Aftermarket wheels and tire vibration (1 Viewer)

[stevesoutriding]

Hello. I am a new FZJ80 owner. I bought a 93' back in January of this year and have searched this forum high and low for answers to my problem. If I have somehow over looked my answer on a previous thread allow me to appologize in advance.

Here is my set up. 1993 FZJ80 with 150,000. American Racing 16" Tactic wheels with 285 75 16 Maxxis Big horn tires. All replacement parts have been with Toyota parts from Cruiser Dan or local Toyota dealership ,no lifetime warranty autozone type garbage.

Rebuilt driveshafts.
Birfield service/clean and repack
New trunion bearings
OME stock height replacement with shocks and steering stabilizer
Front wheel bearing service
New tie rod ends
Home frontend toe adjustment
Checked panhard bolt torque

I have highway vibes in the steering at 65-70 mph. I have road forced the heck out of this tire/wheel combo and still have the shakes. I have even taken to another spin balance shop and actually got a slight improvement in the ride but never the less still have vibes. Vibes/shakes come and go and seem to get worse (to a point) and longer in duration the longer I drive. I could also be my imagination but it seems to be worse after a hard acceleration like getting on the highway.

Cdan told me I need to go back to the stock wheel and michelin LTX tires. I don't disagree with him however I love the look of my Cruiser with this set up.

My questions are:
1. Has anyone else out there had problems with aftermarket wheels not balancing?

2. Am I expecting to much from a mud terrain on the highway? (don't mind noise. just don't like shaking steering wheel.)

3. Are Maxxis Bighorns crap tires? (feathered a bit but not cupped even though 2 shocks were blown. I personally like them up to 65 mph)

4. Does anyone else have an aggressive tire that does well on the higway?

5. Any other things I should look for that may be wrong? (spindle bushing etc.)

This is starting to get very frustrating as my wallet is taking a hit and I have Colorado trips and mountain biking trips I would like to drive this to coming up.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Great resource by the way.

Stephen

 

[87 HJ60]

The feathered tread could have some affect on the shaking your experiencing.
You also said that another tire shop re-balanced your wheels. Did they properly balance the wheels? Some places get lazy and don't properly balance the tire. Did your tires require a lot of weight to get them balanced?

 

[Haring Bagsik]

IMHO, it might be because your tires are feathered. I've had numerous tires in the past that feathered out and get vibrations to the point that I couldn't stand it anymore and end up replacing them.

Are you also going to the same shop to get them balanced? If you are, I suggest take it to a more reputable shop....Goodluck!

 

[stevesoutriding]

My freind has a highend shop with a roadforce balancer that mainly caters to the hubcentric wheels of BMW's and Mercedes so he only has the center cone clamp to hold the wheels. As he attempts to get them to road force the cone trys to back off due to the size of the tire and tread pattern. I took them to another shop that just has a spin balancer but with a lugcentric adapter and I stood over them while they balanced them. They took quite a bit of weight but yielded a slightly better ride but not by much.

I don't mind buying new tires. I guess my main concern is if I were to buy new 285 75 16s in a mud terrain or anything other than a Michelin LTX am I wasting my money only to have a shaking in the steering wheel even if properly balanced. Secondly. I see quite a bit of talk about sticking with stock wheels. Are the American Racing Tactic wheels part of the problem.

 

[Haring Bagsik]

My freind has a highend shop with a roadforce balancer that mainly caters to the hubcentric wheels of BMW's and Mercedes so he only has the center cone clamp to hold the wheels. As he attempts to get them to road force the cone trys to back off due to the size of the tire and tread pattern. I took them to another shop that just has a spin balancer but with a lugcentric adapter and I stood over them while they balanced them. They took quite a bit of weight but yielded a slightly better ride but not by much.

I don't mind buying new tires. I guess my main concern is if I were to buy new 285 75 16s in a mud terrain or anything other than a Michelin LTX am I wasting my money only to have a shaking in the steering wheel even if properly balanced. Secondly. I see quite a bit of talk about sticking with stock wheels. Are the American Racing Tactic wheels part of the problem.

I just got my new "aftermarket" wheels and tires 2 days ago and they are smooth and no shakes at all.

 

[firetruck41]

I think you will need to go to a shop that has a Hunter GSP9700 or similar, with the correct adapters, to get your definitive answer. If they can determine it is a "bad" tire or two, you may be able to get them replaced by the tire manufacturer. Try to find a place that also offers "lifetime" balancing, in case you have to go back.
Check here for a shop

 

[87 HJ60]

In the meantime you can try swapping the front tires to the rear and the rear tires to the front.

 

[retrofive]

I run a 285/75/16 M/T (DC's), zero issue with vib and pretty quite.

