I had to get some n-used tires for the front today. Hercules Terra Trac A/T E rating. Price was right 35 each balanced and installed. Lots of tread left but the tread on both tires was sort of ramped almost like lizard scales. the tail end of every 2nd one was raised a bit. Got in and drove away on gravel road. Got onto pavement and things felt a little shaky. Not too bad and I always have a little shake but i thought newly balance tires would've done away with that. Drove around and seemed to be worse each time. The shake tho feels like it's in the seat not in the steering wheel as well as the floor which I've been told is rear tire balance problem but it wasn't nearly as bad yesterday. I was taking a look at the tires a bit closer later and they have LOTS of balancing lead on them. Also the outside tread is arrow shaped and each tire has the tread pointing a different way.

So. Anyone know if Terra Trac tires are a directional tire? If so could that be a factor, enough to go back for a flip over. Was there a reason those really good tires were in a yard.

My idler arm has got to be replaced, next on a list. Is that a likely cause. I know I should get the rear tires balanced and I will if I go back for the front tire but could it change that much one day to the next. Also part of the A-arm looks loose (the part that attaches to the frame) would that make it shake like that?

I also recently replaced my front brake pads. Never done it before but seemed really easy. However I pulled a wheel off today and the pads seem to be touching the rotor. Is that normal. The rotor looks reallly shiny. I looked on youtube at a couple of pad changes and the pads look like they're touching but the camera didn't get real close.

Thanks for any and all responses
Sean

Yes the pads are supposed to touch. If you jack the wheel and turn it by hand you should feel resistance, give it a spin and it should only go about half way around before stopping.
If the rig the tires came from had probs, and started an unusual wear pattern, and your rig is loose, that pattern will continue. Your best bet is either return those and get new, or repair your front end. Just repairing your front may solve, or could just delay the prob.

i have terra trac tires exactly like that. if theyre worn like lizard skales it sounds like they were run unbalanced on rims before. thats what causes that kind of wear. also, if its just on the back tires, hold on the brakes and burn off the un even parts.

Thanks guys. I'm defnitly going to do the front end piece by piece as funds allow. I was actually thinking of switching the tires front to back and ripping around a bit. I don't think I can return these tires. should it matter that the treads and so the wear pattern is opposite? The wear pattern is even, there aren't any flat spots or anything. And 4320 are your treads pointed in the same direction (point of the tread facing forward or backward on all tires.)

if your back tires are good, swap em around. badly worn tires will make good steering shake, bad steering it does worse

I think I'll do that tomorrow and then get on some pavement and really let loose.
Thanks again!
Sean

my tires dont have a point of tread. all i can tell you is i put the white lettering out. so the driver tires and the passenger tires are in opposite directions.

Well I did the idler arm friday and the real bad shake and shimmy is gone but there's still something going on espescially between 70-90kmh /45-55mph way more so in deceleration.

I need to do control arm bushings, in fact I think the lower drivers side control arm needs replacing cause the part that the pivot arm goes into is pushed past the bushing and all worn out. When i lift the tire and move it tho none of that area moves at all. The pitman moves a bit (only back and forth tho not up and down) and the steering column just above the steering box moves fairly good. passenger side upper control arm moves a bit at the bushing. It seems as tho a few more parts need replacing as well as an alignment, however most of the shaking I feel is in the floorboards and arm rest. weird huh? I've been told that shaking in the seat is rear tires un balance and shaking in the steering wheel is front tires. What is shaking in the floorboards?

So far tierod ends are new and made a difference for a while. Then tires which made things worse. Then idler arm which made things better again but not at all speeds. Nothing in the front end moves that much except the steering column. Can this be tightened or is it a replace or is it normal?

I had it out my mechanic who took a look and the only thing he saw was the idler arm and he said maybe a lower balljoint. One of my n-used tires is worn a bit already on the inside indicating either toe in or negative camber. When I did my tie rods I thought I was careful. If one was too short and pulling the toe in would these symptoms occur (I know the tire wear would but what about the shake?).

