Tire Balance or Worn shocks

[TAC71]

I have a similiar problem with my wifes Bronco. It does it about 55 miles per hour. The tires are now 5 years old but still look new. I cant say if its done it since new because it was never driven on the highway back then. Only since we moved does it see 50 or more MPH

I believe its the tires causing this. Bilstein shocks did not fix it... but the ride is much better.

Check into "Road Force Balancing". Its a balancer that compensates for tires with stiff and soft spots in the sidewalls.
Problem I have ...no one has one of those balancers near me so I can try it.
Its a 2 hour drive to a big town that may have one. Truck is away for winter now so it wil have to wait until next spring.

 

[DirtDonk]

Hey crash, welcome to classicbroncos!
I did not see where you rotated the tires yet, so I would try that first. Just go straight front to back this time, doing only one side at a time to see if this changes anything about the vibration.

What air pressures are in your tires?
Yes, if a Death Wobble it's going to show through the steering wheel violently, like you've seen in videos. I can see certain circumstances where this might not be so obvious (steering linkage and gearbox design perhaps), but I've personally never seen it happen without being able to see the steering wheel shake.
And your symptoms are only half-way death wobble too. Some of the conditions vary from the norm.

That's not to say it can't still be a tire of course, which is why I still suggest rotating. After all, any little thing wrong with a tire that's as big and heavy as a 37 is, is going to be felt somewhere!

Another thing I didn't see is the test where a helper racks the steering wheel back and forth while you lay under the front and watch what goes on with all the components. You can't tell the condition of a trackbar bushing or sleeve or bolt by just looking at it unfortunately. You can't even pry on them sometimes, because they're just too tight. But pit the weight of the truck with the torque of the steering system to mimic real world driving, and all sorts of loose things will rear their ugly heads.
If nothing is loose, great. And things being loose rarely result in a vibration or oscillation anyway. You can drive a Bronco around with all sorts of things out of whack and not experience a vibration, or oscillation.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[crashmc2]

Hey crash, welcome to classicbroncos!
I did not see where you rotated the tires yet, so I would try that first. Just go straight front to back this time, doing only one side at a time to see if this changes anything about the vibration.

What air pressures are in your tires?
Yes, if a Death Wobble it's going to show through the steering wheel violently, like you've seen in videos. I can see certain circumstances where this might not be so obvious (steering linkage and gearbox design perhaps), but I've personally never seen it happen without being able to see the steering wheel shake.
And your symptoms are only half-way death wobble too. Some of the conditions vary from the norm.

That's not to say it can't still be a tire of course, which is why I still suggest rotating. After all, any little thing wrong with a tire that's as big and heavy as a 37 is, is going to be felt somewhere!

Another thing I didn't see is the test where a helper racks the steering wheel back and forth while you lay under the front and watch what goes on with all the components. You can't tell the condition of a trackbar bushing or sleeve or bolt by just looking at it unfortunately. You can't even pry on them sometimes, because they're just too tight. But pit the weight of the truck with the torque of the steering system to mimic real world driving, and all sorts of loose things will rear their ugly heads.
If nothing is loose, great. And things being loose rarely result in a vibration or oscillation anyway. You can drive a Bronco around with all sorts of things out of whack and not experience a vibration, or oscillation.

Good luck.

Paul

I appreciate the feedback. I remember finding some of your previous posts specifically for death wobble and hadn't checked that yet simply because I wasn't convinced it's in the front. I'll check it regardless because who knows, maybe it'll show me the beginnings of an issue before it's an issue. I had someone turn the steering wheel, but it was to find where the play is at in the steering, which it's solid all the way to the gear box, turns a ton at the box, and is solidly mounted to the frame.

And seeing the post before yours, it made me think the tires could be pretty old. I don't know how long they've been there, but it looks like the old sidewall tread design for the BFG All Terrains. I might rotate them to see if the wobble shifts, but it's probably best to get new ones. It needs a spare anyways.

Thanks again!

Josh

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[jckkys]

Anyone who searches shock ratings will find that Fox 2.0s are rated well above the Bilsteins, Eibach, Ranchos, or any others. I have yet to see any mention of the Fox shocks. Why?

 

[crashmc2]

Anyone who searches shock ratings will find that Fox 2.0s are rated well above the Bilsteins, Eibach, Ranchos, or any others. I have yet to see any mention of the Fox shocks. Why?

