Rear end seems to be moving too much

[Wasatch Rebel]

So, on my 2000, I'm getting a lot of what I'd call "hopping around" when I drive on uneven pavement. A couple of months ago when I had my tires rotated last, the tire guy said, "I just wanted to make you aware of this" and showed me how the tires that had been on the rear had worn a lot more on the inside. Any ideas as to what could cause the extra "hopping around" in the rear as well as causing the tires to wear like that?

 

[KidVermicious]

Define "hopping around". Are we talking a skipping and jumping sort of feeling, or more of a squishy soggy floating feeling? It's worth checking your suspension bushings, especially the panhard, but it could be your shocks are shot too.

 

[chimpy]

Don't forget the rear lower control arm bushings.

 

[JRZEE2000TR4LTD]

With the solid axle in the rear there's not too much that would cause that kind of wear. Negative camber or a toe out condition are what generally cause wear like that but that usually happens on the front where those angles are moveable. Severely worn shocks could be causing your "hop" but assuming the tire wear is truly caused in the rear of the truck (not from a previous rotation when they were on the front) then I would have to say you have some bent parts. Take a look a the tires from the rear and see if it looks like the top of the tire is further in then the bottom (negative camber) if that's the case, I'm shocked there wouldn't be other obvious problems, noises etc. With all that said, I kinda think that the wear had to originally come from the tires being mounted on the front from a previous rotation. Go get a four wheel alignment to know for sure.

 

[IBallEngineer]

With the solid axle in the rear there's not too much that would cause that kind of wear. Positive camber or a toe out condition are what generally cause wear like that but that usually happens on the front where those angles are moveable. Severely worn shocks could be causing your "hop" but assuming the tire wear is truly caused in the rear of the truck (not from a previous rotation when they were on the front) then I would have to say you have some bent parts. Take a look a the tires from the rear and see if it looks like the top of the tire is further in then the bottom (positive camber) if that's the case, I'm shocked there wouldn't be other obvious problems, noises etc. With all that said, I kinda think that the wear had to originally come from the tires being mounted on the front from a previous rotation. Go get a four wheel alignment to know for sure.

That would be negative camber. I totally agree with everything else you said though.

op2:

 

[JayRolla]

Really worn shocks can cause wierd tire wear. Also under or overinflated tires can also cause wear. Also those worn rear tires could have been rotated from front before which is where they worn?

Hopping around usually front worn shocks but remember all suspension will hop after a lot of wash board.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

It took shocks and a total rebuild of the rear upper and lower control arms to get the nasty sideways hop to go away. I still need to do the panard bar yet.

 

[Wasatch Rebel]

Define "hopping around". Are we talking a skipping and jumping sort of feeling, or more of a squishy soggy floating feeling? It's worth checking your suspension bushings, especially the panhard, but it could be your shocks are shot too.

More of the skipping and jumping, although I have some squishy etc., as well. I'm thinking the shocks are definitely bad, but that it might be something else as well...so I'm going to try the four wheel alignment and see what comes of it...though maybe I should have my mechanic take a look at it first so I don't end up having to do the alignment again after parts are replaced. What do you think?

 

[GhostRing]

It took shocks and a total rebuild of the rear upper and lower control arms to get the nasty sideways hop to go away. I still need to do the panard bar yet.

This is what I'm guessing with my 200K+ '98...
It has a "wiggle" over uneven pavement that brand-new 890/5125s did not
eliminate. I'm thinking just old suspension bushings (which there are a lot of)
and maybe the rear body mounts need to be freshened up.

 

[KidVermicious]

More of the skipping and jumping, although I have some squishy etc., as well. I'm thinking the shocks are definitely bad, but that it might be something else as well...so I'm going to try the four wheel alignment and see what comes of it...though maybe I should have my mechanic take a look at it first so I don't end up having to do the alignment again after parts are replaced. What do you think?

A four wheel alignment might tell you if something is off in that regard, but you'd better hope it's not because you've got a solid rear axle with no alignment settings.

You (or your mechanic) should check your bushings and wheel bearings, then go from there. No sense borrowing trouble.

 

[Wasatch Rebel]

Thanks. I appreciate all the advice and thoughts. I'll post back when I find out what it is for sure.

 

[Wasatch Rebel]

Okay, so here's what I found out. I took it to my mechanic and the springs were about ready to collapse and the shocks also needed to be replaced. That solved the hopping problem I felt. He told me there was nothing wrong with the front end except that I needed an alignment. He doesn't do alignments, so I'll need to schedule that elsewhere (I have a place that I usually take it for that), but I just thought I'd let you all know what the verdict was. Thanks again for your help.