"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730 RV Hauler Build

[bmzero]

Well, the vibration doesn't appear to be coming from the wheels or tires. I had the tires balance checked on the truck today, or at least the fronts. We weren't able to get the truck to shift out of first gear with the rear lifted, but at lower speeds, everything checks out. We also checked bearings and bushings in the front.

 

I'm moving on to the driveline. I'm not too concerned about the driveshaft and u-joints right now. All of that will be pulled out and inspected/replaced when I shorten the wheelbase and remove the axle, but I will do a quick inspection of the joints and hanger bearing just for peace of mind.

 

Anyone else have experience with a similar vibration?

[Nigel]

Try driving at the speed that you have the vibration and dump the rear suspension for a few seconds. If it goes away your ride height is too high. Top of my frame is right around 40 inches and my air presure is about 6psi on the rear bags without a trailer.

 

Nigel

[bmzero]

Try driving at the speed that you have the vibration and dump the rear suspension for a few seconds. If it goes away your ride height is too high. Top of my frame is right around 40 inches and my air presure is about 6psi on the rear bags without a trailer.

 

Nigel

 

I'll definitely give that a shot. Thanks.

[bmzero]

I'd watch that real close!! A quick look at the drive shaft between the rear axles with the air down and the angles the shaft makes, THINGS CAN GET UGLY FAST. A VIS check at a commercial truck place is a whole bunch better. They strap the truck down and spin things with electric motors while you can walk around the "moving" truck. Brakes, wheels, king pins, bearings, vibrations basic frame / suspension Dyno

 

http://www.vischeck.net/vis-check/

 

Thanks, Bill. I filled out the form on their website. Hopefully they will get back to me soon. That does sound like a good setup.

[Broncohauler]

Do you feel the vibration in your hands or in the seat of your pants and your feet?

 

If in your hands keep looking at the front end. wheel bearings ,tire balance.

Seat of your pants or in your feet on the floor most likely driveline. Also does it get better when you let off the throttle? If so it's most definitely Ujoints or carrier bearing.

[bmzero]

Do you feel the vibration in your hands or in the seat of your pants and your feet?

 

If in your hands keep looking at the front end. wheel bearings ,tire balance.

Seat of your pants or in your feet on the floor most likely driveline. Also does it get better when you let off the throttle? If so it's most definitely Ujoints or carrier bearing.

 

Due to the frequency of the oscillation, I don't think it's a driveline issue. It seems to line up pretty well with tire rotation speeds. Applying more or less throttle also does not have an affect on it.

 

When we had the truck lifted yesterday, they checked the frontend bushings/bearings. Everything looked good there.

 

I'm pretty sure it's a tire issue, but I haven't come up with a good way to verify this other than throwing 8 Benjamins at a new set of steer tires. The tires on it now are at least 80%.

 

Is it possible/safe to move two of the drive tires to the front, temporarily, to check for vibrations? Can I run the truck with only two tires on one axle so I don't have to put the front tires back on the rear axle?

[Jack Mayer]

Without feeling it - it is hard to guess. But the first thing that comes to mind, based on what you have said is out-of-round tires. Actually, I would have thought drive line first, but out of round tires will do that too.....

[Nigel]

I think Jack once talked about a place that will shave & balance your tires to make them perfectly round. Should be cheaper than buying new tires.

 

Nigel

[bmzero]

I think Jack once talked about a place that will shave & balance your tires to make them perfectly round. Should be cheaper than buying new tires.

 

Nigel

 

The place I took it to yesterday can shave the tires. The cost is about $175 for both steers. I wanted to exhaust some other options before I started taking tread off of the tires.

[Jack Mayer]

 

The place I took it to yesterday can shave the tires. The cost is about $175 for both steers. I wanted to exhaust some other options before I started taking tread off of the tires.

You can view it a couple of ways. I don't view it as taking tread off - I view it as "equalizing" the tread...since you don't really remove stuff that is not "excessive" - eg the out of round part. I'd rather have tires in round than any "extra" tread. I ALWAYS have my tires checked for out of round. If they cannot do it when I buy tires, then I don't buy tires there. A good tire shop can always do it.....you would be surprised at how many new tires are out of round.

