Bad vibes after lift install - Solved? Solved!

[MarkamisPrime]

Welp, $600 of driveline parts later, I think it's going to end up being the tires.

:redbrick:



The tire shop rebalanced all four tires (they say shop #2 did a TERRIBLE job of balancing the tires), and found that one tire was 0.029" out of round. They matched it to a low spot in the rim and were able to reduce that runout by a whopping 0.005" to 0.024". They also rotated the tires.



The vibration got noticeably better, but it's still way worse than the cheap (like, $500-for-a-set-of-four cheap) mud tires I had on my old truck so I left it with them to try again.



It seems to me that for spending $1100 on BFG KO2s I should be getting a much better quality tire. Am I out of line for expecting them to replace that tire with the bad runout?

It is a manufacturing defect for a tire to be out of round they need to replace it for you.
No questions asked
BFG gives them a credit so it's at no charge to them or you.
You can't expect every tire to be perfect off the line. Your bound to get one or two rotten eggs maybe more in a batch of hundreds.
That's why they offer this out of round replacements.
They might be able to get it down a bit more maybe but that's a lot of run out and even if you put that one on the RR you'll still feel it if you have a glass ass like me.
Just tell them you want a new tire.

 

[wcjeep]

Can you hear the vibes? If so, buy some cheap FRS radios. Tape/ziptie to Always keyed up. Move to different areas of the underbody then test drive. You should be able to narrow down the problem to one area.

Infrared thermometer? Flir attachment for your phone? Look for heat. Vibrations cause heat. Compare from side to side. Front to back. Anything on the sun side of the vehicle will be slightly warmer. Flir is faster.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Welp, $600 of driveline parts later, I think it's going to end up being the tires.
:redbrick:

The tire shop rebalanced all four tires (they say shop #2 did a TERRIBLE job of balancing the tires), and found that one tire was 0.029" out of round. They matched it to a low spot in the rim and were able to reduce that runout by a whopping 0.005" to 0.024". They also rotated the tires.

The vibration got noticeably better, but it's still way worse than the cheap (like, $500-for-a-set-of-four cheap) mud tires I had on my old truck so I left it with them to try again.

It seems to me that for spending $1100 on BFG KO2s I should be getting a much better quality tire. Am I out of line for expecting them to replace that tire with the bad runout?

BFG KO2s ... I've never run them but how are the surveys? Anyone else have this issue.

Funny thing, when I saw your first post I thought it's probably tire (s) or wheel (s). You could swap wheels with a friend. Know anyone with a Toyota? Swapping with a friend for the afternoon is quick and free.

 

[thezentree]

It is a manufacturing defect for a tire to be out of round they need to replace it for you.
No questions asked
BFG gives them a credit so it's at no charge to them or you.
You can't expect every tire to be perfect off the line. Your bound to get one or two rotten eggs maybe more in a batch of hundreds.
That's why they offer this out of round replacements.
They might be able to get it down a bit more maybe but that's a lot of run out and even if you put that one on the RR you'll still feel it if you have a glass ass like me.
Just tell them you want a new tire.

If it's not markedly improved this afternoon, I'm going to push for a new tire. I realize it's a 16 year old truck with a lift kit, so it's not going to ride like a Cadillac, but it should be able to do 70 without my hands going numb after 30 minutes from holding the steering wheel...

Can you hear the vibes? If so, buy some cheap FRS radios. Tape/ziptie to Always keyed up. Move to different areas of the underbody then test drive. You should be able to narrow down the problem to one area.

Infrared thermometer? Flir attachment for your phone? Look for heat. Vibrations cause heat. Compare from side to side. Front to back. Anything on the sun side of the vehicle will be slightly warmer. Flir is faster.

I think we have an IR camera in the lab at work that I might be able to borrow if it hasn't grown legs. The problem will be that I don't have a baseline to compare it to. For example, a non-vibrating U-joint is going to heat up too, but how much hotter will a vibrating U-joint be? I don't know the answer to that.

BFG KO2s ... I've never run them but how are the surveys? Anyone else have this issue.

Funny thing, when I saw your first post I thought it's probably tire (s) or wheel (s). You could swap wheels with a friend. Know anyone with a Toyota? Swapping with a friend for the afternoon is quick and free.

Yeah, several of the of the replies in this thread have suggested that it would be wheels/tires. I thought I had ruled that out after having the balanced checked again, but evidently not.

Unfortunately I've not been able to track down a set of loaner wheels/tires.

