Tire Tech Question

[SundancKid]

I have a set of 35's on my Jeep. One of which wobbles noticeably as I drive. A buddy of mine pointed it out to me after a wheeling trip. I never noticed it before.

The tire doesn't cause any vibration, but my Detroit locker sure seems to be locking and un-locking causing "locker lane changes" much more often then before.

It seems that the tire wobbles worst on the outside of the tread and gets better the further toward the inside.

I set a dial indicator on the wheel lip to measure lateral runout. The run out was approx 1/8in. I measure the other side and it was approx 1/16in. I believe those measurements to be ok.

Can a tire make it look like a bent rim?

I hate these perseption type problems

 

[zukgod1]

I have a set of 35's on my Jeep. One of which wobbles noticeably as I drive. A buddy of mine pointed it out to me after a wheeling trip. I never noticed it before.

The tire doesn't cause any vibration, but my Detroit locker sure seems to be locking and un-locking causing "locker lane changes" much more often then before.

It seems that the tire wobbles worst on the outside of the tread and gets better the further toward the inside.

I set a dial indicator on the wheel lip to measure lateral runout. The run out was approx 1/8in. I measure the other side and it was approx 1/16in. I believe those measurements to be ok.

Can a tire make it look like a bent rim?

I hate these perseption type problems

I just hate things like this.
Check your axle flanges first. Switch whells from side to side and check it again. 1/16 inch differance in your wheels isnt that much so I'll bet it's in the tread. Sometimes a simple dismount (soap it up really good) and remount will fix it.

Good luck.
BTW I had the same problem once and I swaped out a brand new set of swampers thinking they were the problem and it turned out to be a bent flange on the axle.

dan

 

[mwmx54]

bent axle, bent wheel, swap out the rims and see if the rim is bent. or put a dial indicator on your axle and see if it bent.

 

[SundancKid]

Well the locker lane change situation has been cured.

That turned out to be a 20lb. differance between the tires. I must have aquired a slow leak.

The axles are brand new (less then 500 miles)

If the rim only has 1/8th run out as measure on the vehicle with the dial indicator mounted to the axle, what would the benifit of measuring the axle flange be? I would assume that any runout of the axle it's self would be exagirated by measuring from the wheel?

When looking at the wheel as I drive it looks like a half inch or more runout. Deffinately more then what I measured at the wheel.

I'll swap the wheels out and see if it changes any.

Thank you for the suggestions and sharing your experiences.

 

[Tacoma]

1/8" is a fair amount. If I'm remembering right, production tolerances are SUPPOSED to be in the thousands. 1/8" gets to be a lot at the edge of a tire.

good call swapping out wheels.

 

[SundancKid]

Welp... Bent axle!

Wow, I didn't expect that! One mild trip on a brand new axle.

So any guesses on if it's the brand new Alloy USA axle shaft or if it is the housing? I don't recall the axle wobbleing prior to the shaft swap. Is it possible I got a bad axle shaft?

The only thing I can think of that I may have done to cause the axle to bend was brushing the side of my wheel up against a stump on that side...but I can't imagine it bending it? I mean come on?

This sucks...

 

[SundancKid]

Oh, flanges are strait as far as I can tell.

 

[SundancKid]

A little follow up:
I placed an email to Alloy USA and they replied within a few hours. They are sending a replacement axle.

 

[Tacoma]

so have you yanked it out to see if it's bent or not???

 

[SundancKid]

No not yet.
What advantage would pulling the axle out give?

When I spin the wheel the drum gets visibly closer to the brake backing plate.

 

[SundancKid]

Tacoma, I didn't mean that to sound rude. I was sincerly asking a question.

As it sits right now I can move the Jeep around if needed till the axle gets here.

So typically how much abuse can an axle take before it tweeks?

When I brushed up against the stump the tire was about an inch overlapping. When I drove forward the jeep moved sideways as expected. I've seen guys use their sidwalls to crawl along rocks. I can't see how this could have tweaked the axle?

I'm trying to understand if I did something to cause this, to avoid doing it again.

 

[SundancKid]

Well...it turns out it was not a bent axle.

Alloy USA overnighted an axle to me free of charge. I decided to measure the old and new axles to compare. They both measured with the same runout? To make a long story short the cheap china AutoZone drums that I bought at the same time I was installing the axles are the cause. The radial rib in the side of the drum is ever so off and caused the wheel to mount cockeyed.

Anyways I just want to say how awesome Alloy USA's service is. I was very very impressed!