I think it has to do with lack of bolt-on options. And cost. For example:

I've been looking for a Fox application for mine, but kind of need to figure out tuning and mounting for it. I've got a set of 2.5" external bypass shocks that came off my Raptor, but idk if the mounts would line up for proper ride height, avoid bottoming or fully extending the shock prematurely, and still be tuned right. I need to send them in to Fox for a rebuild, so I can request them to match the Bilstein. But with a 2.5" lift, who knows if it'll fit. I need to make sure it rides in the middle of the travel (about 12" travel) and still work like I want. I've looked for the measurements of the upper and lower mounts all over the internet, but no luck. Neither the Fox shock nor the mounts on the Bronco at X" lift can be found. But I can go to WH and get a set of Bilsteins tuned for an EB and pick my lift height and they do the rest.

The work has been done in all cases with the other shocks as well. Fox, King, Icon, etc are all built for "universal" applications, which means custom mounting solutions along with doing your measurements. Most folks don't know where to start on that, so they find a way to have that math and work done for them. I want coilovers for the front, but that requires a custom shock tower and mounting to the radius arm. Or deleting the lower spring perch and welding a new mount to my axle. Again, the fab and measuring required stops me from doing so.

In any case, one coilover from Fox costs as much as a set of Bilsteil 5100s. My rears are hand me downs from my Raptor, but there's no front end solution that doesn't require a one-off build or heavy modification.

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[EPB72]

I think it has to do with lack of bolt-on options. And cost. For example:

I've been looking for a Fox application for mine, but kind of need to figure out tuning and mounting for it. I've got a set of 2.5" external bypass shocks that came off my Raptor, but idk if the mounts would line up for proper ride height, avoid bottoming or fully extending the shock prematurely, and still be tuned right. I need to send them in to Fox for a rebuild, so I can request them to match the Bilstein. But with a 2.5" lift, who knows if it'll fit. I need to make sure it rides in the middle of the travel (about 12" travel) and still work like I want. I've looked for the measurements of the upper and lower mounts all over the internet, but no luck. Neither the Fox shock nor the mounts on the Bronco at X" lift can be found. But I can go to WH and get a set of Bilsteins tuned for an EB and pick my lift height and they do the rest.

The work has been done in all cases with the other shocks as well. Fox, King, Icon, etc are all built for "universal" applications, which means custom mounting solutions along with doing your measurements. Most folks don't know where to start on that, so they find a way to have that math and work done for them. I want coilovers for the front, but that requires a custom shock tower and mounting to the radius arm. Or deleting the lower spring perch and welding a new mount to my axle. Again, the fab and measuring required stops me from doing so.

In any case, one coilover from Fox costs as much as a set of Bilsteil 5100s. My rears are hand me downs from my Raptor, but there's no front end solution that doesn't require a one-off build or heavy modification.

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You can contact Lee at Raceshock.com. he has set up fox shocks for alot of members here and for a very long time..

Or accutune in Carson Ca. they do alot of custom valving ..

 

[crashmc2]

I think it has to do with lack of bolt-on options. And cost. For example:

I've been looking for a Fox application for mine, but kind of need to figure out tuning and mounting for it. I've got a set of 2.5" external bypass shocks that came off my Raptor, but idk if the mounts would line up for proper ride height, avoid bottoming or fully extending the shock prematurely, and still be tuned right. I need to send them in to Fox for a rebuild, so I can request them to match the Bilstein. But with a 2.5" lift, who knows if it'll fit. I need to make sure it rides in the middle of the travel (about 12" travel) and still work like I want. I've looked for the measurements of the upper and lower mounts all over the internet, but no luck. Neither the Fox shock nor the mounts on the Bronco at X" lift can be found. But I can go to WH and get a set of Bilsteins tuned for an EB and pick my lift height and they do the rest.

The work has been done in all cases with the other shocks as well. Fox, King, Icon, etc are all built for "universal" applications, which means custom mounting solutions along with doing your measurements. Most folks don't know where to start on that, so they find a way to have that math and work done for them. I want coilovers for the front, but that requires a custom shock tower and mounting to the radius arm. Or deleting the lower spring perch and welding a new mount to my axle. Again, the fab and measuring required stops me from doing so.

In any case, one coilover from Fox costs as much as a set of Bilsteil 5100s. My rears are hand me downs from my Raptor, but there's no front end solution that doesn't require a one-off build or heavy modification.

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New tires fixed it.

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