Vibration On the road (1 Viewer)

[kirkagosto]

ok I need some help. I am getting a vibration going down the road. It feels like a tire out of balance but the tires are new and have been rebalanced twice since mounting to be sure. The wheels are new oem Toyota. I have all new oem steering linkages, newly rebuilt knuckles. Bushings in control arms are good and panhard bushings looked ok as well. Verified all bearings were torqued properly and everything in the axle rebuild was solid. Feels like it’s at the front end but I’m not positive. What am I missing? Need help.

 

[-Spike-]

ok I need some help. I am getting a vibration going down the road. It feels like a tire out of balance but the tires are new and have been rebalanced twice since mounting to be sure. The wheels are new oem Toyota. I have all new oem steering linkages, newly rebuilt knuckles. Bushings in control arms are good and panhard bushings looked ok as well. Verified all bearings were torqued properly and everything in the axle rebuild was solid. Feels like it’s at the front end but I’m not positive. What am I missing? Need help.

Holy crap, new OEM wheels, how much did those set you back?

Are they hub-centric? If not, are they centered?

Are the tires round? Yeah, that's a serious question.

Less likely but possible, how are your u-joints?

After exploring those questions, you could try rotating the tires front to back, see if anything changes.

 

[vipergrhd]

^^^ Very good pointers, are your wheels hub centric or lug centric? If you don't know look it up and check some you tube videos on this topic.
Hub centric wheels are no brainer to balance as long the machine is properly calibrated but lug centric wheels need an extra adapter to center the wheels on the machine it also helps to get the wheels balance with a Road Force balancer (look it up). Hope this points you in the right direction.

 

[kirkagosto]

Holy crap, new OEM wheels, how much did those set you back?

Are they hub-centric? If not, are they centered?

Are the tires round? Yeah, that's a serious question.

Less likely but possible, how are your u-joints?

After exploring those questions, you could try rotating the tires front to back, see if anything changes.

They are new OEM but they are for an FJ cruiser. Pretty sure they are lug centric because they use the tapered lugnuts that centers them on the lugs but not sure if that is what determines lug centric or not. I’ll check the ujoints but I was under the truck the other day and couldn’t feel or see any play while I greased them. I had them off when I did. Never heard of road force balancing. I’ll have to check what that is.

 

[Malleus]

Road force balancing means the balancing machine exerts a force on the wheel, similar to what it sees on the truck on the road, while it's turning. Only way to go; everything else is guesswork.

 

[-Spike-]

They are new OEM but they are for an FJ cruiser. Pretty sure they are lug centric because they use the tapered lugnuts that centers them on the lugs but not sure if that is what determines lug centric or not. I’ll check the ujoints but I was under the truck the other day and couldn’t feel or see any play while I greased them. I had them off when I did. Never heard of road force balancing. I’ll have to check what that is.

Lug centric means the wheel is centered via the lug nuts, which are acorn style. Hub centric means the wheel center hole fits tight on the hub, which is what centers it, and the lug nuts are shank style. If you have shank-style lug nuts but the wheel isn't tight on the hub, the wheels can be slightly off-center when tightened down on the hub, which will act just like they were out of balance. The easy fix is to temporarily use three acorn nuts to center the wheel on the hub, taking care not to tighten them too much so they don't deform the lug seats, then install and torque three shank-style nuts, and then replace the three acorn nuts with the correct shank style nuts.

I believe FJ Cruiser wheels are hub centric and the hub hole is the same size as stock 80 wheels, so they should self-center unless you are using spacers, which you didn't mention. Most people would use spacers with those wheels. Spacers are (almost always in this application) lug-centric, so you might need to use the above method to center the wheels on the hubs.

 

[kirkagosto]

Lug centric means the wheel is centered via the lug nuts, which are acorn style. Hub centric means the wheel center hole fits tight on the hub, which is what centers it, and the lug nuts are shank style. If you have shank-style lug nuts but the wheel isn't tight on the hub, the wheels can be slightly off-center when tightened down on the hub, which will act just like they were out of balance. The easy fix is to temporarily use three acorn nuts to center the wheel on the hub, taking care not to tighten them too much so they don't deform the lug seats, then install and torque three shank-style nuts, and then replace the three acorn nuts with the correct shank style nuts.

I believe FJ Cruiser wheels are hub centric and the hub hole is the same size as stock 80 wheels, so they should self-center unless you are using spacers, which you didn't mention. Most people would use spacers with those wheels. Spacers are (almost always in this application) lug-centric, so you might need to use the above method to center the wheels on the hubs.

Good point. I do have 1.5 spacers. They have acorn type lugnuts. So they should be good. I need to verify but pretty sure the wheel lugnuts are acorn style as well. If not I’ll try your method of using three. Thanks

Kirk

 

[-Spike-]

I need to verify but pretty sure the wheel lugnuts are acorn style as well.
Kirk

They shouldn't be, those wheels should have flat seats unless they are steel, AFAIK.

 

[kirkagosto]

They shouldn't be, those wheels should have flat seats unless they are steel, AFAIK.

Ok I’ll double check. Not certain

Kirk

 

[chap79]

Are your wheels steel or aluminum?

 

[jfz80]

Didnt you post elsewhere a couple times you just had a lift installed?

Possible bad u joint not happy with its new position? Bout sounds like you feel it more than hear it.

Did you install a new steering damper at same time?

Agree if FJC alloys then you need shank style lug nuts.

 

[kirkagosto]

Yes aluminum wheels. New steering damper. I don’t hear any issue with the u-joint. Really feels like a tire issue. Gonna try the three acorns to center the wheels and see if that makes a difference.

 

[inkpot]

If the acorn trick doesn’t solve the problem, then try greasing one ujoint at a time then test drive. That way you can I D which , if any, joint is causing the problem.

 

[vipergrhd]

Here is a very good illustration.

Hub Centric vs. Lug Centric

I just noticed on the picture of the lug nuts that it's backwards, the one on the left is lug centric and the right one is hub centric.

 

[ppc]

The picture is correct.

 

[vipergrhd]

^^^ My bad, Too much cheap beer. It is correct after all.

 

[ppc]

It may be cheap beer but seems to be doing the job as intended.

 

[vipergrhd]

It was free so I can't really complain, now I got a fawking headache.

 

[Dudleyfj40]

It takes 8 bolts to pull your rear drive shaft, I have replaced two rear u-joints that seemed fine until I pulled it.

 

[mudgudgeon]

If no joy after remounting wheels, definitely check uni joints, particularly if you just added lift.
Uni joints are best checked with the drive shaft out of the vehicle. If you can't rotate them freely in all directions, they are cooked.

Another thing to look at is brakes. A binding caliper can cause a vibration.
Poorly adjusted e brake can also cause a vibration

@vipergrhd cheap beer can cause a buzz, and sometimes a wobble, but not usually a vibration