2003 Access Cab 2wd Revived from sitting since 2019 Build Thread

Got a quick question that I need to start looking into. The rear bearing issue on the driver's side hasn't gotten any worse, just the cyclical metal on metal noise that speeds up as you accelerate. But last night I was following my daughter home after her dentist appointment and I noticed a slight wobble left to right of that tire. I have driven it and ridden in the truck and I don't feel anything out of the ordinary. No vibration or shimmy at all. Can a wheel bearing on the rear axle cause it to wobble like that? I check all of the lug nuts and they are all tight. Looked over the tires and they don't seem to have a belt slip or anything to them. And all of these issues usually come with something that you can feel while driving it.

I was planning on swapping in one of the axle shafts out of the axle I swapped out as long as there is no difference in shafts between LSD and non-LSD shafts to fix the wheel bearing anyway. Could it be that the donor axle's shaft could be bent? Again, wouldn't this be felt? I searched for tire wobble but all of them that i found had serious vibrations at certain speeds.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/DPbi6XgjjCU?si=yZSWMuwbYo9jECWR

Here is a quick video of the wobble I saw. And yes, I was very careful while taking it. We just left from a complete stop at a stoplight. Not going to risk rear-ending my own truck.

 

Either improper lug torque, or more likely a bent rear axle. That's just my wild ass guess. I'd expect to feel an associated wobble or shimmy with that much movement. Most likely in the seat, not the steering wheel.

 

I’d find a flat surface to park the truck on and investigate the wobble further before you buy anything.

-chock the front tires.
-jack up the rear end and put jack stands under the rear axle housing.
-put the truck into drive and see if you can see if it the tire or the wheel that’s wobbly.
-rotate the left side tire/wheel with the right side and see if it’s still wobbly.

LSD axle shafts are exactly the same as the non LSD axle shafts.

 

I am hoping it is not the last one but with my luck, it probably is. I have a dial indicator setup from my machining classes I needed for my degree. So I will see about getting it up in the air with the wheel off an check the drum surface for runout.

 

Thank you for verifying the axle shafts are interchangeable. The take offs are in an earlier post in this thread.

I did pull up along side here and it appears the rim is moving with the tire as well. I will verify it up in the air. Passenger side looks straight as can be. They were a used set of tires on the rims when I bought the set to be able to move the truck around so I do not know their history. Just trying to get as many things to look at before I can jack it up in the air later tonight hopefully.

 

One quick stupid check: It's totally possible the wheel is bent, also. Swapping left to right in rear may offer another 5min sanity check.

 

If wheel checks out then might pull drum to be sure it is flat against hub. If axle bent you would expect to get some runout at the hub

 

I was going to try putting the spare tire on that side as it is a brand new, never used off of an FJ as a sanity check as well. Unless she hit something yesterday, I don't think it is bent rim. But you never know. She did run over the curb at Walmart on Saturday, but that was on the passenger side. I saw it coming as soon as she started to turn the wheel and told her.

 

i have a bent starfish rim on my truck. Dunno where it came from, but it’s there.

 

I got rid of mine because I had to use a sledgehammer to knock the rims off of the hubs changing to the current rims and tires. Pretty sure I bent one of those for sure.

 

So I put the spare on it while it was up in the air and it is still wobbling. I checked the drum and it feels like it is all the way in. There is a little play in and out but then it stops coming off.



https://youtube.com/shorts/IYQlwcH3DS0?si=Od-uKyMPSINlo-mj

Here is my phone held against the fender while I rotate the tire. You can see against the scuff marks on the concrete that it is wobbling.

 

When I look at my e-brake mount on the back of that side. It looks like it is bent up a bit. Could this be causing some issues with it?

 

Pull the drum to see.

 

Going to call the yard I got it from today as they gave me a 30 day warranty. I'll try and get one of my shafts installed here shortly. Maybe I can get some of my money back that I paid for it to cover repairs.

 

I know I'm late to the party, but I would think that if you can see the tire moving that much, you should also be able to see the drum move that much against the backing plate with the tire off. If you haven't pulled the drum, do so and look at that first. It also looks like the backing plate in bent at the bottom on that back side pic.

 

Honestly, you could probably pretty easily work up a jig to measure runout against the axle. If the axle shows no runout, you know it's fine.

Pop the wheel off, pop the drum off, measure runout on the axle, answer is right there.

 

I just did this with my truck. Pull the wheel off and push/pull on the studs, not the drum. I had in/out movement on mine which I believe is indicating that the axle shaft is moving meaning the bearing is going out, or another issue with the axle shaft.

 

I did rotate the drum with the tire off and could barely see the wobble in it. Much smaller diameter to observe the movement but still visible. I am working out a timeframe of getting this fixed soon.

I was going to use the indicator setup I have for lathes but after checking the above, I decided that between what I observed and losing daylight, that I would just swap one of the axle shafts that I pulled out of the rusted one with this one.