Shaky Truck? Help!!

[mountain]

Hello.
My 57 International developed a real bad shake anything over 20 MPH. It littlerly feels like the wheels are about to come off, I had to pull over because I was that worried. The hubs are tight and all of the lug nuts are torqued on. I just replaced the Ujoints because they were shot so those are good. I had to add about a QT of gear oil to the rear but I don't think that had anything to do with it. I was looking at the wheels last night and noticed I have thrown all but 1 weight off of my left rear tire. Could that cause a shake like that? It is almost like my drive shaft is out of balance (it is original) but I never had problems like this before. I checked my front end and everything is still together. I am looking for some tips on what to look for. I am supposed to be driving the president of our university in it tomorrow so I am starting to panic. Thanks for any help!

Jason

 

[papamike]

Get the tires re-balanced and go from there. i had that problem on my bucket and thought it was the front supension tried everything with no change until i balanced the rear tires

 

[Sniper]

Crystal ball is a bit foggy at this distance, but.....

if your throwing wheel weights, there is something going on. You didn't mention if it was a steering wheel shake, (first thing that came to mind was a speed wobble.) But then you mention it hadn't happened before. So...what has happened, or been changed from when it was alright, to now? I would think it has to be quite a large imbalance to show so drasticly at 20 mph. Since your limited for time, a quick check over is in order. Jack it up so the rear wheels are clear of the ground and let it idle in gear. Check for out of round tires, an out of line driveshaft,( dropped a 'C' clip and a joint has walked off to one side? Guessing here.) whatever it is, it should show up if it's in the driveline.

 

[mountain]

Let me clear up a few things. The shake developed last year and I just parked the truck out of frustration. I changed the UJoints because I thought that had to be the reason, and the Ujoints were shot so they needed to be changed. I never drove the truck off of my driveway after I changed the Ujoints so I never realized it had such a terrible shake. Now when I took it down the main road I noticed the shake/wobble. Thanks for the help!

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Do you have a 2 piece driveshaft? If you do, check your center bearing/support.

 

[Willowbilly3]

Have you spun the tires and watched? Sounds like a big goose egg on one of the tires. Put the rear end up on jack stands and run it up. or have someone else do it so you can watch.

 

[21willys]

Busted belts in tire maybe, if it's that bad you should be able to see it without rolling the tires.

You have any spare tires to throw on and see if it changes?

 

[Mr.Crown]

Split rims?

The way you describe it, makes it sound like a lateral shake which leads me to believe it's not the tires.

But, I've only experienced this with motorcycle stuff. But, the culprit was the wheel bearings half the time, and the other times it was a loose steering head bearing.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Tude]

My guess is busted belt in a tire also.....

 

[donsrods]

Put strong jackstands under the rear end so the tires are off the ground a little, then put it in gear and get it up to the point where it shakes. It will take two people, one in the car and one watching.

I had one like that and it was a huge bubble on the inside of the one rear tire.

Don

 

[psycho sean]

I'm with the busted belt group. I had a grandwagoneer broken belt did same thing took a week before I found it when I did it was fine

 

[HOT40ROD]

I had one drive me nut on time. after doing everything I could think of i happen to jack the truck just that the tire was off the ground. As I was turning the wheel I notice the the tire was hitting the floor. Happen to be that both front tires were out of round. Just something to check

 

[CR55]

I'm leaning towards the defective tire also. Had the same thing happen on my daily driver..couldn't quite nail it down until the front tire literally blew at 55. Whew what a ride that was!!!!!

 

[mountain]

Morning Everyone.

So I ran out to my fathers shop before the parade to see if some of the guys out there could help me figure it out but it is still a sort of mystery. My truck has a solid drive shaft so there is no center bearing to worry about. I jacked up the rear and watched the rear tires roll and it doesn't look out of round. They did try to balance my tires but they have one of those fancy electronic machines and they could not get it work with my tires (they claimed it is because I have tubes in my tires). I am running new radials but I still have the original rims so I kept the tubes. Some of the shake went away when I rotated the tires so I think that was a lot of the problem. I guess it may be time to upgrade to a new set of rims.

I made the parade and drove the president of Mansfield University. I think he was a little shocked when some shiney, fully restored truck did not show up to drive him. I schooled him on how much time and money it takes to fix up these type of trucks, so flat black it is. Thanks to everyone who came together to help me figure out my shake!

MTN

 

[RatTruck440]

check your driveline again

I did the exact same thing in my 66 Buick Skylark. When I put the driveline back in I didn't get it centered in the U joint. It shook something fierce.

 

[Willowbilly3]

Did they even look at your tires when they were sinning on the balancer? Most tire shops don't, so they can actually balance a square tire or bent rim and put it back on. Did you look at the drive shaft as you were turning the tires to see if it is centered or not bent? Did you actually put the car on jack stands, start the engine and roll the tires in gear while checking for round tires/straight rims and a centered straight drive shaft?

 

[shakey56]

Shakey???

OK Mountain,
I know you (and everyone else) are going to think I'm crazy but here goes. I had a 51 F1 that developed a "wobble" in the front end. I had to completely stop to get it to quit shaking. I replaced kingpins and bushings, tie rod ends, steering and idler arms, all to no avail. I read in an old motor manual to check the tire pressure. I thought; "That's dumb." But.....I had 20lbs in one tire, 29lbs in the other. I aired both tires to the same pressure and it never did it again! Don't laugh....it's true. Dangdest thing I ever saw. I know.....I know, won't work but it's worth a try. OK....go ahead and laugh.

Also, your drive shaft is balanced. Could you have gotten it out of position? I replaced u joints once in a vehicle and got a vibration. It was a VIBRATION; not in the front end but all over. But I cured it by removing and re-installing the drive shaft 1/4 turn.

After you quit laughing, consider these 2 fixes. They don't cost anything.

 

[R Pope]

A drive shaft vibe is much faster frequency than a wheel. At 20 mph you won't notice a drive shaft shake, got to be a wheel. Did you drive through some mud and get a big lump of it on the inside surface of a rim? Or hit a curb and bend a wheel"
I beams sometimes shake when the tires are not compatible with them. Nothing wrong with the tire, just the axle doesn't like them for some reason. Quite common on older farm tractors, they set up a "death wobble" in top gear sometimes. Trucks the same way sometimes.