howie Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 The vans in daily use Brian so that should not be a problem. All these references to the cv joints has got me worried though, and these will be a priority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingpete Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Might be water condensed from using poorly maintained airlines, extracting the sulphur content of the rubber compound to form suplhuric acid, which has attacked the interior of the tubes, and tyres, and corroded the wheels, thus leading to imperfect balancing. (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Wingpete - 2007-03-16 2:24 PM Might be water condensed from using poorly maintained airlines, extracting the sulphur content of the rubber compound to form suplhuric acid, which has attacked the interior of the tubes, and tyres, and corroded the wheels, thus leading to imperfect balancing. (?) I thought if you used a poorly maintained airline, your plane crashed. Having you wheels go wobbly seems quite a mild outcome by comparison! There's hope, yet, Howard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 Hope springs eternal, but I doubt its anything to do with airlines as I never check the tyre pressures anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Howie, one way of testing if your CV Joints are shot it to go somehere you can do a complete turn on both locks. If they are worn you will hear a loud clicking/knocking from the joints. Don't go too slowly, as you want to put some pressure on them. If they are worn you must replace both of them. I don't know what mileage your van has done but these joints should last well in excess of 100,000 miles easilly. A cheap way of finding out if you have any safety issues is to have it MOT'ed, plus you get 12month ticket into the bargain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 Hi Peter. I,ll try your suggestion re. cv joints tomorrow and having it mot,d makes sense as well which is due in August. The mileage is only 26k, so I still think the problem is down to defective rims or tyres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 You may be right re tyres/rims as there is no way that CV joints would go at 26K miles. Or any of the other drivetrain parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dethleff Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 No one seems to have mentioned wheel bearings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest starspirit Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 You may be right re tyres/rims as there is no way that CV joints would go at 26K miles. Or any of the other drivetrain parts. Oh yes they can Peter - lack of use to move the grease around can be more damaging than regular use or there could be a hole in the dust covers or a manufacturing defect - it is after all basically just a Fiat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted March 17, 2007 Author Share Posted March 17, 2007 Tried both the cv joints on full lock and no problem. Stan. Thank you for your suggestion re. wheel bearings. Anything for depression while your at it. :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Howie, have you got traction control on your Motorhome and if so does the control light come on ever? It is also not clear (maybe I should read all the posts again) if you only get the vibration when applying lots of power, e.g up hill. or also get vibration when just cruising or no power conditions. If the tyres I would suspect you would get vibration all the time. However, if you have traction control you could be having tyre grip problems and the traction control is giving rise to the vibration effect when it kicks in. Either way, do make sure tyre pressures ar correct which I would think on the front would be some figure well below 60 psi max. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chapman Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Hello Howie, Expanding Brambles point about traction control does the problem occur only when fully laden or all the time? The Ducato/Boxer should have at least 42% of the weight on the front axle or the traction problems you describe can happen especially climbing steep gradients when weight is transferred to the rear. There have been several postings about this on this and other forums. In some of these cases changing the front/rear weight balance cured the problem. May not be the solution to your problem but worth a look before you go to any great expense. Regards, Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest starspirit Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Over inflated tyres can make the wobble more wobbly too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted March 17, 2007 Author Share Posted March 17, 2007 No traction control Jon and the problem only occurs when applying power between 35-40 mph and only uphill. Nothing carried out of season Mike so no loading problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest starspirit Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 If it only happens uphill under load it suggests that parts which are stressed by the angle and force of the load might be the cause? And yet it has been reduced by changing the wheels round? You are indeed an oddity Howie. That might rule out any brake parts, leaving the drive shafts including CV joints and suspension bushes as possible main suspects? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Hi again Howie. If your tyre pressures are too high and you have wheel slip that can produce a wobble effect like you have discribed, but would also produce a feeling of the vehicle pulling to one side. The other thing is wheel bounce caused by either a faulty tyre or a shock absorber not working properly. Unfortuately it is very hard to check the shock absorbers as van is so bloomin heavy to do a bounce test. One way is after a reasonable length drive to feel the temperature of the shocks, they should both be slightly warm. If one feels cooler than the other then it is not working right. Just another idea as most others seem to have been covered. Is there any abnormal wear on the tyres? The sipes on the tyre have different depths making uneven wear easily spotted. Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingpete Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Wonder if the engine bearers are worn or torn. Doing the vibing under uphill loads could be making engine work harder and show up mountings wear, allow engine to rock under bonnet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Howie.........Just get it M.O.T'd. Theres a lot of misleading stuff going on here. If any of the above horrors are to be believed the M.O.T will find them, i.e wheel bearings Et al. Although none of them would fail after so low a mileage in my opinion. The symptoms you describe are classic out of balance wheels/tyres problem. Have a word with a tyre fitter or mechanic who knows what he is on about and they will no doubt confirm this. Or if the tyres are scrubbing (tracking out of alignment) this can also sometimes have the same effect. Have a look at your tyres and see if the have feathering to the edges of the treads. If so = tracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted March 18, 2007 Author Share Posted March 18, 2007 I would,nt say misleading Peter, but I do feel its getting a touch over complicated to what should be a fairly easily rectified problem. We are talking about a simple vibration/wobble on the steering after all. Saying that I do appreciate all the replies and suggestions, and if nothing else I now have a far better understanding on any possible causes re. this problem and this makes it easier to follow a process of elimination. The vans going in to my local A.T.S. tomorrow where every rim and tyre will be fully tested, and I still believe this is where the problem lies. Failing this I will follow your suggestion and put the van through a new MOT and ask that special attention be paid to suggested causes already mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjphillips Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Having just retrieved my pooter from storage after full timing between selling & buying another property I was baffled by Howie's steering problem. What was the problem cos I cant find any reference to it when backtracking??? (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 bjphillips - 2007-03-18 7:57 PM Having just retrieved my pooter from storage after full timing between selling & buying another property I was baffled by Howie's steering problem. What was the problem cos I cant find any reference to it when backtracking??? (?)Here you go BJ...........Hi. Not a vibration but a proper wobble coming through the steering at about 35-40mph especially going uphill. Its on a 2003 lwb van conversion (26k) and getting progressively worse. Tracking and balancing ok and looking for advice on where to go from here. I,m sure there was a thread some time ago covering this subject but I can,t find it, so i,m not sure if the problem was resolved or not. Any ideas.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjphillips Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Just a possibility as I cant see any one having suggested it yet,the wheels may be perfectly balanced but has the tyre been checked for being on the wheel true ? you know what I mean around the tyre is a line both sides which should be parallel to the rim of the wheel when its inflated.Sometimes when the fitter fits a new one he swishes the lubricant brush around the rim but dont quite go the full circle & that small section doesnt push out properly to the rim when its inflated so it'll stay like that & produce a wiggly woggly jigjog about that speed but its not so noticeable as you speed up. Just a thought !!! Worth checking them all cos that wont cost anything. *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted March 19, 2007 Author Share Posted March 19, 2007 Wiggly woggly jigjog BJ !. Do you mind if we keep things in simple laymans terms and less of the technical jargon please. Had all four rims and tyres checked over at ATS this morning and nothing amiss there. The rear wheels I put on the front did need slight rebalancing and though i,m still not 100% happy i,ve decided to let things go as they are. All other components which may have been a possible cause were also checked after I had explained the problem and given the all clear. Only charged for the balancing which was decent of them, and unless things get worse its done with. At least i,ve got some piece of mind, and once again thanks for your help and advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest starspirit Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Good to know that all is well and that you remain in the slightly unbalanced club Howie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted March 19, 2007 Author Share Posted March 19, 2007 Vans done Richard and time to see if my own crosscircumferentation needs a bit of fine tuning maybe. :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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