 

[SpidermanGeek]

I dropped the tire pressure from 40psi (really tire shop?) to 30psi and drove around for a few minutes and the vibration seems a little bit less harsh and it seems to start at a slightly lower speed, but that's completely subjective.

Lol. I keep my tire PSI at 40.

 

[3bears]

I have the 10 ply ko'2s at 36psi. They will feel every bump in the road, only thing I don't like about them. I was warned I would feel everything but I went with them anyway because I don't like flats on back gravel roads.. They were not designed to be a freeway tire to run all day at 70mph and be smooth

 

[thezentree]

It's the tires. Round four of balancing today made it a lot better, but still not great. Hopefully round five tomorrow will get it knocked out.

 

[MarkamisPrime]

It's the tires. Round four of balancing today made it a lot better, but still not great. Hopefully round five tomorrow will get it knocked out.



I'm not impressed, BFGoodrich.

I knew it. Like I said before 95% of vibrations come from the tires.
BFG is made by Michelin
They are good tires
Like I said before
You got a bad batch. Witch happens. Not a big deal. You just gotta man up and demand them replaced
I've got the same tires and have installed them many many times a lot of members here have the same tires.
I wouldn't hesitate to get another set or recommend another set.

 

[wcjeep]

I've had great luck with BFG's on my Jeep and Diesel truck.

 

[gamefreakgc]

It's the tires. Round four of balancing today made it a lot better, but still not great. Hopefully round five tomorrow will get it knocked out.

I'm not impressed, BFGoodrich.

Tires are warrantied, you should be able to get a refund.

Michelin are good tires though, normally.

 

[JKLNHYD]

I had a lifted 2013 TTFJ running 285 70 BFG KM Muds and they balanced perfectly the first time and wore evenly so you must have gotten a bad one.

I saw it mentioned only once through this thread but it's a good idea to try to put a full set of stock rims and tires on the truck and drive it and see what the result is. I read that you had trouble locating a donor set to test with. Maybe a junkyard?

 

[thezentree]

I had all 4 tires replaced this afternoon. Vibrations are still there.

I don't really know what else to do.

 

[ltsr]

It's the tires. Round four of balancing today made it a lot better, but still not great. Hopefully round five tomorrow will get it knocked out.

I'm not impressed, BFGoodrich.

I can't really add anything to help with your vibration hunt besides the fact that I was also an unlucky customer with out of round KO2s. Earlier this year I went through a nightmare of getting BFG to warranty my tires. After about 2 months Michelin/BFG gave me a brand new set of KO2s.

Good luck

 

[thezentree]

I can't really add anything to help with your vibration hunt besides the fact that I was also an unlucky customer with out of round KO2s. Earlier this year I went through a nightmare of getting BFG to warranty my tires. After about 2 months Michelin/BFG gave me a brand new set of KO2s.

Good luck

I'm not sure the first set was actually all that bad, just not perfect. They agreed to replace mine without an argument, so I'm back in BFG's camp.

 

[Kanoe]

I had all 4 tires replaced this afternoon. Vibrations are still there.

I don't really know what else to do.

That really sucks. What else to do but find a known good set to try on?

I'm in a similar situation and in the spring I hope to borrow my buddies summer set up from his tacoma for an afternoon. Mine have been balanced several times too.

 

[MarkamisPrime]

I had all 4 tires replaced this afternoon. Vibrations are still there.



I don't really know what else to do.

Did you ever remove the front driveline ?

 

[SpidermanGeek]

Lol. I keep my tire PSI at 40.

And now I just slapped on a set of Load Range E tires and my vibrations are gone (and I still need to have them balanced). These tires/wheels came inflated to 58-60psi in them, but I equalized them all around 55psi.

I'll see what my tire guy says about the PSI when I get the balancing done next Friday, but from what I've read, a load range E should run at no less than 45psi. Seems like that's about the minimum average for 10ply sidewalls.

 

[thezentree]

Did you ever remove the front driveline ?

Not yet, going to do that this morning.

 

[thezentree]

Did you ever remove the front driveline ?

Removing the front driveshaft has no effect on the vibrations.

 

[thezentree]

Sorry for the disjointed posts, been posting as I go.

I noticed that the steering rack is leaking more than it was, and there's shiny metal next to the passenger side steering rack bushing, which tells me the bushings need to be replaced.

Could this cause a vibration like that? Sorry for the huge pic, I'm posting from my phone and can't resize.