The Tan Hot Dog Build

[Jsweezy]

Ha ha I've basically started doing that already.

And good idea about the 5th tire rotation but I don't have a spare because I'm that confident in my KO2s... knock on wood...

[Jsweezy]

CONSTANTLY LEARNING. That should have been the title for this build thread.

So when you put a rear driveline in, you want to make sure that the angle where it connects to the pinion on the rear axle is less than 3*. Ideally you would want it around 2* but 3 is still acceptable. So how do you fix the angle you ask? With some caster shims (easiest way) or re weld on the leaf spring mounts (hardest)

Here is mine after putting the driveline in and not shimming the axle at 5*...


And here it is after shimming the axle at 3*...


I just picked up some 2* caster shims and new Ubolts from Oregon auto spring and it took maybe an hour to raise the van, undoing the Ubolts and Lower shock bolts, lift the van more until there is enough room to slide the shims in underneath the leaf springs, lower the van back down, tighten the new Ubolts on. Super easy to do.

I have to give a huge shout out to Carringb for taking the time to help me figure out that this was probably my issue when it came to the lower speed vibrations and then helping me figure out which caster shims I needed to get. Without him as well as MG and Brian, it would have been a lot more guesswork and probably taken twice as long to figure out.

So the lower speed vibrations (25-35mph) have almost been completely eliminated but I am now starting to think my tires are the issue. As soon as I hit 55mph, every single time, I get a massive amount of vibration and my steering wheel starts to shimmy. According to everything I have read, This is common for someone that needs to get the wheels forced balanced and this should fix the issue. Discount Tire does it for 20$, Les Schwab 26$ a tire and hopefully this fixes the issue because I really don't want to have to go fight with costco to get new tires.

[Flux]

Vibration in the steering wheel when everything is aligned definitely sounds like a poorly balanced tire or four. I truly hope that force balancing fixes your issues.

I thought I read on this forum about some tire balancing mechanisms that install behind the wheels that have fluid or something in them and automatically balance the wheels. They were a bit pricey though.

But that still doesn't excuse a poorly manufactured tire. I've owned 3 sets of BFG KO's and 3 sets of KO2's on 3 different vehicles and soon another set on the van. I haven't had a single issue with these tires.

[Jsweezy]

FLUXXXXX - I just saw those on the expo portal and those are sick!

I never knew they made things like that and if I was gonna run beadlocks I would buy them for sure. Hopefully I can get these tires and wheels dialed in but those are a sweet solution if I was looking for something.

Tire Balancers, Tire Balancing, Wheel Balancer and Wheel Balancing from Centramatic

[Flux]

I wonder if the Hummer H1 8 on 6.5 16.5 would work on our rigs. If you think about what we are actually driving (I'm not driving one just yet), big giant framed things with large suspensions and big heavy tires at fairly high rates of speed, maybe anything that will smooth vibration is a good thing. The claims are that you increase tire life. Could be worth a shot. Heard another member on here rave about it solving all his vibration issues. Got everything else on the vans......

[carringb]

I had Centramatics for a while. I don't run them anymore. They only work when everything is round and true. If a tire is mis-mounted (not matched high to low spots tire to rim) or a wheel is slightly bent, they actually make things worse. It kinda happens with balancing beads too, but not as bad. If everything is true, then they are great! But the noise is a little weird at low speeds to.

I fought tire vibration for a long time. When I had 16" wheels, I went through wheels faster than tires usually! I was somehow always bending them (ok, maybe not "somehow"...). Then I discovered aluminum wheels. Which I broke. Both of them. So I went back to steel, and back to bending rims. They I upgraded to 17" steel rims. Way stiffer. Haven't bent yet.

Point is.... an out or round or slightly bent wheel, or a mismatched mounting job, can make it impossible to balance.

[Flux]

Good stuff to know carringb.

[Jsweezy]

Definitely good to know, and per usual it's Carringb with the real world advice. I'm just glad I don't have to break as many things as you did to learn all this!

[carringb]

Josh - do your new wheels still have the little yellow dots on them? Or maybe a stamped triangle on them, right next to the bead? This is supposed to match to the little triangle or paint dot next to the bead of the tire. The two are supposed to me roughly matched together, so get the lows and highs matched. I'm wondering if the tire tech who mounted your tires didn't pay any attention. Here's some more info here:

https://www.motor.com/magazinepdfs/042008_09.pdf

[Jsweezy]

I will have to look but I am fairly certain he didn't as I was watching him rush through getting the wheels off and then back on and then balance one tire before saying he was going to lunch and then I watched my 3 others tires sit there for another 20 minutes until someone else finally came over and finished them and then another guy came over to mount them on. Oh and of course they all had to take a couple breaks in between to go check out a ride out front, blow their nose, grab some water, etc...

I will definitely check that out, I did notice some of my wheels had one smaller weight while others had like 3 massive ones so maybe they just slap them on not realizing it.

Oh and when I walked in, the guy behind the counter was in the middle of watching a youtube video on how to remove a ball joint...

Everyone here in Portland is losing their minds right now because they of course have waited until the last minute to get new tires and now its snowing in the area so I had to resort to a smaller shop downtown Hillsboro that I will never go back to.