Can I try your tires this Saturday?

[Andrew]

Hi,

I rebuilt the engine in my cruiser and swapped in a 5 speed manual and it runs great. But I have this death wobble issue that has arrised since parking it. We for the life of us can’t figure out what it could be. It had a little steering wheel wobble before I parked it, but now it is awful. We thought maybe it was the wheel bearings that were slightly loose and we tighten them up but it is still scary bad starting at around 40 MPH and starts without hitting a bump or anything. It has a Red Head Steering box on it, and everything underneath seems tight and its all pretty new stuff down there (Iron Man panhard has been on there for a couple of years and we can't see any play, and the Delta arms have are maybe 2 years old). We are thinking it might be the tires. We did go get them rotated and balanced and that didn’t change anything, but they could potentially have permant flat spots. Discount Tire will warranty the tires if we can prove the theory by swapping tires and providing video evidence the shake goes away (which is awesome).

So is anyone in the Monument/Colorado Springs area that would be willing to come over and swap tires with me to prove this theory? Tire size doesn't matter, just need the bolt pattern that fits an 80.

Anyone that could help I would greatly appreciate. Happy to pay for your time, or beer or whatever it takes. Thanks!

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

no cracks at the panhard mount?

when i was chasing a DW it was the tires as well as a broken weld.
I tried to rotate my tires at the beginning of the season and had DW again. Put the tires back where they were, and no more DW...
Just need these tires to last till winter then i'm getting a new set.

my wheels and tires probably won't help you. i'm just confirming that you're most likely on the right path.

 

[Andrew]

no cracks at the panhard mount?

when i was chasing a DW it was the tires as well as a broken weld.
I tried to rotate my tires at the beginning of the season and had DW again. Put the tires back where they were, and no more DW...
Just need these tires to last till winter then i'm getting a new set.

my wheels and tires probably won't help you. i'm just confirming that you're most likely on the right path.

No cracks there, it actually has the Delta renforcement kit on it. No cracks when I put it on. Thanks for the thought though, definitely looking for any ideas haha.

 

[Runnin on E]

Can you post the bolt pattern you need.

 

[Doughboy]

6x139.7 mm bolt pattern

 

[Runnin on E]

Just an FYI for anyone with spare wheels, that is the same bolt pattern as a 4Runner and FJ Cruiser (6X5.5")

 

[Runnin on E]

I forgot to ask about the center hub hole size (hub-centric) Its 106.1 mm for T4R & FJC (4.17")

 

[KC Masterpiece]

I feel like Discount should be able to confirm a tire issue if they throw it on the balancing machine. I had a similar issue once and two of my cheap pro comp steelies were out of round. They confirmed it on the balancer.

How's the steering stabilizer?

5 speed in an 80 is sweet!

 

[Pz10420]

Hey Andrew, this is Pete over in woodmoor that gave you a grill a few years ago. You can try the wheels off my 80 if you want. I’ll be around a lot of the weekend or occasionally after 3pm during the week. All I ask is to maybe try out how a manual 80 drives. I’ve been contemplating that swap for years.

 

[Corbet]

I had a couple Toyota MT’s that would balance on the tire shop machine but caused issues on the HWY. Separation issues. Got them warranted. I would not call it death wobble. Just standard vibration.

 

[Andrew]

Hey Andrew, this is Pete over in woodmoor that gave you a grill a few years ago. You can try the wheels off my 80 if you want. I’ll be around a lot of the weekend or occasionally after 3pm during the week. All I ask is to maybe try out how a manual 80 drives. I’ve been contemplating that swap for years.

Hey Pete, awesome thank you so much! Sounds like a deal, you are more than welcome to drive it (ideally we can get it passed 40MPH haha). I will send you a message and we can coordinate.

 

[Andrew]

I feel like Discount should be able to confirm a tire issue if they throw it on the balancing machine. I had a similar issue once and two of my cheap pro comp steelies were out of round. They confirmed it on the balancer.

How's the steering stabilizer?

5 speed in an 80 is sweet!

It is interesting they said one of the tires needed a lot a weight, but they said they are still in balance. They did say the tire could have internal belt seperation though and that their balancing machine wouldn't pick it up. This is all sort of shooting in the dark. It's just odd to me that it drove in the garage fine and did a 4 hour drive right before it got parked and now it is freaking out. We didn't touch anything axle or steering related during the rebuild process. The last thing I can think of doing is pulling the front driveshaft and trying again but the driveshaft was rebalanced and it is in the correct phase. Steering stabilizer is Dobinson, and it has probably been on there for 8 years or so, but this shake is so gnarly I don't think that the stabilizer is designed to be cutting all of the shake out.

Thanks for all the feedback, I will keep this thread updated with what ultimately we find out.

 

[Rzeppa]

Just an FYI for anyone with spare wheels, that is the same bolt pattern as a 4Runner and FJ Cruiser (6X5.5")

Same as FJ40, FJ45, FJ55, FJ60, FJ62. Backspacing to clear calipers and TREs may vary from one to the other.