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HDT/MDT wind noise question


Bobi and Dick McKee

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Remove the mirror. Our problem is the doors that pull out at the top in a strong crosswind. Yesterday the dw was insisting that her door wasn't closed.

 

You may try some of those tabs that increase mileage on the mirror

Ron C.

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Depending on the style of mirrors you have it could be the screw holes. I have aero style mirrors on my T2000. There are screw holes on the front side of the mirror housings. These holes whistle under the right wind conditions. If you have similar holes, try putting tape over them and go for a test drive to see if it cures your problem. If it does, there are more permanent ways to fill in the holes, but some make it difficult to r and r the mirrors in the future if necessary.

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On our IH the mirrors would pull the tops of the doors away from the frame letting a lot of noise in. Either higher than towing speeds or a cross / head wind were the usual sources, normal towing on a calm day was never a problem.

 

We simply adjusted the doors to close a little more tightly in the top-front corner by tweaking the top hinge in just a smidgen. A seriously small amount of movement on the hinge is needed, too much and the gasket will pinch. We used a pry bar once the bolts were loose so we had enough leverage to get a small movement. We also marked the initial hinge locations so we could see how far we'd moved things and go back to the original location if necessary.

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If the truck is an IH 4700, mine had the same issue. The mirror was attached to the door. The door had poor noise reduction features. The truck was 70's or old tech.

The only way we came up with was to get a more aerodynamic mirror and or attach the mirror to the cab frame.

 

Something like a motorhome mirror.

 

http://www.velvacrvmirrors.com/

 

This is one example.

 

Roger

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Remove the mirror. Our problem is the doors that pull out at the top in a strong crosswind. Yesterday the dw was insisting that her door wasn't closed.

 

You may try some of those tabs that increase mileage on the mirror

This would certainly solve the noise problem. When you want to change lanes or check traffic on that side just have the passenger put the window down and hang their head out and scream a traffic report to you!

 

On a serious note..........Did you or maybe a previous owner install some of those worthless devices that are supposed to keep deer from crossing in front of you? During my 20 years as a trucker I heard of maybe 2 instances similar to yours and that is what was causing the problem. If you have them remove them all and put in the trash.

Fulltiming since September 1, 2010

 

2012 Ford F-350 PSD SRW Lariat Crew Cab

 

2012 Montana 3585SA

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If you are chasing wind noise, try using duct tape over the door seals and any place that air might leak into the cab, (you may have to use the pass door to exit during this experiment). You should be able to narrow down where the noise is coming from and then replace a seal or even add a deflector over the area. If you decide to remove a mirror, just replace it with a side view camera and you be ahead of the future car designs.

Greg

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  • 2 months later...

I had this same problem in my IH 4400, I always thought that I wold find some mirrors that I could mount to the cab instead of the door. I sold the truck and got a pete 335 .... no noise at all and the mirrors are mounted on the cab. Hope you can get it fixed to your liking.

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  • 5 months later...

Having purcahsed a 2017 M2 106 I now know exactly what all of you are talking about here. The drive home from Texas I got to listen to a high pitched wind caused noise from the drivers side window/door. Like some of you have said it's loud and annoying. Have any of you found a solution for this?

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There is a fix for this on M2's ..... Look at the mirrors and you will one side has small slots that holds the glass section in. If the slots are closets to the door, they will interact with the airflow. If they are facing away from the door, no whistle. I had this problem when swapping a mirror on the passenger side. Did not pay attention to which side was out since the glass was plain, and then driving the road I got a whistle. Went back to the shop, popped the frame and flipped it 180 and popped it back on. Sound stopped.

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You will find also the passenger down mirror rattles like mad, the glass is pressed into a sloppy housing with no seal. Easy fix, buy a tube of clear caulking and lay a bead around the glass and frame and smooth it in. Wait to dry clear and re-install the mirror. Rattle gone and functional mirror now usable :-)

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Awesome I'll go out and take a look irght now. The other issue I am having is there is a speed induced shimmy coming from the front end and I feel it directly in the steering wheel. I had Les Schwab balnce the fronts (Michlein 255/80-22.5 on polished aluminum wheels) when they took them off there was no weight at all added to the wheels. They added about 6 oz per side. The truck has air drum brakes. They commented that if this didnt work then I needed to consider having the drums balanced as they noted that there was no weights added there either and usually they see weight added. After I drove it it's better but still annoying. There is a place in town that can balance both the wheel and drum I am going to give them a try. I am not even going to go into detail what it was like dealing with Freightliner on the issue. I've been down this road with two brand new dually's in the past and each time it ended up being tire related. When I replaced the tires it "mysteriously" went away. I hope that's not the case here?

