Dump Truck Tires

[Willie B]

Some use the balance powder inside the tire. My dealer says it is fraud. Why would the extra weight chose to go where it is needed. Why wouldn't it make imbalance worse?

 

[Old Doug]

Some use the balance powder inside the tire. My dealer says it is fraud. Why would the extra weight chose to go where it is needed. Why wouldn't it make imbalance worse?

We sell and use it but until last month i didnt know what it did or didnt do. We put it in big pickup tires some times. A guy at work that needed a alinement bad run his tire tell they were so ruff that it shock bad. It had beads in them i drove it then removed the beads vac them out then drove it agin there was a big diffrents the beads made it shake less. I would love to do some more tests. I wish i could use it in my f600 but it has bias with tubes.

 

[Tenwheeler]

Some use the balance powder inside the tire. My dealer says it is fraud. Why would the extra weight chose to go where it is needed. Why wouldn't it make imbalance worse?

It might do OK sometimes. If you ever get moisture in the air it can clump together. Running along fine and hit a pot hole. That stuff gets knocked off that spot and clumps together some where else. Then the vehicle will have serious steering wheel jerking and vibration. That will not stop until the speed is greatly reduced and that stuff will redistribute. Then you can go again.
When you want to check the air pressure you need to bump the valve stem with and air hose first. That blows the powder away from the valve core so they do not leak after your put a gauge on them.
Have read some good things on beads but have no experience with them. Weights don't move.

 

[Jonas302]

I got desperate waiting for my tire dealer to get me a quote on the Accuride wheels. Since he had a set of 1000/20 bias ply handy (Nutech 500) I had him throw them on. I'm not very confident in their longevity, but I need to haul now. Question: Do dump truck tires usually not get balanced?? I'm tired on the vibration and heaving, but my dealer says they don't balance these large tires. Why not?

We never balance dump truck tires I have tried power, and spin balanced and find no difference then just leaving them unbalanced

If your new tires are vibrating and heaving and riding worse than the old ones then one is out of round and needs to be taken care of Happens all the time with junky imported tires

 

[DMiller]

In truck repair shop my ex boss had a spin balancer for on the truck use
Won’t compensate for a out of round tire or a bias ply square tire that sits until builds a flat spot that has to roll awhile to smooth back up
Tube types can have a tube bunch up or a off kilter flap that cannot add enough weight to compensate for
That and large tires are not rolling that fast to show a reasonably light balance problem

 

[Duromax04]

Is the shaking in the steering wheel, or in your seat? That will tell if its the steer tires or drive tires that are messed up. I would be inclined to balance the steers and not mess with the drives.

This old truck I just got, has 900-20 radials on it, and they look great. I then looked at the DOT codes on them and realized they were produced in 1995, Yikes!!. So, I am getting new 22.5 rims and putting used low pro tubeless radials on it.

 

[Duromax04]

This old truck I just got, has 900-20 radials on it, and they look great. I then looked at the DOT codes on them and realized they were produced in 1995, Yikes!!. So, I am getting new 22.5 rims and putting used low pro tubeless radials on it.

 

[Willie B]

My new to me fire truck converted to a dump has a hop in it. Rear tires are new, but it hopped with the old rears also. Front look good. Inspection station failed me for a dozen reasons. Among them, left front doesn't spin freely all the way around. I see no problem with the drum or shoes. Replacing the cans all around, I'll know more then.
Other front tire they claim is scalloped, though I can't feel it.
Everything is tight in the steering & king pins. It's a 32000 mile truck.

Any theories?

 

[crane operator]

Any theories?

You need a different inspection station?

I'd think a alignment would be a good place to start for the scallop.

I find that a truck that has been sitting will get a rust spot where drum is exposed, and then you have to wear that off before it will spin freely. I suspect that's whats going on with your front wheel.

A bare truck with no bed on it, and the spring suspension (?) is going to hop with no load on it. Its like bobtailing. Especially if its been sitting, those tires are going to be flat spotted, and its going to take a run to even them out.

 

[DMiller]

Being as old fire truck will also have hard spots on drums from severe stops, run hard stop as fast in fire service. Never heard a inspection failure on does not roll freely or a scallop appearance on a tire. So long as not rough or actually hanging up and should the scallop not be down to wear bars should not even be a factor.

 

[Truck Shop]

Because of the volume of tires we go through reading this thread is interesting.
We use the liquid bagged Tire Life in the steer, drop axle and drive tires. The boss bought balance
rings for some of the tractors {which are worthless}. In most cases odd tire wear can be attributed
to bad casings to begin with. Steer tires should never be inflated standing vertical once mounted,
always laying flat. Runout on new steers can be gross on some brands. The cheaper brands like
Toyo can be a real problem, tires with a wide shoulder have a tendency of scalloping. Tread that
is tall {high profile} can cause scalloping, especially on tag tires. Truthfully the best tires for steer
are the Michelin X Line Energy, we average about 115,000 on those, good casings to begin with.
We average 165,000 miles on Double Coin RLB 400 drive tires, Trailer tires we run are the
Yokohama RY023's those work well on a three axle trailer. We buy 30 steers 60 drives 60 trailer
and 20 tags at a time to get the discount plus price is tire mounted on rim. One other thing if
the bead area on the rim is worn out {especially} on aluminum wheels the tires will never
center and mount correctly.

 

[Willie B]

You need a different inspection station?

I'd think a alignment would be a good place to start for the scallop.

I find that a truck that has been sitting will get a rust spot where drum is exposed, and then you have to wear that off before it will spin freely. I suspect that's whats going on with your front wheel.

A bare truck with no bed on it, and the spring suspension (?) is going to hop with no load on it. Its like bobtailing. Especially if its been sitting, those tires are going to be flat spotted, and its going to take a run to even them out.

