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**67carry-all** · 09-16-2013, 01:39 PM

Ok, truck pull, uneven bounce, and wiggle finally diagnosed and fixed. With mutual scheduling and time issues, didn't get back to the original shop and I took the truck to another shop that's more familiar with older vehicles. Shop owner was checking under the truck and then came to the......... tires! Bigdav was on it from the beginning. The two left tires had "bubbles" or, to me, bulges in the tread section. These were causing the wobble at low speeds, the pull at all speeds, or as the mechanic described, the left front tires was pushing the truck to the left. The tires were basically failing and also causing the uneven bounce at hwy speeds. The two bad tires being on the same side of the truck helped explain why rotating the tires front to back made only a minimal difference. I checked the date code on the tires - they were 12+ years old. I bought them new maybe 10-12 years ago and by tread depth had maybe a few more thousand miles to go. It was an interesting learning experience - I've had tires wear out but this was the first time I'd had a set fail - glad they didn't totally give out on the road.

New tires are now on and rides like a new truck - tracks straight, takes the hwy bumps as if they're not even there, and no wobble. As a bonus, the manual streering now feels like power steering in comparison.

Hope this info helps others - I know I'll be paying closer attention to tire date codes in addition to tread depth and will change out tires that are approaching the 10 year mark (if they make it that far). Thanks again to all who chimed in with ideas.

09-16-2013, 01:39 PM	#14
67carry-all Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Central Coast, CA Posts: 256	Re: Front end alignment questions Ok, truck pull, uneven bounce, and wiggle finally diagnosed and fixed. With mutual scheduling and time issues, didn't get back to the original shop and I took the truck to another shop that's more familiar with older vehicles. Shop owner was checking under the truck and then came to the......... tires! Bigdav was on it from the beginning. The two left tires had "bubbles" or, to me, bulges in the tread section. These were causing the wobble at low speeds, the pull at all speeds, or as the mechanic described, the left front tires was pushing the truck to the left. The tires were basically failing and also causing the uneven bounce at hwy speeds. The two bad tires being on the same side of the truck helped explain why rotating the tires front to back made only a minimal difference. I checked the date code on the tires - they were 12+ years old. I bought them new maybe 10-12 years ago and by tread depth had maybe a few more thousand miles to go. It was an interesting learning experience - I've had tires wear out but this was the first time I'd had a set fail - glad they didn't totally give out on the road. New tires are now on and rides like a new truck - tracks straight, takes the hwy bumps as if they're not even there, and no wobble. As a bonus, the manual streering now feels like power steering in comparison. Hope this info helps others - I know I'll be paying closer attention to tire date codes in addition to tread depth and will change out tires that are approaching the 10 year mark (if they make it that far). Thanks again to all who chimed in with ideas.