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The drive home from Texas I got to listen to a high pitched wind caused noise from the drivers side window/door. Like some of you have said it's loud and annoying. Have any of you found a solution for this?

I have not. Mine is not anything like a whine, or pitch, it's just a dull roar- as if the door isn't closed.

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Balancing big rig tires is usually not done. None of MDT / HDT have the wheels balanced. At what speed do you notice this happening at ?

 

Several things can be done to resolve the issue and I have done this many times for various rigs.

 

1. Clean the rims very well, clean the hubs well, and make sure the matting surface on the truck is all brushed down. Anything between the rim and hub will cause the wheel to shimmy. Check the tires very well for foreign objects stuck in it but not puncturing it, it will effect balance.

 

2. If the problem persists, have a truck shop slipt the bead and rotate the tire on the rim 180 degrees. If that does not work or reduces it, split the bead and rotate 90 degrees. I have the spoons and wedge so I usually do this myself. If you are good at it, you can do it while the wheel is mounted to the truck.

 

3. Instead of using weights, use balancing beads for trucks, or something along the lines of centramatic balancers.

 

Hope that helps.

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Not true. Only some truckers think that balancing is a bad thing...like the previous owner of my TV.

 

Mine are now balanced...big difference.... still have a bit of a shake between 42 and 46 but I am told, that is normal with a freightshaker..

 

You have 2 choices..balance the tire..and if it has run for miles unbalanced, it is probably square like mine were... or balance the rotating mass.

 

I went with the latter using ceramic beads..some use rings..it is a matter of preference and cost.

 

As I said, BIG difference. Oh, I also balance my trailer tires..

 

grassy..

. Arctic Fox 29-5T

. Beagle co-pilots - Faffy and Lulu

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Honestly, in my 35 years plus of driving class 7 and 8, none of rigs or trailers have balanced wheels. Our trailers with 16, 17, 18 size rims are balanced since they where shop mounted. I do all the dismounting and mounting of our commercial tires. The sportchassis truck with the wheels correctly setup has no weights, properly torqued nuts and anywhere from 0 to 75 MPH, smooth as it can be. All depends on the tires, rims, how installed and maintained. Commercial tires are designed to be installed and not balanced. The most I have seen done with them is balancing beads or centramatic balancer which do work extremely well.

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"Only some truckers think that balancing is a bad thing" ... not sure why...but the opinions are very strong. Several folks mentioned that on a class 8, ..especially on the drive wheels, that the weights are high enough that an unbalanced tire makes no difference unless you are bob tailing.. Not sure if that would include the lighter weights of a MDT. I know in my case, it didn't.

 

Commercial tires are not made perfectly balanced. Worse with re treds.. When I balanced my Goodyear steer tires last year, one took 8 oz and the other 10... if that was a car tire, I wouldn't accept them.

 

With my new and balanced tires, my rig is now smooth... as I see it. any reduction of vibration is a good thing....

 

This is just my experience ..as well as what I have been able to sort through with all the information given to me by truckers / tire dealers..

. Arctic Fox 29-5T

. Beagle co-pilots - Faffy and Lulu

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Thanks for the info PUG! I actually took it to a shop this morninig that specializes in Motorhomes, commercail trucks (wheels, brakes etc). They have the ability to static balance with the wheels/tires mounted on the truck. It took them about 2 min to come out and get me. In short both were "out of round" left front was horrible. They trued and balanced both. They used ceramic weights. I havent driven it that far yet, but the 5 miles I did drive it home it's like driving on a sheet of glass now. Now I get to go argue with Freightliner as I don't think I should have to eat the 120 bucks that it cost me to have this done being the truck only has 2600 miles on it and they told me they did not have the ability to do the work, but we'll see I am not going to hold my breath.

 

On another note the tabs to the mirrors are positioned to the outside like the should be so that's not what is causing the wind noise, so the hunt is still on as to the cause. Just wind noise would be one thing but this is a high pitched whistle.

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  • 3 weeks later...

If this helps anybody I will pass it along but I finaly located the high pitched whistle that I have complained about and has been driving me nuts! On the top bracket where the mirror connects to the door there is a hole in the top of the bracket. This hole is at a perfect angle, though hard to see, to catch air. I could hear the noise with the window down. On a back counrty road on a long vacant straight stretch I reached up and put my hand over it and the noise disappears. All you then had to do was place a finger over it and it was quiet. So is this helps anybody there you have it. BTW my mioors are the standard mirrors that come on the m2 106.

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