 

$175 seems high to me....but I suppose it is not that far off and it does vary by region.

[bmzero]

You can view it a couple of ways. I don't view it as taking tread off - I view it as "equalizing" the tread...since you don't really remove stuff that is not "excessive" - eg the out of round part. I'd rather have tires in round than any "extra" tread. I ALWAYS have my tires checked for out of round. If they cannot do it when I buy tires, then I don't buy tires there. A good tire shop can always do it.....you would be surprised at how many new tires are out of round.

 

$175 seems high to me....but I suppose it is not that far off and it does vary by region.

 

I agree with that view, I just didn't get a good feel about that place doing the work and possibly ruining the tires. There is another place close to me that is a national chain (GCR Tires). I'll take it to them Friday and see what they think. If they suggest truing the tires, I'll let them do it.

[Guest Lostinaz]

Pretty easy to check for out of round tires yourself.

Jack it up, put a block of wood or something close for a point of reference, spin the tire by hand and watch. Also look near the bead of the tire and see if it's seated evenly all the way around.

Sometimes those hub-piloted wheels get out of whack and are not concentric with the hubs. There are products to center them.

Sometimes brake drums do the same because of routed out stud holes and hard braking.

You can look for a bent driveshaft the same way, with a point of reference while turning it slowly by hand.

A lot of stuff you can check yourself before you spend money.

When you find something you suspect is bouncing, put a camera on it and drive and watch.

Once I had a Dunlop drive tire that looked round bounce really bad because something came apart inside the tire. I made one trip from Yuma to Florida and back. I bought a new brake drum on the way thinking that was it when I figured out where the bouncing was coming from. That didn't help. It was a bad tire. By the time I got home I had to replace the wheel seal because all that bouncing trashed it and made it leak. I got rid of that one junk tire and the problem went away.

[bmzero]

Pretty easy to check for out of round tires yourself.

Jack it up, put a block of wood or something close for a point of reference, spin the tire by hand and watch. Also look near the bead of the tire and see if it's seated evenly all the way around.

Sometimes those hub-piloted wheels get out of whack and are not concentric with the hubs. There are products to center them.

Sometimes brake drums do the same because of routed out stud holes and hard braking.

You can look for a bent driveshaft the same way, with a point of reference while turning it slowly by hand.

A lot of stuff you can check yourself before you spend money.

When you find something you suspect is bouncing, put a camera on it and drive and watch.

 

We did that yesterday. That's what led them to believe the tires were out of round. If they had been more confident about their diagnosis, I would have let them shave them then.

 

I'm not too worried about potential driveline issues. It won't be long before Willy goes under the knife to get down to a 230" wheelbase. At that point, I'll go through all of the driveline components.

 

I didn't think about the camera. I have a pile of GoPro's sitting around. That might be an easy way to narrow down the problems.

[Guest Lostinaz]

I added something to the previous thought above.

[bmzero]

Once I had a Dunlop drive tire that looked round bounce really bad because something came apart inside the tire. I made one trip from Yuma to Florida and back. I bought a new brake drum on the way thinking that was it when I figured out where the bouncing was coming from. That didn't help. It was a bad tire. By the time I got home I had to replace the wheel seal because all that bouncing trashed it and made it leak. I got rid of that one junk tire and the problem went away.

 

I had the same thing happen on a 19.5 steer tire on my F450. The tire looked perfect on the outside. I did about this same song and dance at a few different tire stores until I finally broke down and bought new tires. Fixed the issue.

 

That was my first thought with this one. The first place I went, Love's, I had them break it down and look inside for bulges. We didn't see anything. That's not to say that still isn't the problem, though. Once I'm able to isolate the offending tire, eliminate balance issues, and possibly out of round issues, it'll be easier to make the call to replace the tires. I just hope I won't have spent/wasted a pile of money before that happens.

