04 HD vibration with H2's but not with stocks

black04hd · May 14, 2005

Hey guy's ,

I am looking for help with a vibration problem I am having since I put on the H2's and toyo's ...

I started to notice a vibration in the steering wheel when cruising at speeds between 58-70MPH ... I also feel it on my a$$ and I can also see the vibration in my rear view mirrors ...

Here is the kicker , When I put my stock wheels & tires back on, its gone !!!

It is not a shimmy or a shake like a tire out of balance... Its a "rumbling" type vibration.

Also , after cruising at speed on the freeway and coming to a stop off the exit , As I start to take off I feel a shudder in the drive train for the first 10 feet and then goes away !!!!

Could the slightly larger tire size and wider wheels be the problem ? ....any Ideas would be greatly appreciated ...Thanks , Kevin

P.S. the H2's are 17X8.5 with a 5.5 back spacing and Toyo open country's (syped) size 265x70x 17's load range "E" ...with about 500-600 miles on them

black04hd · May 14, 2005

Guy's , I have to take off for a while with the wife . iI'll check back soon ...Thanks again for any help you might be able to provide ....Kevin

black04hd · May 14, 2005

So , No one has any input on this problem ? How about you folks running H2's , any problems with yours ?

Jacqson · May 14, 2005

Hey guy's ,
I am looking for help with a vibration problem I am having since I put on the H2's and toyo's ...

I started to notice a vibration in the steering wheel when cruising at speeds between 58-70MPH ... I also feel it on my a$$ and I can also see the vibration in my rear view mirrors ...

Here is the kicker , When I put my stock wheels & tires back on, its gone !!!

It is not a shimmy or a shake like a tire out of balance... Its a "rumbling" type vibration.

Also , after cruising at speed on the freeway and coming to a stop off the exit , As I start to take off I feel a shudder in the drive train for the first 10 feet and then goes away !!!!

Could the slightly larger tire size and wider wheels be the problem ? ....any Ideas would be greatly appreciated ...Thanks , Kevin

P.S. the H2's are 17X8.5 with a 5.5 back spacing and Toyo open country's (syped) size 265x70x 17's load range "E" ...with about 500-600 miles on them

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It sounds to me like a balancing problem even though it is not reacting like the typical way an out of balance wheel will vibrate. First thing I would do is go down to a reputable tire shop and get the balancing on your wheels checked again. If you find out that they are balanced properly then maybe check the wheel mounting surface to make sure it is flush. And I know this sounds stupid but make sure your lugs are fully seated on the wheel when it is mounted on the truck. Sometimes the most inobvious things are the problem and the best thing to do is start with the obvious, like are the wheels balanced properly. You never know.

black04hd · May 14, 2005

Thanks for the advice Jacqson ...I am planning to take it back to a different tire dealer ...second opinion can't hurt ....

As for the flushness...I searched the forums and found a post about the little clip holding the rotors on could be keeping the h2 wheels from sitting flush against the rotors so I am going to have them check that too .

The lug nuts I am using are the ones from my stock wheels . I need to check and see if maybe the lugs for the h2's are different ...Thanks for the advice ....

Let the game begin....I hope I win !!!!

JRKRACE · May 14, 2005

Make sure they balance them well by allowing them to put wheel weights on the outside of the rim. Some tire shops keep the weights on the inside for looks, but these jobs don't balance out well. I happened to me. I made them put weights outside the wheel if needed and they came out perfect.

mmmikkke · May 14, 2005

I'd jack up each corner of the truck and rotate each wheel to check for roundness and trueness.

Each wheel needs to be off the ground for about 20 minutes before you check it, so the "set" of the tire-on-the-ground can dissipate. If there's anything out of round by more than 1/16", try to determine if its the tire or the wheel.

Did you buy the tires/wheels as a set, used? If so, maybe the previous owner had the same problem, and it wore the lugs unevenly because it was so out of true. So you might actually have two problems. The uneven wear would account for the whirring noise. And the out-of-round condition caused the uneven wear.

Jacqson · May 14, 2005

Hey guy's ,
I am looking for help with a vibration problem I am having since I put on the H2's and toyo's ...

I started to notice a vibration in the steering wheel when cruising at speeds between 58-70MPH ... I also feel it on my a$$ and I can also see the vibration in my rear view mirrors ...

Here is the kicker , When I put my stock wheels & tires back on, its gone !!!

It is not a shimmy or a shake like a tire out of balance... Its a "rumbling" type vibration.

Also , after cruising at speed on the freeway and coming to a stop off the exit , As I start to take off I feel a shudder in the drive train for the first 10 feet and then goes away !!!!

