[RyanAK]

When I had the truck inspected and the oil changed I asked them to change the transfer case fluid. They said 'yeah, sure', but I just looked on my bill and it doesn't look like they did it... I'll have to find time to do that or take it in some evening while I'm on the road for work.

Roger-roger on not moving in HI or LO with front shaft removed. This would just be to help diagnose the vibration. I think the Cardan CV on the front shaft is a good suspect.

I'm not sure which way I'll go with the 203... I'm not sure I'd like being limited to the LOC-only version of 4WD, but having 2WD and fewer rotating parts during 'normal' driving is pretty appealing.

The more I drive it, the more I'm pretty darn pleased with how this rig is riding up to about 65. I think the new wheels and tires made a bigger difference in how the truck rides that I first thought. That mid-range vibration at 45-55mph isn't hardly worth mentioning any more. 65mph and up it starts to vibrate again... which has me back to thinking about tire balance. It was hell to get the new wheels and tires to balance and two of the set never did balance perfect on the machine. They went on the rear as 'close enough'. This was on a pretty modern machine, but not a road force balancer.

Now these aren't the biggest tires (31.6"x10.5"), but they're a pretty beefy high profile tire compared to what most modern trucks are running. And I'm not even entirely sure the Cragar wheels are perfectly round and true. Like I said, we had a hell of a time getting them to balance and one or two took a bunch of weight. These are guys that started with bubble balancers in the '60s. Family friends. They spent more time on this than they would have for anyone else, and they still aren't 'prefect'. So...

Would a 'close but not perfect' balance job more-or-less eliminate the vibrations at 45-55mph but allow the vibration at 65+ to remain? Should I consider finding a shop with a road force balancer? How about balance beads? There's a thing called something like a 'maintenance level' dose of beads to help get the last few percent of balance on tires already balanced with weights.

Anyway... was just thinking about tire balance again. Still gonna chase the front driveshaft CV and consider driveshaft balance. Just couldn't help think about the new wheels and tires.

This stuff is fun, ain't it?

R