Wheels & tires in rear are new. Front drums I changed out brake actuators & removed drums to inspect. The drums look perfect, as do shoes & internal brake parts. I think either dust, or slack adjusters too tight. New cans & adjustment, I get only a very soft sound at one spot rotating the tire.
Other side he claims is scalloped, I see & feel NO evidence of scallop.

Drive shaft is partly new. I had similar behavior in my 1956 Power Wagon when I bought it. Driveshaft universals were 90 degrees opposed. That is not the case in this truck, but I wonder if balance in the driveshaft could cause it? I try to analize when it hops, it starts when I accelerate, or head down a steep hill.

I haven't done a thorough check of run out in tires, maybe that should be next.

 

[DMiller]

Drum could have shelf/storage warp where just needs used to smooth up. I agree with CO, need to find a different inspector. Verify drive line is In 'Time' Some knotheads will just assemble a spline section not paying attention, those generally vibrate to hell and gone not hop though.

 

[Willie B]

You need a different inspection station?

I'd think a alignment would be a good place to start for the scallop.

I find that a truck that has been sitting will get a rust spot where drum is exposed, and then you have to wear that off before it will spin freely. I suspect that's whats going on with your front wheel.

A bare truck with no bed on it, and the spring suspension (?) is going to hop with no load on it. Its like bobtailing. Especially if its been sitting, those tires are going to be flat spotted, and its going to take a run to even them out.

Front tires look new. The truck is 30 years old with 32000, no way these are original tires. I can't find a date code. I think I can recognize scallop, and I absolutely do not see or feel scallop. What little wear there is, is uniform.

I've seen flat spotted trailer tires, It occurs to me an overenthusiastic volunteer fireman might have made a flat spot on a tire. I'll replace wheels & tires if that is the problem, but I hate to throw money at it just to find out.

The brake drum thing, wheels center on the conical face of the nut. The brake drums seem only to be sandwiched between hub & wheel. What keeps them centered?

 

[Truck Shop]

The hub should have a pilot for drum.

 

[petepilot]

You need a different inspection station?

I'd think a alignment would be a good place to start for the scallop.

I find that a truck that has been sitting will get a rust spot where drum is exposed, and then you have to wear that off before it will spin freely. I suspect that's whats going on with your front wheel.

A bare truck with no bed on it, and the spring suspension (?) is going to hop with no load on it. Its like bobtailing. Especially if its been sitting, those tires are going to be flat spotted, and its going to take a run to even them out.

ditto

 

[Duromax04]

If all your brake drums and such check out, then I would check the run out on the drive tire assemblies. If you can jack the back end off the ground, and put the truck in gear and let the tires spin with the engine idling, you should be able to see what is going on if it is the tires. I have checked run out on all sorts of tires with a block of wood or two and bucket if needed. You want to check both lateral run-out (side to side movement) and radial run-out (up and down movement).

To check lateral run-out, I put a block or two of wood beside the tire right beside the sidewall. Set it about a half inch or so. If you don't want to run the engine, you can roll the duals by hand and watch the distance change between the wood and the sidewall. It is important to have a block of wood or something stationary close the tire while it spins to give you perspective of how much it is moving side to side.
Radial run-out, just put a block behind the tire and move it to about 1/2 inch or so of the tread and spin the tires around and check for movement.
Its possible you have a bent wheel or something like that, since you said you had the issue with the old tires.

They make run out gauges if you really want to dial in exactly how much run out you have, but normally I am not that concerned with exact numbers as I am about comparing one side to the other.

Good Luck.

 

[Willie B]

If all your brake drums and such check out, then I would check the run out on the drive tire assemblies. If you can jack the back end off the ground, and put the truck in gear and let the tires spin with the engine idling, you should be able to see what is going on if it is the tires. I have checked run out on all sorts of tires with a block of wood or two and bucket if needed. You want to check both lateral run-out (side to side movement) and radial run-out (up and down movement).

To check lateral run-out, I put a block or two of wood beside the tire right beside the sidewall. Set it about a half inch or so. If you don't want to run the engine, you can roll the duals by hand and watch the distance change between the wood and the sidewall. It is important to have a block of wood or something stationary close the tire while it spins to give you perspective of how much it is moving side to side.
Radial run-out, just put a block behind the tire and move it to about 1/2 inch or so of the tread and spin the tires around and check for movement.
Its possible you have a bent wheel or something like that, since you said you had the issue with the old tires.

They make run out gauges if you really want to dial in exactly how much run out you have, but normally I am not that concerned with exact numbers as I am about comparing one side to the other.

Good Luck.

I haven't checked the rears for run out, but the problem was there before new wheels & tires were installed. The old tires were chewed some by running tire chains on the outboard tires. It's a long story, but I ended with new wheels & tires on rear. Still could be, but it is consistent after new springs, wheels & tires on rear.

 

[Duromax04]

I didn't realize you put new wheels on it. Then it more than likely isn't a tire/wheel issue, unless they are Dayton/cast spoke wheels, then they could be cattywompussed (that's a technical term) on the spokes.
Could you have someone follow behind you going down the road and see if they can see anything that looks suspect?
It almost has to be rotational, so it could be a driveshaft, dragging brake drum, tire/wheel assembly.
Could you have a carrier bearing seizing up?
If the steering wheel is not shaking, then I would jack up the entire rear axle off the ground very solid, and put it in gear and get the tires spinning and see if you can identify what is going on. Obviously, both sides should spin.

 

[Coaldust]

Truck Shop mentioned he likes the Michelin X Line Energy steer tires. That’s been my experience, too. Michelin is currently the only steer tire in 11r22.5 that I can find that is actually round.

Been lots of good info shared in this discussion. That’s why I like this place.