Hello Everyone!
For a little back ground, I've had my neglected LX450 since 2014 as a daily driver and fixing it along the way til present. Ever since I've had her there were vibrations at speed even after rebuilding the front and rear axles along the way but the vibes were still manageable until recently I installed 1" spacers on my old tires and these insinuated the problem even more. Tried to fix it by rebalancing the tires at the shop a couple of times - didn't work, alignment shops - no difference, added balancing beads - Snake Oil, played with tow in and out - weirdness, changed tires from 33's to 35's - made it worse..... Until last weekend!
After deciding to remove the spacers once again to reduce the vibes I noticed how loose the wheel actually was when turning it forward and backwards with the lug nuts just snugged up and realized that the wheel could be drooping and I've been tightening them up like that the whole time. THAT was the root problem of the vibes, not balancing or any mechanical problems with bearings or anything like that but it was caused by the old worn out wheels!
I figured after decades of wear and enlargement on the lug holes and the center bore (the aluminum wheels would wear a lot after decades I assume), the wheels never actually centered properly so i made a little illustration of what i did.
This drawing is exaggerated in order to see the problem better.
Fig 1 shows how the wheel could be tightened with the worn out holes and pretty easy to see the problem.
Fig 2 shows what how simply lifting up one side would center the wheel.
That's it, years of annoying vibrations GONE by simply lifting up one side of the wheel while tightening the lug nuts. Didn't even lift that much, just enough to visibly see and feel that the slack from the looseness go away.
I don't know if this is common knowledge already since it's so simple but have never heard of anything like this being done or recommended before anywhere but if you also have unexplained vibrations give this a try and I really hope this will help and save you the head ache like I did.
-AL
Edit: here's a pic of the oem LX450 rims.
I looked around the hub and I do see a gap between the hub and the center bore of the wheel. The space seems pretty even all around.
For a little back ground, I've had my neglected LX450 since 2014 as a daily driver and fixing it along the way til present. Ever since I've had her there were vibrations at speed even after rebuilding the front and rear axles along the way but the vibes were still manageable until recently I installed 1" spacers on my old tires and these insinuated the problem even more. Tried to fix it by rebalancing the tires at the shop a couple of times - didn't work, alignment shops - no difference, added balancing beads - Snake Oil, played with tow in and out - weirdness, changed tires from 33's to 35's - made it worse..... Until last weekend!
After deciding to remove the spacers once again to reduce the vibes I noticed how loose the wheel actually was when turning it forward and backwards with the lug nuts just snugged up and realized that the wheel could be drooping and I've been tightening them up like that the whole time. THAT was the root problem of the vibes, not balancing or any mechanical problems with bearings or anything like that but it was caused by the old worn out wheels!
I figured after decades of wear and enlargement on the lug holes and the center bore (the aluminum wheels would wear a lot after decades I assume), the wheels never actually centered properly so i made a little illustration of what i did.
This drawing is exaggerated in order to see the problem better.
Fig 1 shows how the wheel could be tightened with the worn out holes and pretty easy to see the problem.
Fig 2 shows what how simply lifting up one side would center the wheel.
That's it, years of annoying vibrations GONE by simply lifting up one side of the wheel while tightening the lug nuts. Didn't even lift that much, just enough to visibly see and feel that the slack from the looseness go away.
I don't know if this is common knowledge already since it's so simple but have never heard of anything like this being done or recommended before anywhere but if you also have unexplained vibrations give this a try and I really hope this will help and save you the head ache like I did.
-AL
Edit: here's a pic of the oem LX450 rims.
I looked around the hub and I do see a gap between the hub and the center bore of the wheel. The space seems pretty even all around.
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