Shaking

[Marrapode]

Ok so I've bought a 19 Classic with about 22k miles on it a few years ago. It was all stock except for Mopar leveling kit. It rode smooth for the first few months until I hit a piece of rebar on the highway, resulting in a flat. Then I got a replacement tire (275/60/20) and it started shaking at 70+. So after dealing with that, I bought all new tires a size up (275/65/20). Then it started shaking at like 60+. I took it to a shop and it was never aligned from putting on the leveling kit. After that it started shaking at 70+ again. I took it to the dealership and they pretty much just said every truck with a lift kit and bigger tires will always shake. But im thinking, there's no way in hell every person's truck shakes as much as mine does. So then I thought maybe I slightly bent my rim from the flat I previously got. I bought a new set of aftermarket wheels and tires. Tires are back to stock size and wheels are negative offset. It stopped shaking once I swapped all that out. So I thought I was right about it being a bent rim. Then I changed out my rear rotors, all brakes and rotated my tires, now it shakes again. I am tired of dealing with this damn shaking and everyone just tells me its normal. My steering wheel doesn't shake but everything else shakes like crazy. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[crash68]

If the problem went away with the new rims then started again once the rotors were replaced, check that the wheels are fully seated and properly torqued.
Anyone that says those slightly oversized tires or a level kit causing the shaking is just blowing you off.

 

[fitteenhundred]

Rotate the tires back to where they where when it didn't shake and give that a try. Frustrating.

 

[Black-Wolf]

In what way is it shaking? By that question I mean this: Is the steering or front end shaking (not the steering wheel), or the rear end? Is it shaking during soft/moderate/hard braking? Is it shaking during soft/moderate/hard acceleration? Or is it only shaking while at a cruise but foot off the pedal? Does it feel like the air is pushing it, like it's something coming through the wheels, or like the drive shaft? Does it go away when you brake or accelerate? Does it stop with slight steering inputs? There are so many things that could cause this.

Personally I think it sounds like an alignment or balancing issue - however, your truck is lifted, which means more air gets under the body than if it was at a normal height - improperly lifted trucks will shake because the air is trying to lift your truck off the road (why they've been making "squatted" trucks illegal in many states with loss of all driving privileges for a year or longer if you get caught - the air literally lifts the front end off the road at higher speeds and you lose all ability to steer, in addition to blinding other drivers if your headlights are not reaimed correctly - it's also stupidest mod anyone can make - does zero for performance or worse). Bad tires, warped rims, imbalanced or bent drive shaft, imbalanced or bent axle, improper brakes (i.e.: Someone put the wrong size rotors or wrong size calipers or both on, or there's an issue with the pads-to-rotor contact), tires not balanced (missing any weights on the rims?). If it's truly the lift, lowering the front end 1" or 2" should fix that because more air will go over than under the truck.

Good luck!

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

If it shakes in the steering wheel, it's generally the front, if it shakes the passenger seat it's generally the rear that is suspect.

If both shake, it generally tires, or driveline.

Every Ram I've owned shakes at 70 mph, until I replaced the rear control arms.

Not saying this is your issue but I've seen factory rear control arms shot at 25K

 

[yogibear18]

I to have a bit of a shimmy at 50 mph and to recently put all 4 new cooper tires, took back had them rebalanced them, went away for short time took it to discount tire and had them rebalanced them again and was told I have high spot in the tires they have radial runout they aren’t true round defect, but what gets me is the weights they used are for steel rims and the original weights were tape or strip weights and I feel like they should of use the same style when balancing new tires because the zinc plated ones they use typically for steel rims and you cant put them on the outside of the rim leaving you and me with a 1/2 the tire being balanced, why can’t these tire places put what belongs on there to begin with my question

 

[Brandon-w]

Kick Michael j fox out of your passenger seat

 

[crash68]

Every Ram I've owned shakes at 70 mph, until I replaced the rear control arms.

You must have bad luck with trucks, I don't have any shaking all the way up to factory speed limiter around 100 mph(still has original factory control arms).

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

You must have bad luck with trucks, I don't have any shaking all the way up to factory speed limiter around 100 mph(still has original factory control arms).

Doubtful. Luck is used as a definition when you cannot defend an outcome. How can you say my outcome is a result of bad luck if you have not experienced what I have experienced? I think that's called a guess..... the same holds true by me saying you have had good luck because you don't have a vibration.

