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Front end wander and shake ....

tknight

tknight

Veteran Expediter
After looking close at the steering shaft I'm thinking it may be there pretty sure since it's really buried behind all sorts of airlines and wire harnesses that it may have never been greased in its lifetime it's pretty caked in dirt and road grime gonna clean it today and really look hard


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Ragman

Ragman

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
BigStickJr said:
Proper lubrication of the shaft is a must !
Click to expand...
cdb32029365baeab6d9cceb264a3cf97.jpg
 
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greasytshirt

greasytshirt

Moderator
Staff member
Mechanic
BigStickJr said:
GTS, where would you look next ?

Truckpaper ?
Click to expand...
One of the fundamental rules of troubleshooting is to listen to everyone's input...then promptly ignore it.
I would have to do my own diagnosis.

Another fundamental rule is that 80% of the problems are caused by 20% of the system. So I'd look at tires. I'd take two steers off, replace them with two drives just to see if it stops, or borrow a pair off of a truck that drives fine. I'd check balance on any tire I put on the front. I'd measure rim runout with a dial indicator. I'd measure steering box freeplay. A peek at leaf spring bushings/shackles, loose spring components, loose crossmembers, broken engine mounts, etc. Basically look at every single piece under the truck carefully, even stuff that might not seem related at all. There's often some clue that will help me figure it out.


A moving van came in with a complaint of poor handling. The front end was in pretty good shape. The rear was a disaster. Hendrickson air ride, had multiple loose fasteners and obliterated bushings. Two u-bolts were so loose the spring hanger was swinging around. The rear of the truck was steering independent of the front, and the frame.
 
tknight

tknight

Veteran Expediter
The end of the story
The end results of taking in the truck to a frame shop for the third alignment paid off ! Most places would never really look a truck over but these guys know their job well and found the cause of my misalignment problems. Id have never even believed it didn't get spotted sooner , apparently when my frame and axle were stretched the guy doing the work suffered a stroke and it took weeks to be finished , the replacement mechanic never checked the tightness and torque of the 6 jam nuts and bolts holding the rear end hangers to the frame on both sides , he thought it was complete to that point well guess what all 12 bolts were loose and sawing their way through the frame , they were also the wrong thread should be fine but these were coarse , axle was shifting tossing all alignments out of wack , new bolts and washers and jam nuts cost 250 including labor I didn't take it to the place that did it cause I was distressed and didn't want them to work on it again . As for the shake it's a bad tire brand new last week . So now I'm waiting to see what they plan on doing . I found this out when I went to get them spin balanced and the tech looked ate and I looked at him and we both said wow! The rim was fine we put a dial gauge to it and checked it again and again but the tire is noticeably moving left and right as it goes around . End of the story unless tire co refuses to replace it .


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Happy new grade 8 bolts washers and jam nuts!
 
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B

BigStickJr

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Could it be a bad mount ?
Break beads free, be sure rim is clean inside, lube up and remount tire ?
 
tknight

tknight

Veteran Expediter
Taking it in the am back to seller jelly Springfield kls
My last ones did 230k give or take and were at the dot min.


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Slo-Ride

Slo-Ride

Veteran Expediter
tknight said:
The end of the story
The end results of taking in the truck to a frame shop for the third alignment paid off ! Most places would never really look a truck over but these guys know their job well and found the cause of my misalignment problems. Id have never even believed it didn't get spotted sooner , apparently when my frame and axle were stretched the guy doing the work suffered a stroke and it took weeks to be finished , the replacement mechanic never checked the tightness and torque of the 6 jam nuts and bolts holding the rear end hangers to the frame on both sides , he thought it was complete to that point well guess what all 12 bolts were loose and sawing their way through the frame , they were also the wrong thread should be fine but these were coarse , axle was shifting tossing all alignments out of wack , new bolts and washers and jam nuts cost 250 including labor


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7c84105ea3612bfc6fb9322d9bcc6e3f.jpg



Happy new grade 8 bolts washers and jam nuts!
Click to expand...

Knight glad your getting a handle on the truck, But I wanna ask you and trust me I don't want to stress you out..
But those grade 8 bolts that got replaced, are those actual frame bolts? There is a difference. Frame bolts typically have a larger shoulder that gets squashed into the component and frame rail as it gets torqued down to spec. I have never seen or used a chrome plated frame bolt before. If these are standard bolts the lossening of them may occur again. I can't tell by your photo but use of washers are not recommended as the washer itself will wear out.

(Example: A standard 5/8 inch bolt while still have some slop when going into a 5/8 inch hole...A frame bolt with the larger shoulder will take up that slop.)
 

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tknight

tknight

Veteran Expediter
Slo-Ride said:
Knight glad your getting a handle on the truck, But I wanna ask you and trust me I don't want to stress you out..
But those grade 8 bolts that got replaced, are those actual frame bolts? There is a difference. Frame bolts typically have a larger shoulder that gets squashed into the component and frame rail as it gets torqued down to spec. I have never seen or used a chrome plated frame bolt before. If these are standard bolts the lossening of them may occur again. I can't tell by your photo but use of washers are not recommended as the washer itself will wear out.

(Example: A standard 5/8 inch bolt while still have some slop when going into a 5/8 inch hole...A frame bolt with the larger shoulder will take up that slop.)
Click to expand...

Your always stressing me out (jk) I just called the guy who replaced them and he assures me they will be fine ( I've never seen a grade 8 hardness washer wear out but I'll keep a. Eye out on these now , just part of the fun in ownership!


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