Could the slightly larger tire size and wider wheels be the problem ? ....any Ideas would be greatly appreciated ...Thanks , Kevin

P.S. the H2's are 17X8.5 with a 5.5 back spacing and Toyo open country's (syped) size 265x70x 17's load range "E" ...with about 500-600 miles on them

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It sounds to me like a balancing problem even though it is not reacting like the typical way an out of balance wheel will vibrate. First thing I would do is go down to a reputable tire shop and get the balancing on your wheels checked again. If you find out that they are balanced properly then maybe check the wheel mounting surface to make sure it is flush. And I know this sounds stupid but make sure your lugs are fully seated on the wheel when it is mounted on the truck. Sometimes the most inobvious things are the problem and the best thing to do is start with the obvious, like are the wheels balanced properly. You never know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I forgot to mention one more thing. Hummer H2s come with a 14 Bolt SF axle and your HD has a 14 bolt FF axle. Your rear axle has hubs which stick out from the brake rotors where as the 14 bolt SF does not have them. The center hole in the Hummer wheels must be large enough to go over this hub and allow your wheels to seat flush on the rotor. The hub bore diameter on your H2 wheels must be at least 5.155" or they will not seat properly on the rear. Sorry about the oversight.

black04hd · May 15, 2005

Morning ,

OK, So I had the tires checked Saturday and they are balanced (road forced) and seem to be 'true' on the wheels....I have not been able to check for the fit up on the rear hub but I am planning to measure the H2 wheel diameter today . Also , The dealer said the stock lug nuts are ok to use with H2's .

The one thing that keeps bugging me, as I stated in my first post, is the 'shudder'' I feel when I start out after driving at freeway speeds . It feels like rear end posi clutches are trying to lock up and it only does it for the first 10-15 feet .

I thought maybe the tranny was acting up (shuddering at take off) so I tried a couple of things . First, I drove down the freeway and then exited coming to a stop. I then kept my foot on the brake and accelerated lightly . No shudder , but when I let go of the brake and took off there it was ...

Next I drove suface streets (speeds under 40mph) and tried the same thing...And nothing , no shudder . its got me stumped big time ... I am now starting to think the locker might be messed up ...

Well anyway , thanks for all the ideas/suggestions guy's . I'll keep you posted on what I find out on the wheel hub ....Thanks again . Kevin

rascal · May 17, 2005

This a stupid sugestion but sometimes it's simple stuff that gets looked over. double check that they didn't give you an odd tire. like on could be a 265/75 and the rest 265/70?

Could the anti locks and bigger size tires have anything to do with it?

Frank S · May 17, 2005

It could be a wheel that will not line out or it could be a bad tire.

Try having the tire shop remove the wheel that's causing the vibration and also the other wheel on the same side of the vehicle and swap tires between the two. If the problem persists on the same wheel then the wheel is out. If it changes to the other wheel it's the tire.

You'd like to think that a balancing machine would nulify the need for this but sometimes different speeds make the tires/wheels act differently so it may not be picking this up.

black04hd · May 17, 2005

OK, So I checked the hub diameter of the H2 and the stock wheel . They are both the same ...I also checked fit up to the hub on the truck and the H2 fits perfectly ....

So, As Rascal has suggested I am going to check the marked tire size of all 4 and also try to measure to see if they are all the same... And if that all checks out I am going to go back to the shop and have them try the tire wheel swap as Frank s suggests. Again , I will let you know what I find ...If anything

I too , was wondering if maybe the ABS is acting up due to the larger tire size....Maybe some one on this forum might have some info on that ...Anyone ???

99-2door · May 17, 2005

Put 2 of your stock tires on the back and the H2s on the front. Take a short trip down the road and see if the vibration is still there. Try differrent combos to see if you can get rid of the vibration while still having 2 of the H2s on the truck. Just be sure to put the same 2 tires on the front or the back.

black04hd · May 17, 2005

99-2door ,

Good Idea !!! Process of elimination...A little labor intensive but it would help me to pin point the source ....

Also , just to note ....I jacked up the rear tires and put the truck in drive at an idle to watch the rears as they rotated ...They seemed to spin true (no wabble in and out) and looked to be round !!!!

But after a few minutes of the rears turning . The ABS and brake warning light came on and my DIC flashed " check brake system " along with a chime going off ...I guess the computer didn't like the rearwheels turning while the fronts were not ....I drove it down the road a little ways and everything went back to normal ...

I am still thinking ABS and larger tires ???

355ss · May 17, 2005

I had the same intermittent shudder when I installed H2 wheels and tires on my 2500. It ended up being the right front hub had begun to come loose. I just need to remove the dust cap so I could tighten up the large hub retaining nut.