Tire Vibration on Small Truck

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Any tire experts on the forum?

I have a 2007 Ford Ranger (4L, Extra Cab, Automatic) as my run around and exploration vehicle. In December, I put a set of E rated (10 ply) tires on it, replacing the original Goodyears. I went with Toyo Open Country ATs. At speeds below 60 miles per hour, the ride is a smooth as glass. Above that, I pick up a vibration and noise that isn't fun to listen too. I took it into the local Les Schwab dealer where I purchased, and they did a road force evaluation, and rebalanced. Not much difference in ride, so I went back in. One of their senior people took the truck for a ride, and said that yes he felt it, but when he discovered there were 10 plies, he was surprised at how smooth the ride was. His opinion was road shock.

OK, I am a novice when it comes to tires and how they ride. I went with 10 plies to keep from having a rock shoved through the tread or sidewall, like what happened on my F250.

Anyone have an opinion? I'd like to get the noise and vibration (which I feel through the seat) quieted down, but don't want to switch out of the 10 ply tires.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Steve what are the shocks ,front and rear like?
Maybe the tires are just too stiff for the truck.Did you try some weight in the bed?
A heavier truck might ride differently.
Good luck.
Oh I have always liked Les Schwab for their service,but we don't have any near to here.
Frank

 

[Alley-Kat]

My experience with a 2000 Ranger 4.0L, V6, extra cab, xlt, auto trans, 4x4 and larger than stock tires 30x10.5x15 all around...

First replaced all the original stock shocks with Rancho 5000's. Much better ride. A bit stiffer.
Shortly after that I experienced a growling sound from up front and a pretty good vibration above 60 mph.
Found that the front wheel bearings were shot, replaced with stock OEM units, however, eventually replaced those with Timken HD front bearings (cost a bit more, but worth it IMO). No issues after another 80,000 miles.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Frank, Alley-Kat: Thanks! The shocks are original. It was my father's truck that I bought when he quit driving. Pretty low miles at this point. It just turned 50,000, and almost all of that has been pretty gentle. I will look at both load (thinking about a shell (ATC or FWC) for the truck), so that should add some weight, plus I would have to look at some additional suspension with that. Shocks or springs?

Thanks again!

 

[Alley-Kat]

Shocks AND Rear Springs.

I did the SD Truck Spring upgrade to 4/1 for $100 for my 2000 Ranger.
Your 2007 would require a different 4/1 leaf spring pack at about $200.

My 1st owner built ATC Bobcat shell interior made a total camper weight of 875 lbs, so, I didn't think I needed the Deaver springs. Depending how how much you put inside the shell you may like these. If you load-it-up, you'll probably want to do the Deaver Spring pack, like Ski3pin did. I have lightened it up a bit with my 2nd interior, and I'm down to 775 lbs now.

BTW, my first front bearings went out at 50,000 miles.
The front right was because the OEM unit had a faulty, installed at the factory SEAL and it had rusted.
The front left was because of a manufacturing defect in the bearing itself.
The second Ford OEM set lasted about another 60,000 miles.
If this is your issue, get the Timken bearings.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Steve Alley-kat probably has hit on the problem.The larger/stiffer tires may have accentuated a problem with the wheel bearings.
Be worth looking into,surely before they fail.
Frank

 

[iowahiker]

For me, the only time I had your symptoms was for a tire slightly out of round. Try running your hand entirely around each tire since I could feel my out of round spot. The other way is to watch the tires from the front/back while you drive slowly and see if one tire moves side-to-side when the out of round spot hits the ground.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

From what I can tell, the vibration/humming is coming from the back end of the truck. I only slightly feel it in the seat, and absolutely nothing in the wheel. I am going to throw a bunch of fire wood in the truck to see if that affects things...

 

[iowahiker]

Another check for an out-of-round tire would be to take it off and roll it across a smooth surface. My e-rated LT tires roll very true and straight.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

From what I can tell, the vibration/humming is coming from the back end of the truck. I only slightly feel it in the seat, and absolutely nothing in the wheel. I am going to throw a bunch of fire wood in the truck to see if that affects things...

You might check the driveshaft.
The rear universal might be "dry" and the rollers are worn.
I guess you should just keep checking different things.
Frank

 

[ski3pin]

Main question is if this is a change since the new tires? If it is, then the problem, I'd suspect is the tires either out of round or out of balance, or something else tire related.

 

[fish more]

I would get a second opinion on the road force, the balance may be right on, but if a tire has excessive road force this would set up a vibration at higher speeds.

