Anyone who is running OME Dakar rear leaf spring.... Need Advise

I'm running a fabtech lift tho...

 

Ahhh, gotcha. These probably wouldn't clear then. Good luck with that one.

 

Thanks for the offer tho

 

It sounds like your tires are already suspect, and your driveline angles may be out of spec. Those are the two most common sources of vibrations.

The carrier bearing drop is a quick and dirty way of diagnosing a driveline vibration, and will cause more harm than good over the long run. The reason is because the angle of the u joint at the transfer case has nothing to cancel it, so anything more than about 1/2 of a degree will induce a vibration, and will eventually wear out the u joint. I would remove your cb drop and check your driveshaft angles.

It also sounds like you may have a tire out of round. I would definitely recommend swapping 4 known well-balanced wheels and tires of any size onto your truck and do a road test.

 

It's not your spring. 2 yrs. sounds about right for something else affected by the lift to wear out though.

 

This vibration feels more like a wheel/tire vibration then a driveshaft vibration. A driveshaft spinning at 3000 rpm has a much higher frequency then a tire spinning at 250 - 300rpm (don't quote me on actual tire rpm, I just know it spins slower then a driveshaft). This vibration (or should say bounce) is to low a frequency to be considered driveshaft related. I am running a shims for the rear axle pinion angle as well.

 

Does anyone else here have experience with BF Goodrich besides drew12 with balancing problems with this make/brand tire?

 

I will be making an appointment with Mar-Bar tire sometime this week. I'm convinced I have a tire thats just in spec enough to not be considered bad. Drove home from OC today and the bouncing seams to be most on the driver side. I'll let you guys know what the results are

 

two questions I have:

1. are your wheels spec'd for Toyota hub size (106.25 mm) or generic 6-bolt on 139.7 mm(5.5") (108 mm)?

2. have you switched the sides on the rear wheels and seen if either side bounces more?

 

If you have stock gears, the ratio of driveshaft speed to tire speed is 4.10:1. If you have 31" tires, at 60 mph your tires are doing about 672 rpm, so your driveshaft is doing ~2750 rpm.
You are correct, the driveshaft vibration will have a higher frequency, but it may not be as noticeably different than you think. I wouldn't necessarily discount it, but definitely start by checking your tires as they seem to be the most likely culprit.

 

My wheels are not toyota hub specific (hubcentric). I want to say they are 108mm. There american racing AR-23's wheels. However I thought about this issue as well and bought a set of hubcentric rings that fit over the axle hub. Result... No difference.

I have switched sides. Matter of fact when I last had my tires balanced. I told them to just balance them, do not rotate because I rotate them myself to save money. After they balanced them the tech said he had to move one tire from the front to the rear saying that it was more out of balance them the rest. He showed me the results of the balance and showed me which tires he switched. Driving home I noticed the rear bouncing more then usual. I moved them back to where I had them and the bounce feels more concentrated to the drivers side of the truck now. So I believe I have at least narrowed it down to at least one if not two tires on the drivers side.

Also a side note. You know how when all terrain or mud tires run down the road, they make a rythmatic pulsating sound as they rotate against the payment. Ex. (Wawawawawa). Well, as mine make that rythmatic sound, the bounce matches the sound. If that makes sense

 

I see. I'm currently running 5.29 ratio on 35" tires. It just doesn't feel like a driveshaft bounce. But I won't dismiss this. My cousin has a gopro camera that I may hook up under the truck and focus on the driveshaft as it rotates. Better yet the support bearing due to it being rubber.

 

Rotate the wheels.see if the front gets the bounce. That'll rule out the tires if it doesn't. Cheap and easy..

 

two posts ago he just said the wheels were switched.

 

I ran BFG ko2 while I was working at Discount Tire Co., always had 1 tire that required x2 the amount of weight as the rest. However, even with that being said...those tires rode better than any other set of tires I had on this truck. (5th set) How are the tires worn? Any bad wear?

 

If possible have someone follow you at the speed your having the vibration. They maybe able to see witch tire is shaking.
What I have noticed is out of balance tires have a fairly consistent shake. Shocks cause a shake after a sharp edge bump that dampens out slowly.

I have DAKAR springs and ICON 2.5 rear shocks that gave an extra 3/4" of lift and I have no drive shaft vibration. My rear view mirror is vibration free at all speeds and I still have the original drive shaft center bearing.

 

You say your bed is bouncing, make sure the bed bolts are tightened down, there have been plenty of posts where they are loose and no one checks then, they go right to the suspension looking for the issue.

 

There not wearing badly. There not cupped or noisy. I like them all besides the balancing issue.