At 40K, I replaced the worn-out OEM Generals with the highly rated (Tirerack.com survey) Kumho Road Venture HT, LT215/85/16. The worst tire required only ½ oz to balance on an inner factory wheel. The Alcoas were statically balanced with no weights on the outside rim.

The truck rode beautifully…smooth, quiet and relatively comfortable for a dually and much improved traction over the OEM tires. I soon was towing my 12,000 lb 5th wheel and truly enjoying the improved ride. I put about 2,500 towing miles and 3,000 solo miles on these tires with much satisfaction, especially since the tires were a bargain at $98 apiece.

Then, during an extended RV trip, the tires started vibrating…thru the steering wheel and the seats. At times, the rear view mirrors shook badly in their housings. Long story short, I have had the tires rebalanced 4 times in the past 10,000 miles…each time the balance was checked prior to rebalancing. Each time the tires were out of balance.

After attempting to get the tires replaced under warranty and discovering that the manufacturer has rather spotty distribution and dealer locations, I decided to replace them on my dime.

Yesterday, I had 6 new Michelin LTX M/S installed and Load Force Balanced. They found one steel wheel “wobbly” so I provided them with one of my old takeoffs. All is good in my life…so I thought.

The vibration remains!

The truck is an ext cab, 4x4, D/A with 51,500 miles. The vibration seems to come and go at 40-45 mph and again at 58-75 mph. Sometimes the steering wheel shakes, usually it’s coming through the seats. Sometimes it’s not at all noticeable. And now, I’m realizing that the whole truck feels like it’s flexing or shuttering as I decelerate without braking when exiting a highway.

I’ve searched this forum for ideas and similar complaints. The truck has a one piece drive shaft, no carrier bearing, Bilstein shocks, Edge Juice on level 2, synthetic fluids everywhere, and a recent alignment corrected a 2/32 toe out condition.

I am baffled and much lighter in the wallet. U-joints? Slip yoke? Faulty shocks? Converter clutch? Any ideas or direction is appreciated.

I had a rear wheel bearing failure with similar symptoms on a Toyota truck. Shook my mirrors, srteering wheel and also felt through the seats. it would come and go at different RPMs. Any leaks anywhere near the wheels on the axle?

I am baffled and much lighter in the wallet. U-joints? Slip yoke? Faulty shocks? Converter clutch? Any ideas or direction is appreciated.

Just wondering if you have, what would sound like a drive line drone during the vibration. Incorrect offsetting U-joint angles could cause the vibration, if your rear suspension has sagged.

On both of my trucks (heavy towing) I had the sagging suspension problem, but with more drone noise than vibration when I noticed it. Re-arced leaf springs and added a leaf at the same time resolved the problem.

I had a 94' that I bought new, it developed a vibration that you could feel everwhere. I had the tires checked, had it into a transmission shop , etc. Turned out to be the front universal joint. The original factory u-joint is sealed and can't be greased. One of the cups was dry and it moved around enough to eat up the roller bearings in that cup. That allowed things to move enough to cause the vibration. It took me too long to figure out what was causing the problem and the vibration wrecked the bushing in the tail shaft and the seal in the tail shaft. Replaced the universals with the kind that has grease zerks, replaced the bushing and seal. Kept the truck for another 97,000 miles with no more problems. The universal went bad at around 46,000.

i just got rid of my 6 kuhmo's on my 2002 daulley,i thought they were good until they started to fail one after an other after only 15,000 miles[sidewalls blowing out ,i don't think i'll be buying them again,, ck your rear drive shaft

yup, do some searching on this site. I've posted info and others have as well regarding this issue.

I have never been able to resolve the vibration problem and now after 50k of vibrating I am used to it. I like my truck the the vibration can get on your nerves and when the wife is b*tching about it.

I have been thourgh 3 sets of tires, the dealer 5 or so times, 2 front end alignments all within 2 weeks and the dealer said alignement, their alignement guy says nothing is wrong, tire guy says tires are good. Each on pointing the finger at someone else.

For this reason and a few other this will be my last dually. Love em but some of this issues i've had just can't get resolved.

I've had it all checked, everything thing you can think of and everything guys hear said fixed it. I had oh about 4 grand into fixing this issue. AND still vibrates.

The only thing I have not tired yet but will soon is shims. I will do it soon.

"I have needlessly replaced the tires on my dually." Been there, done that!

Hey, I have the same vibration problem. And throwing money at it did not fix it, ie; Michelin XPS and Alcoa wheels. So I went back to basics, I jacked the rear axle up on stands and observed the tires rotating. The right side was (is) wobbling, while the left runs true. Then I removed the wheels and was going to measure the runout at the hub but couldn't find my dial gauge. So, I set up a steady rest and held a crayon to the hub. Just as I thought, a crayon mark half way around.

While I'm waiting for the hub to come in, I cut some aluminum roof flashing to shim the low spot and prove my diagnosis. The vibration was greatly reduced.

I'll post yea or nea on my findings after I replace the hub. I just wish I had discovered it under warranty.

Mike

A commen thing that gets overlooked very often is the transmission mount. If the rubber is going bad you will get vibrations just like your talking about. If you've got a floor jack they are pretty easy to replace and the last one I bought was about $25 bucks.

Then, during an extended RV trip, the tires started vibrating…thru the steering wheel and the seats. At times, the rear view mirrors shook badly in their housings. Long story short, I have had the tires rebalanced 4 times in the past 10,000 miles…each time the balance was checked prior to rebalancing. Each time the tires were out of balance.

.
If the tires are balanced correctly when they are installed but then out of balance when checked again, I would be looking for a wheel problem maybe. Are the tires rotating on the wheel some? When they rebalance them does it stop it, even for a short while?