 

[Squatch]

An E rated is a whole lot of tire on a Ranger. That's a 3/4 ton tire. Very stiff. if you are running empty I'll bet you are feeling most every stone in the road.

But I'd still get a 2nd opinion on whether they are round and balanced.

 

[longhorn1]

Had that happen on our new Firestone tires after our trip to Vermont. Took it back into Firestone and they found tires were out of balance. Balanced and all is good. jd

Sent from my SM-G900V using Wander The West mobile app

 

[Ace!]

I'll throw my opinion in, and state it as fact. The issue is the tread design and stiff sidewall, but especially the sidewall stiffness. On a Ford Ranger you could probably use "C" rated tires, depending on the load you carry. If you're running around with nothing in the bed, then you're likely right, that it's coming from the rear of the vehicle. You've got tires rated to carry over 6,000 pounds and probably have less than 2,000 pounds riding on them. Your rear gross axle rating probably isn't half of what your tire rating is. The load on the tires is probably a third of the tire rating, maybe less.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I had to run over to the beach to do a little work over there, so I took the Ranger in for a little service. I had a good talk with the Service Manager, and he confirmed that it was a tire issue, but very likely from the E rated tires on the very light truck.

An interesting aside came up during our conversation. Dave said that many of the local Tillamook loggers and ranchers that have bought F150s recently have changed to a heavier rated tire (E), but then found that they had pretty drastic decreases in mileage (2-3 MPG) due to the increase weight and the power needed to keep that much mass rolling. Some of the people have ditched their E rated tires to go back to lighter layups. I suspect that my mileage is getting whacked as well, but I do want the extra protection afforded by the 10 plies.

 

[iowahiker]

I have not suffered any fuel economy drop because of E rated tires which were stock on my Ford F-150. We get 19-20 mpg empty and 15-16 mpg with the camper all by tank fills with a 5.0L V-8 and empty weight of 5500 pounds and a loaded camper weight of 7500 pounds. This year we had three 1,000 mile runs with the camper at 17 mpg by the tank fills at high altitude and no extra highway driving. F-150 fuel economy drops are more related to tread pattern and over-sized tires and not E rated. Wide open tread patterns with no nearly solid tread races tend to pump a lot of air and create friction/drag while larger tires have more rotating mass. My E rated tires run at a higher air pressure then P rated tires and so have less sidewall flexing. My brother-in-law has stock E rated tires on a Dodge 1/2 ton and the door sticker tire pressure is 35 pounds with a vehicle weight of 5500 pounds (GVWR 7200 pounds) and no vibration empty while your rig with the camper should weigh more than 5500 pounds. His no camper fuel economy goes over 20 mpg since his V-8 has cylinder deactivation.

edit: I looked up the tire weights at "TheTireRack" for P versus LT tires for the same size tires and a LT tire can weigh as little as 2-3 pounds more than a P or as much as 15 pounds more per tire all at the same size but varying tread design. Start increasing the tire size and the weight gain can get large.

 

[Squatch]

WS, The E rated sidewall is stronger. But tires haven't really had 10 ply sidewalls in decades. That goes back to old bias ply tires.

"P" means passenger tire. As in CAR not truck. Yeah I know lot's of SUV's come with them for the ride but you won't find a non LT tire on any of my trucks. "LT" is light truck. Even rated for the same load a P rated tire can get squirrely on the road with a load on the truck. Been there done that. The trick is to buy a tire that suits the load you'll be hauling without going overboard or too light.
D rated is probably much more suited to Mini's and 1/2 tons with campers. But there are limited sizes in that load range.

 

[iowahiker]

I looked for Toyo tire reviews and at "reviews.toyotires.com" there were several reports of Toyo Open Country A/T II having vibration problems. At least two on 1/2 ton trucks and at least one on a 3/4 ton. For comparison the "thetirerack" reviews for BFG KO2 and BFG Rugged Trail AT had no vibration reports though I did not read all 100+ reviews. It is not unusual to have new tire issues since I have returned Pirelli, Goodyear, Continental, and Firestone new tires for cracking or out-of-round.

 

[iowahiker]

I purchased a new set of BFG AT's (not KO2's) and had a bad vibration at high speed on our last trip. Went to a different tire shop and they had the latest technology tire balancing machine which locates the imbalances on the rim and the tire separately and indicates how to mount the tire so the two imbalances cancel and then how to mount the weights. So far so good but we will need a full trip for a complete test.