I was going to reply to Rex's (rxbristol) thread, but it is marked SOLVED and closed.
Too Long, Didn't Read (TLDR) Summary: Our dually rear-end vibration issues were solved by having the wheels and tires trued.
Full story:
I had weighed in on that thread that our F350 dually had a vibration at highway speeds. At the time, we still owned our 4x2 2013 F-350. Since then, we've changed trucks to our current 2016 F-350 4x4. I chatted with Rex at the West Texas rally earlier this year and compared notes. Here's what we've been through on ours:
At around 35,000 miles, I was getting an increasing vibration through the steering wheel that was both an up-and-down type vibration and a side-to-side vibration. At around 40,000 miles after noticing that the driver's side front tire was cupped, we took it into the Ford dealer in Alabama where we were staying. They advised that the driver's side front tire was bad (original equipment tire) and needed to be replaced.
We took the truck to a tire dealer in Alabama that we used to have do all our tire and wheel work and they put on six new Michelins, balanced them and gave the truck a front-end alignment.
With the new tires on, the front end up-and-down vibration was gone. The steering wheel no longer shimmied from side-to-side, but the rear-end had a fairly bad side-to-side vibration particularly at speeds between 65-75 and most pronounced with the trailer on the truck. You could see the back end of the truck vibrating side to side via the rear-view mirror, so it was obviously something in the rear end.
In February, we took the truck to the Ford dealer in Davenport, Florida near our new RV lot and told them to keep it until they figured out the vibration issue. $67 and two days later, they returned the truck and declared the problem solved. They re-balanced the rear half of the driveshaft. Three days later we were on the road west to the West Texas and Louisiana rallies. Vibration was still there, and seemingly got worse as the month progressed.
Back in Florida last week, we made another appointment at the same Ford dealer here in Florida. They kept it for a few hours and recommended we take it to one of the local tire shops and have the wheels/tires trued. We dropped the truck off yesterday morning at one of the recommended shops and picked it up later in the afternoon with my wallet $192 lighter ($30 per wheel x 6, plus tax). The mechanic there explained that every wheel was matched with a particular position and rotation on each hub and should be returned to those specific positions if anything is removed to be worked on.
Initial impressions on the drive back home are that the truck is riding much, much smoother. We're loading up and heading out again this Friday. I'll update the thread to give my impressions with the trailer in tow. Crossing our fingers.
Too Long, Didn't Read (TLDR) Summary: Our dually rear-end vibration issues were solved by having the wheels and tires trued.
Full story:
I had weighed in on that thread that our F350 dually had a vibration at highway speeds. At the time, we still owned our 4x2 2013 F-350. Since then, we've changed trucks to our current 2016 F-350 4x4. I chatted with Rex at the West Texas rally earlier this year and compared notes. Here's what we've been through on ours:
At around 35,000 miles, I was getting an increasing vibration through the steering wheel that was both an up-and-down type vibration and a side-to-side vibration. At around 40,000 miles after noticing that the driver's side front tire was cupped, we took it into the Ford dealer in Alabama where we were staying. They advised that the driver's side front tire was bad (original equipment tire) and needed to be replaced.
We took the truck to a tire dealer in Alabama that we used to have do all our tire and wheel work and they put on six new Michelins, balanced them and gave the truck a front-end alignment.
With the new tires on, the front end up-and-down vibration was gone. The steering wheel no longer shimmied from side-to-side, but the rear-end had a fairly bad side-to-side vibration particularly at speeds between 65-75 and most pronounced with the trailer on the truck. You could see the back end of the truck vibrating side to side via the rear-view mirror, so it was obviously something in the rear end.
In February, we took the truck to the Ford dealer in Davenport, Florida near our new RV lot and told them to keep it until they figured out the vibration issue. $67 and two days later, they returned the truck and declared the problem solved. They re-balanced the rear half of the driveshaft. Three days later we were on the road west to the West Texas and Louisiana rallies. Vibration was still there, and seemingly got worse as the month progressed.
Back in Florida last week, we made another appointment at the same Ford dealer here in Florida. They kept it for a few hours and recommended we take it to one of the local tire shops and have the wheels/tires trued. We dropped the truck off yesterday morning at one of the recommended shops and picked it up later in the afternoon with my wallet $192 lighter ($30 per wheel x 6, plus tax). The mechanic there explained that every wheel was matched with a particular position and rotation on each hub and should be returned to those specific positions if anything is removed to be worked on.
Initial impressions on the drive back home are that the truck is riding much, much smoother. We're loading up and heading out again this Friday. I'll update the thread to give my impressions with the trailer in tow. Crossing our fingers.
