out of calibration and users not knowing how to use them, I'm surprised there aren't more complaints of imbalanced tires.

GreyGhost, its from Tires Plus, not much better than Tire Kingdom though IMHO. These guys usually have 1 or 2 techs that do the significant repairs that involve ASE certification. Tire changers, balancers are a dime a dozen. I'm really just using their backs, lifts and tools. I'll watch them like a hawk and supervise while they are working on my truck. JJ :)