Steering wheel wobble at 50 mph

[allan5oh]

I have a strange wobble right at 50 mph. A couple mph above and below it is no longer there. When the steering wheel wobbles it also feels very loose. I found the weights on the passenger steer tire were gone, so I had both rebalanced. They are not out of round. The balancing seemed to help, but I still notice maybe 20% of the time at 50 mph the wobble is back. There doesn't appear to be any other issues in the suspension/steering. I went over everything, and replaced the drag link and shocks. Wobble is still there.

[mitchno1]

i have found that even if your tyres are worn down near 50% it takes very little for them to be out of round to cause your wobble, when on balancing machine you got to watch real hard to detect it

[1-Up trucker]

I have a strange wobble right at 50 mph. A couple mph above and below it is no longer there. When the steering wheel wobbles it also feels very loose. I found the weights on the passenger steer tire were gone, so I had both rebalanced. They are not out of round. The balancing seemed to help, but I still notice maybe 20% of the time at 50 mph the wobble is back. There doesn't appear to be any other issues in the suspension/steering. I went over everything, and replaced the drag link and shocks. Wobble is still there.

i had this same issue until i replaced both of my rims on my steers......the rims were bent inwards at a tiny angle which lead to uneven wear on the inner side of the drivers side steer causing a hellacious wobble

[BoyNextDoor]

Don't know if this will help, but i had wobbles all around. at 35mph than at 57mph. i have now installed the centermatics on all three axles, and the wobbles are completely gone. I'm interested to see how the wear will improve. sometimes the alignment on the truck might be off too, and could cause the wobble. just hope it isn't the kingpin or other component of the front end, those can be pricey to replace...

[Windwalker]

Don't know if this will help, but i had wobbles all around. at 35mph than at 57mph. i have now installed the centermatics on all three axles, and the wobbles are completely gone. I'm interested to see how the wear will improve. sometimes the alignment on the truck might be off too, and could cause the wobble. just hope it isn't the kingpin or other component of the front end, those can be pricey to replace...

I've never had a kingpin that only wobbled at 50. With a kingpin, it didn't matter what speed when I hit a bump. Any speed, a bump would make it wobble. Sounds like balance, or off center, somehow. Generally, 50 to 60 is a resonant freq. Above or below, no wobble. That is, as long as you stay below 70+. That's another range of resonance.

[allan5oh]

Sorry for the late response. The wheel weight fell off on the passenger side. I got it rebalanced and told them to do the drivers side. A few hundred miles later and the drivers side weight falls off too! I thought that the problem was not solved, but it was just mechanical incompetence. All is well now.

[Maniac]

Go with the Centramatics, you will wonder why you didn't.

[allan5oh]

I have them. They don't work as good at lower speeds. That's why above 50 mph the wobble went away.

[snoopyandpuppy]

Since I am not a driver (yet), do you folks balance all tractor tires or just the steering tires? I know in a 4 wheel vehicle, bad tire balance will be noticable around 50 mph and up to 70 mph, but after 70 it will normally go away.

[allan5oh]

Just the steers the drives are put on 180 degrees to each other( the valve stems). Some companies do balance drive tires, I should get my own balancer!

[Blacksheep]

Alignment could be your answer since they look at all components.

[allan5oh]

I'm getting one done tomorrow for a different reason.

[allan5oh]

Yup back axles were both out. #1 was 3/32" and #2 was -1/8". He bent the front axle as well, camber on drivers side went from 5/8 a degree to 3/8 a degree. pass side is -1/8 a degree.

Toe is untouched(I check it regularly). Caster is 2 3/8 degrees left and 3 1/2 degrees right. I think both could be a little higher.

[Blacksheep]

Could be worse, had a vibration in 18th and ended up replacing the trans, ouch.

[Mr. Ford95]

Company we get our tires from, they put in what they call balancing balls on larger tires. Never had any issue with a tire vibration with those. The truck I drive doesn't have any wheel weights or balls inside, no vibration but the steer tires have some funny wear on them. By the looks of it, you'd swear I have a serious vibration or wobble in the steering wheel but I don't. Funny how tires work sometimes.

[trucktool]

I have a strange wobble right at 50 mph. A couple mph above and below it is no longer there. When the steering wheel wobbles it also feels very loose. I found the weights on the passenger steer tire were gone, so I had both rebalanced. They are not out of round. The balancing seemed to help, but I still notice maybe 20% of the time at 50 mph the wobble is back. There doesn't appear to be any other issues in the suspension/steering. I went over everything, and replaced the drag link and shocks. Wobble is still there.

Is it more noticeable when accelerating? big or small rubber?