Let's suppose for the purpose of discovery, my standards for performance are different than yours? Perhaps, I like a brand of tire that transfers vibration. Maybe I'm more sensitive to vibration due to the fact, I see the factory speed limiter as a starting point for speed not an end point. Maybe Montana roads are built differently and they assist in transferring vibration to the seat that can be seen and felt. Maybe I use my parking brake every time i park and my rear brake shoes are adjusted differently than yours.

Without you having any of those facts, or for purpose of discovery, any facts you want to include from your experience, and putting these into a multi factor equation, isolatioing variables and solving for an outcome, every response becomes a guess, including mine. There is no correlation to outcome. Thus a guess, attributed to LUCK, or as you described bad luck is still a guess.

However if you look at experience based on data collection and your experience is an N of 1 or anything less than a statically significant sample, its still a guess..

So from a fact basis, I own 9 vehicles and 3 motorcycles, 4 of which are Mopar products in my household. A 14, 15, 16, and a 22. In each of the 9 vehicles including the Mopars is a log book. Motorcycles are kept electronically due to weight. These books contain collected data on vehicle performance, upgrades, routine maintenance and the dates and times they were undertaken, examples include, gas mileage, codes collected, trouble experienced, modifications made and outcomes. Yes outcomes, did the change solve the problem.

I'm a big fan of ocham's razor. Ocham's razor; is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements.

So in making my statement, My experience says the control arms remain a weak point and when i change them to something built differently the vibration goes away... how did I come to this conclusion. Data.... collected from my small sample of experiences recorded.

So please don't classify it as luck, it has
Nothing to do with luck.

However i can say, my experience is still MY experience. Based upon logic, sound research and outcomes, solving for the best possible solution with the fewest set of variables.

To conclude this very long response, I'm glad you have a well performing truck with factory parts. I hope it continues to provide you with years of trouble free service.

Have a great day!

 

[crash68]

Luck is used as a definition when you cannot defend an outcome. How can you say my outcome is a result of bad luck if you have not experienced what I have experienced? I think that's called a guess..... the same holds true by me saying you have had good luck because you don't have a vibration.

It's your absolute definition of all your Rams have had shaking due to bad control arms. Since this forum isn't riddled with complaints of vibration that's resolved by replacing the control arms, that narrows the problem back to you. The fact you own multiple Rams and they have all shaked due to bad control arms makes it it defy the odds (bad luck). Using the forum as reference exposes a much larger swath of vehicles than the couple of vehicles the either of us have owned combined.
Much like someone having a Hemi wipe out a cam multiple times or multiple vehicles. Even with as many cam failures that do happen, the odds of someone suffering two goes down greatly. Don't recall anyone stating that every Ram they've owned has wiped out a cam and this is a known issue that has multiple reports of happening.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Hey maybe I'm a exception, I've never had a cam lobe wipe out and I have over 300k on the hemi 5.7 in various vehicles. And im doubling down by buying a 2024. So yeah, I expect to replace the control arms on the 2024 and not have a cam lobe wipe.

Enjoy the day, it's sunny and a great day for riding a motorcycle.

 

[yogibear18]

so one was said control arms go bad .. how is that possible when one didn’t have this issue before replacing tires and take back where they purchased them and they tell either tires are out round but within tolerable limits and won’t replace them or won’t do anything for you because you didn’t buy a extended road hazard coverage what gives no matter how much you *****, and I can’t justify bad defective control arms, my only think they would be is if they were in pretty good accident. I think it’s right that where you bought your tires from should honor a replacement(s) within a reasonable time frame and when you get your truck serviced they should be using the correct replacement weights and any other necessary parts as needed to properly do the job for the customer, don’t wing it and pan it off to next individual and so forth, either they were not trained properly they shouldn’t be servicing anyone’s vehicle to begin with. Sorry for my rant it is my opinion that someone can relate to it

 

[Tominator223]

Floating rotors need (the wheels)to be torqued in the air. If it’s 4x4 could’ve bent a front axle. Or it’s still a wheel & tire issue. If the hubs weren’t cleaned up when rotors were changed a small amount of rust behind the rotor(s) on the hub will cause a shake.

 

[Spree]

I have a lvl and no shaking at any speed.

 

[Jeepwalker]

I think the OP needs to do basic measuring and trouble-shooting from square-one, and rule out each common issue. B/c it could be several things....or even multiple issues.

