Dw

If this is mentioned somewhere please lead me to it. While driving at about 50 mph the good old wobble comes into play and stays till about 60 mph. So I think the tires just need to be balanced. Well it seems like every time I take them in for balancing it ends up worse than before. Could it be that they just don't know how to balance a tire right? They are 33 radials so that shouldn't be that hard to balance should it? I wouldn't think so. So is it the tires or could it be that the upper heim joint on my track bar is worn out. I say upper because the lower is still a stock end. I took a look at the heim joint and it didn't seem to have any strange movements in it but there was what seemed to be washer type thing hanging half way out of the center. I don't know what they are supposed to look like so tell me if this means that it's bad.

kirby said:

If this is mentioned somewhere please lead me to it. While driving at about 50 mph the good old wobble comes into play and stays till about 60 mph. So I think the tires just need to be balanced. Well it seems like every time I take them in for balancing it ends up worse than before. Could it be that they just don't know how to balance a tire right? They are 33 radials so that shouldn't be that hard to balance should it? I wouldn't think so. So is it the tires or could it be that the upper heim joint on my track bar is worn out. I say upper because the lower is still a stock end. I took a look at the heim joint and it didn't seem to have any strange movements in it but there was what seemed to be washer type thing hanging half way out of the center. I don't know what they are supposed to look like so tell me if this means that it's bad.

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If the shake or shimmy starts between 50 and 55 MPH and goes away between 60 and 65, it is caused by poor tire balance. Many technicians don't really know how to operate the machine, plus they're used to small tires on ricers so they think "close" is good enough. It isn't. A 33 is a BIG tire, and I'm sure you know if you've ever rotated yours that they are heavy. They're also much wider than normal street tires, so any heavy or light spots in the sidewalls or near the soulders of the tread will be much farther off-axis than a similar flaw on a normal street tire.

As to the track bar, are you running an aftermarket bar? The stock track bars don't have Heim joints, they have tie rod ends. There is a rubber dust boot that fits over the tapered stud, and yours may have gotten torn. That alone won't cause an instant problem, but it does allow dirt to get in which could accelerate wear in the joint.

I believe that the track bar is stock but a heim joint was added to the top and I know the bottom isn't a tre, it's just the normal end. Well I guess I'll just have to go and cuss at them another time. This is like the 3rd time on separate occasions that they just can't seem to get it right. I didn't mean to make a 33 sound small either I was just trying to say that it is possible to balance a larger tire so why are they having so many problems with one smaller than what they can do?

Eagle said:

Many technicians don't really know how to operate the machine, plus they're used to small tires on ricers so they think "close" is good enough. It isn't. A 33 is a BIG tire, and I'm sure you know if you've ever rotated yours that they are heavy.

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Eagle makes a good point.
The guy at NTB that balances my tires thought he was doing me a favor by keeping all the weights on the inner side of the wheels. I have to tell them to put the weights where the machine says and don't worry about looks.

Eagle said:

They're also much wider than normal street tires, so any heavy or light spots in the sidewalls or near the soulders of the tread will be much farther off-axis than a similar flaw on a normal street tire.

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Ditto agiain.
Because the tires are wider, a good dynamic balance is critical.

The size and weight of the tire as well as wheel width, scrub radius, rubber compound, tread design and depth, spring rate and many other factors will detemine at what speed the shimmy will occur. In many cases, the cause of the shimmy is poor balance, particularly poor dynamic balance, but other factors can contribute to this as well. Tire roundness (or lack of), a bent wheel, warped brake rotor, toe-in and tire wear patterns come to mind. How old are the tires? Are they wearing more on the inner edge than the outer (coning)? Anything that creates a torque about the steering or rotational axis is suspect.

These are all things that can cause the shimmy. Part two is to determine what parts are loose. Something loose in the front suspension or steering will give the shimmy an opportunity to develop and in some cases to get totally out of control (DW).

I have tightened everything in sight to no avail. I'll go have a talk with them today and have the weights put on the outside too.

I had a Toyota Tacoma that had balance issues straight from the dealer. I searched on several sites for info and everyone said to find a shop that has a Hunter brand balancing machine. I don't remember the model number. We have one place in the town where I live that has this machine. It made a huge difference in the way the truck handled. This might be some good info, it seems that the tacomas are very sensitive to poorly balanced tires.