Also I had my rear tires up and was checking them for any play. I can push them in and out a very slight amount and get a bit of a clunk when I do, what's up with that? normal? hub wear? wheels about to fall off? The rear tires have very even consistent wear

Any and all help very appreciated. As I think I stated before my knowledge of suspension is just enough to make me dangerous

Sean

Well after finally finding the right words to put in the suspension search engine it look like the bushing may be the culprit. I guess I'll have to either find the time or the money to get them done.

Edit. Or it's wheel bearings or it's lower balljoints or it's out of round rims or its..... Ball joints first then bearings and lastly I'll look at the wrecker for another 3/4 ton with a good lower control arm. Shouldn't be too tough

if tis a 14bolt FF rear axle that movement is BAD! if its a 14 bolt SF its fine since the C clips have slight play in them to begin with and that clunk is the axle shaft hitting the pinion shaft which is totally normal.

If your control arm bushing are gone it will affect your camber as well as the caster. too much or too little caster with give a vibration.

Also on the pre 88 models check your frame where the sterring box mounts to it. Where the bolts that hold the box on are , they have a weak point there and like to crack there. Look from the inside of the frame rail with a good light look around the bolt holes. over the years I had two that cracked on me.

Ok how do I tell whether if's a FF or SF rear axle.

I find it so odd that the drivers side has the bad tire wear yet it's the passenger side that has more play due to the upper contol arm havin a worn bushing. The drivers side lower arm tho is a bit mangle, maybe it just doesn't sit right. I'm at a loss i can't afford to do all those things right now and even if I could I can't have my truck down 'cause our jobs are all over the place right now.

Oh and the steering is back to pulling to passenger side and I'm driving straight with the wheel cranked a bit to drivers side (at about 11:00 maybe 11:30) Do this indicate that I installed the drivers side tie rod in too far, causing wobble & tire wear drivers side.

a FF axle has the big kinda dink hanging out through the rim. the SF axle doesnt, its just flat.

Here are some pics

All right I have the semi floaters. Tha's good to know. I got a lower control arm at the wrecker and hopefully I get it on this week. I think the lower ball joint is bad on the same side so I'll replace that as well. I hope this fixes it

after you get everything replaced, get the alignment or you'll just wear off tires.

Holy crow I just spent over an hour trying to get the stupid shock off and still no budging the bolt. I guess repeated spraying of all components with penetrating oil for a few days is on the menu. The passenger side has the fuel drip so everything is nice and greasy. Drivers side not so much.

i changed shocks on my old ladys dodge, took half a day, a 3/4" breaker bar and a 3 foot snipe, as well as 3 feet of extension so i had somewhere to turn the bar. did my dodge and all 4 were done in 45 mins, sometimes its easier to cut and replace bolts

What grade of bolts? I was thinking of that but I'll try the oil first specially since the U-bolt's weren't moving either. In fact everything I tried just for the sake of trying was not budging a bit. Looks like I'll have to borrow a larger socket and wrench set too.

Hey Sean, seems you have loose wheel bearings on your rear wheels if you can move them enough to have a clunk. Jeff said we have a 3500 here we are parting out, front end was nice and tight. The lower bjoints were very good , replaced them myself. Stablizers bar has new rubbers...... I'm in the process of stripping it out, if you want pieces and the drive is not too far for you, come help yourself.....(helps clean the yard).

Lots of these pieces we have in boxes in garage. One thing with steering parts, if three ( or two) are wore, and they are changed 1 at a time, the used ones will cause the new ones to wear unusually fast.

We got a trout stream on my land and camping within 250 ft of shop, come spend a weekend, and get all your parts.

Sorry Sean,in the time I was typing there were about 5 posts, your truck is down now, so you can't come here with it..... offer is always there.

Jeff said for $50.00 bucks of fuel we'll bring you a parts truck....LOL

That's a great offer guys thanks. I'll tell ya that trout stream sounds tempting but if I leave for another weekend my wife will kill me. I got the lower control arm today and i will try to put it on tomorrow, hopefully the oil is doing it's thing as we speak. It looks like the balljoint on this one is good too so that's a bonus.
You're right about bad parts making the new ones wear fast tho. I'm going to bite the bullet now that I've got the arm and do the upper arm bushings on passenger side as well and then retighten tierods and idler arm. Then some more n-used tires and hopefull I'm good for a few years in terms of front end. Then maybe keep up with greasing and I won't have the same problems.