Well, I replaced the hub and the right side duals run as true as the left. However, the vibes are as bad as ever. U-joints check OK. Tuesday, the driveshaft goes out for balancing. I searched and read there may be dampening material in the shaft that is shifting positions and causing balance problems.

More to come,
Mike

No problem with the driveshaft! Back to tire balance. I'm convinced the tire shops just don't know how to balance dual wheels.

Any recommendations for a tire shop in the Mesa, AZ area?

Mike

Just pulled this info off of the Hennessy/Coats website for the 1050 balancer like I have in my shop:
After Balance Vibration Problems


If vibration is still present after balancing the wheels and driving the vehicle on smooth pavement remove the wheels and recheck the balance. If a wheel is out of balance the cause may be:
A weight has come off the wheel. Remove the other weights from the wheel and rebalance.
Tire slippage on the wheel. Remove and remount the tire using proper tire lubricant and inflate to 40 PSI. Do not over-inflate. Rebalance the wheel and reduce air pressure to recommended PSI.
Stones or other foreign objects caught in the tire tread. Remove the objects and repair tire as necessary. Check and rebalance if needed.


If the balancer still indicates the wheels are balanced to within 0.05 ounces on both inner and outer displays, the problem is not in the balance of the wheels. Check the following possible sources of vibration:
Tire pressure. Bring all tires up to the recommended PSI.
Radial or lateral runout in the tire or wheel. Replace the damaged part.
Foreign material inside the tire. Remove the tire from the wheel, remove the material, and remount. Remove wheel weights and rebalance the wheel.
Imbalanced wheel covers or trim rings. Remove the wheel covers or trim rings and test drive. If the vibration is gone, remove the arbor and use the optional Combi-Adapter to mount the wheel to the balancer. Balance the wheel with the wheel cover or trim ring attached to the wheel.
Incorrectly mounted wheel. Remount correctly.
Damaged wheel bolt holes. Replace wheel.
Worn universal joints. Replace as required.
Drive shaft imbalanced or damaged. Balance, repair, or replace.
Imbalanced brake rotor(s) or drum(s).
Suspension out of alignment. Align the vehicle and replace any damaged or worn parts.

I know Mike did 95% of this, but I thought maybe this listing would help. Did you check the balance of the rotors? I have a call into my Coats service rep to see what he says about mounting/balancing duals.

Here is another possible solution. Although this "tip" specifies a "Hunter" balancer, the Coats 1050 will also do the job. You may be onto something about the tire guys "not having a clue". Let us know if the problem gets fixed or not.
Tire and wheel manufacturers continually develop new manufacturing methods to enhance the uniformity of their products because radial runout, lateral runout, force variation and imbalance can affect a vehicle’s ride quality.

Match mounting tires on wheels is a process where a tire's installed position on the wheel is specifically selected to help minimize the final combination’s force variation and/or imbalance. One match mounting procedure aligns the tire’s measured high point of radial force variation with the measured low point of the wheel’s radial runout. The other simply aligns the tire’s lightest spot with the wheel’s heaviest spot.

Original Equipment (OE) tire suppliers are required to mark the tire's “high point” while OE wheel manufacturers mark the wheel's “low point.” This helps the vehicle manufacturer match mount combinations that maximize new car ride quality while reducing the amount of balancing weight.

Today, many vehicle manufacturers require the use of a temporary tag applied to tires and wheels that are removed before the vehicle is put into service. Unfortunately this means that there are no permanent marks to reference later.

There was a time when the valve stem hole on standard wheels indicated the optimum place to which the tire should be match mounted. However, with the advent of styled, steel wheels and aluminum alloy wheels, the stem position evolved into an aesthetic issue rather than being a uniformity indicator. Add to this the probability of wheels retaining their original runout after thousands of miles of use and you can understand that simply mounting the tire so the colored dot is at the valve stem is no longer required practice.

We have found that the only way to accurately match mount replacement tires on used original or new aftermarket wheels is to use Hunter tire balancers which have the ability to measure wheel runout and tire force variations under load before the tire and wheel are installed on the vehicle. Using these machines, a colored dot might be positioned anywhere on the wheel relative to each wheel’s runout measurement. In the end, the markers have little, if any, relevance when replacement tires are installed.

Thanks guys, your knowledge and advise is right on. I have a radial runout problem on all of the OEM steel wheels. That's why I went with the Alcoas. I figured we could salvage two rims for the inside rears, but no joy. We didn't even pull out the dial gauge, you could clearly see the problem. I'm trying to locate a wheel locally. That way if it is not true, it will be easier to return..

Mike

Are you still under the 3 year warranty? Just an option to see if GM will "make it right" especially if all of the OEM rims are "wacked".

One thing I use to do on my old 89 dually to help reduce the vibration was to index the outer wheel 90 degrees at a time till the vibration was the least. Then tweek it one bolt hole both directions to see if that would lessen it even more. Made a big difference on a couple of sets of tires. Sometimes the resultant position made it a bit difficult to air the inner but had to be done.
Hutch

Find a shop that will put this stuff in - should solve it
http://www.imiproducts.com/equal/index.aspx

The Hunter GSP9700 is your friend. Thanks to all the posters who suggested it. Truck rides smoother than ever.

Let's see, six new Michelin XPS Rib tires, 2 fail road force balancer (118lbs & 91lbs). Two more tires, one fails at 78, third new tire barely passes at 49. So to recap new Michelins, out of a sample size of 9, three fail and one almost fails. And these were German Michelins. I think I'll look else where for tires in the future.

Mike

Have the ball joints checked. You have checked everything except them. Mine were worn badly on one side at about 50,000 miles. Have someone do it that knows how, by prying the tire up to check for wear. The entire A-frame has to be replaced. They don't replace the ball joint on this truck.

Tom Cobb