Torsion bar crankin........

1BADHD · January 21, 2002

I cranked my torsion bars up about a month ago. I had an alighnment done. I just noticed that 70-80 mph I have a slight vibration in my steering wheel. But it is not all the time, comes and goes. Does anybody else have this? Just curious.

DigUout · January 21, 2002

Hadn't heard that one, especially after an alignment. I'm not sure how cranking the Tbars would affect the steering at high speeds, and not all speeds. Different problem altogether maybe?

Shaners · January 22, 2002

I had a slight vibration in the steering wheel of my wifes van (I'd like to call it more like a buzzzz feeling).

Turned out that the rear tires were out of balance!!!

Stepside Z · January 22, 2002

I adjusted the torsion bars on mine and have had no problems.

Jpshostr · January 22, 2002

Since you had an alignment done on your truck, I'd tend to think this vibration is not caused by the cranked torsion bars unless you have done some rough driving that may have knocked something out of whack. At the speeds you are talking about I am thinking it is very possible that one of your tires is slightly unbalanced. Since these truck tires are so much larger than those of a car it doesn't take much to get it unbalanced.

gandolphxx · January 23, 2002

I am with JP oon this one - balancing these large tires is not easy - find a good shop and have em checked.

1BADHD · January 23, 2002

OK, let me ask you this. When I cronked my bars I went ahead and rotated my tires myself, since it was time too. Could just moving the tires from one wheel to another knock them out of balance?

95Yukon · January 23, 2002

It wouldn't effect the balance of any of the tires, but it's possible that one of the rears may have been slightly out of balance (out in the back you usually don't feel it as much) and now that it's on the front, you can notice it in the steering wheel.

I would get the fronts checked for balance (or all 4) and ask them to look for any lateral runout or out of round while they have them on the balancer just to save you a repeat visit. If a belt shifted or they are not perfectly round, they could zero them out on the balancer, but you will still feel a vibration if that is the case.

1BADHD · January 24, 2002

I am putting some Centerline Cobras and 285's on this weekend. If it doesnt go away then it sis something besides the tires or wheels.

blacksierrac3 · March 6, 2002

No problems with my T-bars being cranked!

I hope you get it resolved, I know how much of a pain those little vibrations are. had it bad in my c3

Moonlight · March 26, 2002

I just had a set of BF KO's put on and raise the front exactly 1" afterwards just to bring it up a little ... in driving the truck today I think I have a vibration (feels like the whole truck vice an isolated vibration). I read where a person shouldn't have to be concerned with an alignment if you only go an inch ... but now I'm wondering ... have an appointment tomorrow to have the alignment checked ... haven't ruled out a tire balance problem however. If the alignment doesn't help I'll have the tires rebalanced. The shop used a Hunter GSP9700 to do the balance.

CMNTMXR81 · March 26, 2002

Then again, it may not be a balance issue.

How did you rotate them? Did you move the drivers side rear to the passenger side front? If so, when that particular tire was on the drivers rear, it rotated one way therfore developing a wear pattern. Putting it on the passenger front now has it rotating the other direction, essentially reverse of what it had been spinning AGAINST it's wore in wear pattern, therefore possibly causing more resonance inside the vehicle.

Same thing if you moved the passenger rear to the drivers front.

Same thing if you moved the driver/passenger rears to the driver/passenger fronts. The front suspension with it's particular alignment setup, will also possibly roll a tire slightly out of the groove or wear pattern that it developed being on the perfectly straight rear axle therefore possibly causing more interior resonance noise.

I highly doubt it's a tire out of alignment otherwise you'd have noted this vibration sooner as it would've been there regardless of where the tire was at previously.

Keep in mind, we generally have more heavy duty tires on our trucks due to additional plys, harder tread compounds and larger tread lugs. So any change of wear pattern will create the resonance or vibration that is much more noticable than on the family sedan.