1) Tires: More than likely you were the victim of a terrible initial balance job. But now it's time to get serious and rule out tires/wheels 100%. I'd actually take them off, and take the tires/wheels themselves to a small town dealer who has a Hunter Road Force Balancer ...and invest in a good balance. Probably cost you a hundred bucks. But it ought to rule out tires completely (or fix the problem). Call and arrange it in advance so they can do it while you're there. The reason i say, take them there in another vehicle is b/c if you roll them in the shop back door, they can probably do them on the spot (no removal/install). Plus you're already in the shop now. I say..."small-town GM/Chrysler dealer" because they'll have a good tire balancer (required by the mfgr) that isn't all beat up. And they'll have the time to do it 'right' and probably let you watch since you're already in the shop where your tires are. A lot of tire guys are flat out lazy or don't understand the equipment. I'd stand right there by the machine as they are balancing them and see EXACTLY what number the machine is coming up with. It will tell you if the rim is bent, broken chord, out-of-round tire, etc. Other balancers don't do that. The Road Force will. Then it'll give you a final balance score (lower is better). You can have them rim-match the tire to get the score down. Watch some Hunter Road Force Balancer videos before you go so you know the process.

Sometimes it takes two rim-matching attempts to really dial in the balance (one for sure). For sure do one rim-matching procedure. Since you're standing there the tire tech is less inclined to short-cut the balance process. But you might hear him say, "Well, rim matching won't make a difference, so we don't need to do that today." He's wrong. He's being lazy. That's where you have to be your own advocate and speak up, tactfully indicate "...well let's give it a try and see, shall we?". Otherwise you're only getting half the job. I've seen many times where rim matching has cut the balance score in half or less! Stand there and watch, make sure he/they are doing it right, and cajole them to doing a top-notch job. It takes quite a bit of time to do a correct Road Force Balance job..so if you need to pay the shop more, so be it.

Write down on tape with a marker (take them with you, the shop will search for 10 min to come up with them...if they do at all), what the balance score is and adhere to each wheel ..so you know what it is when you get home. Ideally you wrote down what position each tire was before removing ..and what the initial balance score was...then the final. That helps the troubleshooting process. It might be you find the problem right there like an out-of-round tire. Or bubble in the tire...or bent rim. Then it was a cheap hundred bucks. That should definitely rule out tire-induced vibration, so you can go on to the next steps if you need to.

2) Rotors: Get yourself a dial indicator and Magnetic base from Amazon or Harbor Freight. Even a cheap one. Check the rotors. Rotors shouldn't really cause vibration till you brake ..unless a caliper is hanging up. The closer to .000 run-out you get the better. I personally would not want more than .002" of run-out. Get some large nuts that fit over your truck's studs so you can lightly (not a lot) snug down the rotors before checking for run-out. Watch some videos on how to check. A lot of those brake videos are done by shade-tree interweb "experts" ..on their first brake job, and have bad info...so you'll have to go through a few videos to find a good one. I never put on a rotor w/o measuring the run-out. Sometimes a guy can rotate to find a .001" run-out position on the hub. Obviously make sure the hub/rotor mating surfaces are uber-clean. Rule warped rotors out. Make sure calipers & pads are sliding 'free'.

3) Driveshafts: Get under and wiggle the front and rear driveshaft...with vigor. Check the rear U-joint and the CV's. And center bearing if your tk has a 2-piece rear d/s.

4) Suspension/Steering: Measure your ball joints with the dial indicator. Half a mm is about the max movement. There's videos how to check.

5) Inspect all bushings, suspension and steering. Check front hub/bearing assemblies for free-play.

6) Shocks: A worn shock can cause wheel-hop and a shaking vehicle. Esp if there's an out of round tire. Bigger tires make it worse. Could be you have a bad shock. Look for a wet shock with leaking fluid. Even that's not a for-sure way to know. It could be worn internally, or have a failed bushing. If all the other measures above didn't find the problem, dig into the shocks. Remove the rear shocks and hand-test for 'looseness' in the immediate up/down stroke at about halfway up. There should not be any free area where the piston moves easily. Which is what occurs on worn shocks. So check it out. Usually if the tires are out of balance or out of round, it can kill a shock and a tire that's allowed to 'hop' for a while will take on a certain egg-shape and often must be replaced..not re-balanced. Balancing an out of round tire will still cause vehicle shake. Most likely you were the victim of a terrible balance job on your larger tires from the get-go.

I'm probably leaving off a few things, but the above comprises a lot of vibrations in general. You've spent too much time waiting for others to tell you what the problem is. Shops don't get paid very well for troubleshooting, b/c it take a lot of time and chews up time they could be replacing parts. You might have to solve this one on your own.

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