DGorris

Hi guys,

My truck, (mentioned above) has been having quite a bad problem lately with the rear end "hopping" when getting up to speed. At about 35-45 mph, the rear end starts to bounce a little, but when you reach 55, it levels off and you can't feel it anymore.

I had the truck put on a lift the other day and spun the tires a little. The passengers side rear tire has a bad throw up and down when engaged in Drive, although the wheel doesn't seem to move, it was running quite true when viewing it from the side... only the tire seems to be moving up and down. The drivers side also has a little throw, but not near as much as the passenger side. I was thinking the axle shafts in the rear axle may have been bent, as did the mechanic who lifted it for me, but if the axle shafts were bent, I'd think the bearings on the axle shaft ends would be ruined, causing them to leak, which they are not.

Any ideas??

-Dane

ukrkoz

I am almost positive you have ripped cord and hump in a tire. that shows itself in "hopping" at low speeds, but goes away at high speeds.

DGorris

Thats another possibility that I considered, although I cannot find a hump on either the drivers or passenger side rear tires.

Right now I'm running Mastercraft Courser AT2 (265/75/R16's), bought last year around July. The tires I had before that were Firestone Wilderness A/T's, and the drivers side rear did blow a band and hump up, so I then replaced them with the Courser's. After reading online, I saw that the Wilderness A/T's were discontinued because of their faulty reputation on stock Ford Explorer's in the late 1990's. Now however, it seems that my passenger rear tire is being the troubled one, even after replacing all four Wilderness's with the Courser's...

Any of this change your notion on a blown band?

-Dane

OLD WRENCH

Rotate your tires back to front. If the vibration goes with them its the tires. Simple as that.

DGorris

Simple as it sounds, I never even thought of that! But definitely will try....haha

-Dane

ukrkoz

I used to jack a wheel up in the air, set it all so that it spins freely, have chalk or light marker in one hand, and get it close to trad. Spin tire and if you have spot touch - well, you got it.
All it takes is a pebble on a road... Also, tires quality really went down. I almost can't find a tire anymore without conicity issues.