Nearly two years of trying to find the answer...(2)
In the end, we headed for Mexico Baja (the blogs are being worked on), stopping in Ogden, Utah, Where another surplus is, to see whether they had heard of this wobbling previously. The rod ends was their answer. Since everything is cheaper in Mexico (a huge error) and we are traveling there, let us handle it there. Since we had traveled more than 10,000 kilometers in Ogden UT we needed to swap the tires again, however because of the strong wind, being on a jack didn't seem like a good idea.
In Mexico, we immediately purchased and installed new rod ends and swapped our tires.
And, it became clear that things had become worse!
Once we returned to the Mexican highways and continued south, after a few days, we replaced the right side again, suspecting one of the rims might still be bent. Although we managed to drive between 85 and 95 again, the wobble remained...
A few months later, back in Canada and at our seasonal summer job, we had to drive with 2 vehicles so we were able to make some videos.
As we suspected the "bend rim" to be on the right rear, big was our surprise, when clearly it shows the passenger front side wobbling. The only thing I can think of is the king pin on where the wheel turns. The king pin might have too much play, it might be worn out maybe?
Arrived on our summers destination,
it also was time to swap the tires again.
So putting the truck on blocks which I could use out of the yard.
With the summer job starting (hosting a campground Bow Valley Provincial Park) we have work times for 5 hours per day, so time enough to work on the truck.
If the king ping (which I suspected of having too much play) was the problem, I would NOT have the proper tools. So a force of help was created to deal with exchanging the king pin's.
Swapping the tires was postponed because I intended to do it at the same time.
Due to certain circumstances, the "help forces" were also delayed, leaving the truck on blocks for a while. However, I needed the truck to pick up items. So, I'll change the wheels now, then I'll only need to remove the front wheels when replacing the king pins, as it's better to change the king pins on both sides at once, when one is needed.
I started to unbolt the tires.
When I had the right front wheel of I suddenly see rust inside the wheel (red circles) where through (full) contact , never can get rust. In between the yellow circles there you see a darker line from damaged paint because of the contact with the brake drum.
On the brake drum you see a darker edge, in the red field, to be from contact with each other...
That should NOT occur at all!
Last time we changed this tire in Mexico it helped getting the wobble less and suspected a crooked rim, But looking in the mirror nothing looked that it was wobbling as we many times did.
The rear tires are mounted inside out so they never are able to contact the edge of the brake drum.
In between the smaller circles you clearly see shiny steel from contact with the brake drum.
Silently hoping that this could be the culprit, info was achieved with a heavy duty mechanic, and he could not have imagined that this could cause a wobble.
But grinding the edge of the drum was done.
I had to buy a used grinder for that, because mine was in the shop in Claresholm AB and 4 hours away. I took the edge off of the brake drum. Only 1/8th of an inch, so hardly noticeable when it will be rusted again in the future.
I put off doing the test run as long as I could because I had been let down numerous times. I finally got The Boar off of it's blocks and headed for the necessary pickup.
Through the campground where we host, I am not allowed to go faster then 50 km/hr. As 50km/hr was never an issue, it didn't tell me much. I had to drive 5 km before I would reach the highway...
Arrived at the highway, I speed up, next gear, 60, 70, 80, 90 NO WOBBLE, OMG!
Some of the time and effort were necessary, while others weren't. The solution was a $30 used grinder. I had a gut feeling that this would be the case when I mounted the wheel because torqueing had never been this simple on this wheel. It was evident that the rim had never seated correctly on the passenger side drum. Why not on the left side as well, you might wonder? Well remember the broken brake drum? The new drum is a hair smaller, and does not make contact with the wheel.
See you next blog.
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