Unfortunately I don't have much room to store parts and my buddy who I got the 1/2 ton parts truck from is trying to clean up a bit. I shouldn't have referred to the sound from the rear as a clunk, just like some steel hitting steel after moving 1/16". Hopefully my rear is good. If not I may just have to see how the minivan does in the Laurentians. Nothing like a bottle of "50" in the belle province.

Hey Sean, seems you have loose wheel bearings on your rear wheels if you can move them enough to have a clunk. Jeff said we have a 3500 here we are parting out, front end was nice and tight. The lower bjoints were very good , replaced them myself. Stablizers bar has new rubbers...... I'm in the process of stripping it out, if you want pieces and the drive is not too far for you, come help yourself.....(helps clean the yard).

Lots of these pieces we have in boxes in garage. One thing with steering parts, if three ( or two) are wore, and they are changed 1 at a time, the used ones will cause the new ones to wear unusually fast.

We got a trout stream on my land and camping within 250 ft of shop, come spend a weekend, and get all your parts.

didn't invite me...:confused: jeff woulda if you let him type lol

Well after about 8 hrs I got the unit off and mostly on. I've been trying to tighten up the balljoint but it keeps spinning. I thought if I put the weight of the ntruck on it it would be enough to let me tighten it but it's not working. Anyone have any tips?

Thanks in advance
Sean

you got an impact?

sometimes if you can get a jack or a bar under the ball joint to make it seat in

I've got it seated I think and I had the full weight of the truck on the jack under the ball joint and it's spinning away. The ball joint had some mangled thread and I thought I had cleaned it up but it stopped turning on the thread and started turning the ball joint and when I try to back it off it turns the other way. I hope I figure something out.

are you using an impact gun or a ratchet. impact will usually work

I had been using a ratchet, then tried an impact which had about the same results. Was finally able to find som real skinny needle nose pliers which I wrapped with tape and got enough grip to back the nut off. Cleaned up the thread some more and got the sucker on.
What a hateful job that was, grease and rust everywhere. Ended up cutting just about everything off, but not before trying like hell to remove and save each fastener. Didn't realize the u-bolts the hold the pivot bar up were a dealer or machine shop only kinda thing. Lucky I was able to get them that evening Fixed the wobble though, and the pulling and I'm sure the tire wear as well. I think it was so worn that the tire was kind of snowplowing down the road.

Well I'm glad that's done and hopefully I'll never have to do another one ever again.

grease it every few months then. good sticky grease. good luck

I usually buy chassis grease and use that everywhere. Good? The last stuff I got was kind of gold colored so thats gotta be the best right?

lol, thick and sticky. red ram used to be excellent,, but i don't know if shell renamed it after they bought turbo. hi end grease, like moly and synthetics are no good for ball joints. they are too slippery and pound right out

Yeah I got some in to all the stuff I changed and lots pushed past. Regular old black grease for the GMC next time I think. I see "farm" grease all the time(picture of an old lad and a tractor). That sounds about right to me.

Oh boy. I got some new n-used tires. One of the old ones had 10 oz of lead on the rim and the other had 6 oz. The new (to me) ones have 2 oz and 1.5 oz. and there is almost no shake or wobble at any speed 0-140km and feels great. Still need to do an alignment but that should be about it. whew

Oh boy. I got some new n-used tires. One of the old ones had 10 oz of lead on the rim and the other had 6 oz. The new (to me) ones have 2 oz and 1.5 oz. and there is almost no shake or wobble at any speed 0-140km and feels great. Still need to do an alignment but that should be about it. whew


what hill were you goin down to hit 140km/hr??

A big one!!!. Actually I was on a mild downward grade and straight for about a mile. i can always bury the needle but it takes a little while. It's actually way more responsive between 100-130km/h than anywhere else. The last 10km/h take a few seconds.