EDIT: May have missed it but where are you located? maybe a local club guy will let you change whee/tires for the day and see if that is the issue.

 

[BrotherRob]

Find a local cruiser guy and try swapping tires. That will tell you if it is/is not the tires. Check your drive shafts, that sounds a lot like a DS vibe.

 

[Paul_L]

If your tires are feathered, hat could cause the vibration. You also need to be sure you fixed whatever caused the feathering. Don't forget to get a good alignment.

 

[stevesoutriding]

Ok. Barring the cosmetic damage Hudiburg Toyota in Oklahoma City did to my wheels. I bought a set of 285 75 16 Nitto Terra grapplers and this made a huge difference in the ride. However I still have an ever so slight vibration at 65mph. I insisted on a road force balance with the adapter plate (I assume they did it how I requested) but still get a shimmy in the steering on the highway.

Any other ideas

 

[Cannon88]

Are you sure that one of the rims is not slightly bent?

 

[kev301]

I just got my new "aftermarket" wheels and tires 2 days ago and they are smooth and no shakes at all.

Sorry for the hi-jack.

Nice wheels... Did you ever sell the tundra rims with bfg mud terrain?

 

[pillguy]

i am having the same problem. there is a TSB requiring an adapter from toyota (not use cone) on the balancing machines as that is the main problem.
THey are great tires, but one of mine is chunking and cracking and I have the same vibration problem at 65-70mph as well.
Great deal on them, but now I think I see why..

Hello. I am a new FZJ80 owner. I bought a 93' back in January of this year and have searched this forum high and low for answers to my problem. If I have somehow over looked my answer on a previous thread allow me to appologize in advance.

Here is my set up. 1993 FZJ80 with 150,000. American Racing 16" Tactic wheels with 285 75 16 Maxxis Big horn tires. All replacement parts have been with Toyota parts from Cruiser Dan or local Toyota dealership ,no lifetime warranty autozone type garbage.

Rebuilt driveshafts.
Birfield service/clean and repack
New trunion bearings
OME stock height replacement with shocks and steering stabilizer
Front wheel bearing service
New tie rod ends
Home frontend toe adjustment
Checked panhard bolt torque

I have highway vibes in the steering at 65-70 mph. I have road forced the heck out of this tire/wheel combo and still have the shakes. I have even taken to another spin balance shop and actually got a slight improvement in the ride but never the less still have vibes. Vibes/shakes come and go and seem to get worse (to a point) and longer in duration the longer I drive. I could also be my imagination but it seems to be worse after a hard acceleration like getting on the highway.

Cdan told me I need to go back to the stock wheel and michelin LTX tires. I don't disagree with him however I love the look of my Cruiser with this set up.

My questions are:
1. Has anyone else out there had problems with aftermarket wheels not balancing?

2. Am I expecting to much from a mud terrain on the highway? (don't mind noise. just don't like shaking steering wheel.)

3. Are Maxxis Bighorns **** tires? (feathered a bit but not cupped even though 2 shocks were blown. I personally like them up to 65 mph)

4. Does anyone else have an aggressive tire that does well on the higway?

5. Any other things I should look for that may be wrong? (spindle bushing etc.)

This is starting to get very frustrating as my wallet is taking a hit and I have Colorado trips and mountain biking trips I would like to drive this to coming up.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Great resource by the way.

Stephen

 

[stevesoutriding]

After putting up with this vibration for better part of a year and balancing my tires numerous times as well as replace almost every suspension and steering component possibly related to vibes. I stumbled on to my biggest source of vibration on the highway.

I was told the brakes on my 93 had been serviced prior to my purchace. I started noticing the familiar sound of metal on metal from my rear brakes. So I go in for the fix and find it unusual that the left rear outer pad is worn down to the metal while the inner is fine with plenty of pad material left.

I take my rotor in to have it turned and it was found to be warped too bad to turn. So I buy new rotors for the rear. I also found that one of the right rear brake caliper pins/bolts was bent causing the caliper to bind on the rotor and drag (this was a b!@#% to get out by the way).

After replacing the bolt and putting new rotors and pads on, I bled the brakes and put new fluid in.

To my surprise my vibes are gone except a barely noticable slight shimmy every now and then. It would now actually be tolorable on a long trip where before I could barely tolorate it on my 12mi commute to work every morning.

Just in case I did something else that may have inadvertently cured my vibe I did remove and reinstall my wheels and did unbolt my rear driveshaft at the transfer case and reinstall it after realizing I didn't have the grease I was going to lube my slip yoke with.

Thanks to all for the wealth of info on mud. I am now a very happy 80 owner.

 

[specialk396]

It was the brakes all along, most likely.