[rickeieio]

I had the same thing happen on a F-350 w/ 20" wheels. I chased that "ghost" vibration for several months, taking it to different tire shops. Then I had a tire start a slow leak. After another month, the leak got bad and the vibration got worse at the same time. Steer tire was separating. I connected the dots the day someone had come to buy the truck, so I knocked some off the price for him to buy a new tire.

[bmzero]

I had the same thing happen on a F-350 w/ 20" wheels. I chased that "ghost" vibration for several months, taking it to different tire shops. Then I had a tire start a slow leak. After another month, the leak got bad and the vibration got worse at the same time. Steer tire was separating. I connected the dots the day someone had come to buy the truck, so I knocked some off the price for him to buy a new tire.

 

Hopefully the next tire store can pinpoint the issue, but I'm like you, I'm leaning toward a faulty tire.

[bmzero]

bmz,

 

I ordered L-track mount seat belts from Cargo Equipment. I also ordered these washers to bolt the L-track down through the floor. I very seldom have passengers but if we do I can just snap the seat belts to the preinstalled L-track under the seats and just put them away when not needed. I know that this isn't the safest seating position but am not willing to rearrange my truck to accommodate front facing seats. It is a guarantee here if the passengers are not wearing seat belts I will be getting fined if stopped.

 

Again, thanks for the recommendation, Rick. It works perfectly.

 

I used the parts from Rick's post with these seat belts - http://prpseats.com/product/lap-belt/

 

I arranged the L-Track so that the seating could be arranged in 4-person mode and 2-person, forward-facing mode.

 

 

 

 

 

[NTPA Announcer]

Thanks for the pictures. It looks real good. Keep up the Good Work !

 

Denver and Judy

[bmzero]

I'll be installing these LED bulbs in the headlights today. The quality of these things looks great. Hopefully the light output looks as good.

 

 

 

 

[Jack Mayer]

Source and cost?

 

Comments by the lighting guru's?? David, I know you don't want people to think you are biased to your own product, but you have more practical experience than anyone I know on this topic....so your view would be interesting.

[SuiteSuccess]

Again, thanks for the recommendation, Rick. It works perfectly.

 

I used the parts from Rick's post with these seat belts - http://prpseats.com/product/lap-belt/

 

I arranged the L-Track so that the seating could be arranged in 4-person mode and 2-person, forward-facing mode.

 

 

 

 

 

Did you carry through the L-trac bolts beneath the cab of the truck or just bolt to the compartment covers? I need to do some seating in mine also like this. Thanks for the post.

[bmzero]

Source and cost?

 

Comments by the lighting guru's?? David, I know you don't want people to think you are biased to your own product, but you have more practical experience than anyone I know on this topic....so your view would be interesting.

 

They came from eBay. I'm a big fan of LED's. We rely on them quite heavily for night racing. These lights might not pan out at all, but for $80, I was willing to give them a shot.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121471971321

[bmzero]

Did you carry through the L-trac bolts beneath the cab of the truck or just bolt to the compartment covers? I need to do some seating in mine also like this. Thanks for the post.

 

No, the bolts do not extend through the cab. The plastic beneath the seating is pretty thick and reinforced very well. There are quite a few bolts holding it in. I have to draw the line somewhere and that line is drawn just shy of drilling 26 holes in my cab. Plus, with the L-Track, it spreads the load out very well.

[bmzero]

I was able to get the lights installed tonight.

 

First thoughts:

1. The light output is significantly better than the Sylvania bulbs I was previously using (pictured earlier in this thread)
2. The bulb has a big fan on it which should prolong its life, but also makes it a tight fit to get under the housing cap. It does fit, though.
3. There is a lot of wire with the kit. That needs to be secured within the housing. No securing materials (double sided tape, zip ties) were provided.
4. The bulbs do not fit very tightly inside the housing. I'm probably going to pull them back out and add another rubber washer between the bulb and the housing to increase the tightness of the bulb to housing connection.

Overall, I'm very happy with these bulbs. There is a definite improvement over the Sylvania bulbs. The big question now is how long they last. Everything seems to be of good quality, so I'm hoping for the best.

 

Sylvania bulb on the left. LED bulb on the right.