Hello all,
This may get kinda long but I would like to put as much info out as possible to see if anyone can help me.

2000 Dodge ram 1500 SLT 2wd 64,000 miles
Kumho Road venturer AT 285/75 r16 (new tires)
3" body lift (not sure if this is important)
Rancho rs5000 shocks (new installed with tires)

OK, this truck was in storage from Oct 2006-Oct 2009 ( i was over seas)
The truck is running fine after beign in storage no leaks, cleaned TB and did overall tune up. When I put the truck in storage i had Dunlop Mud Rover 305/70 r16 (about 3,000 miles driven on these tires) after picking it up it had a terrible bounce at 40+ miles an hour.Took it in to get balance and aligned, I believe they rotated my front tires to the rear because the bouncing feeling was no longer in the steering wheel and "felt" like it was coming from the rear end.

I assumed the tires where bad, and to save a little on gas I put the Kumho ATs on. Now I still have a bouncing feeling (still seems to originate in the rear) like a tire is out of balance (45+mph feels smoother when driveing faster but still there). Is there possibly something more seriously wrong than a balancing here or should I just keep going back to where the tires were put on and demand that the balance is off?

If there is more info I can give to help diagnose this I am ready to provide it.

Thanx in advance,
Nick

 

I would say the lift is what is doing it somehow.. or else at 45 mph somethign really changes with aerodynamics on the vehicle.. meaning something is catchign wind A LOT. do you have something that might do that?

 

Thanks for the reply cwebbatya,

I had the lift on prior to storage and did not have any issues,, the truck didn't ride like a caddy but it sure didnt have this off balance tire feeling. But I'm not ruling it out, although with just having bought new tires, taking it off and having to get new tires makes me sad.

 

My truck does the same thing but it's my tires. A bad alignment causes cupping (flat spots) in my tires and now, after the alignment, the truck still bounces.

Check your tires, tire pressure, shocks, springs, and get an alignment.

 

well the pressures are good and just had an alignment when thee new tires where put on and new shocks. I guess in the morning I'll have them try to balance them again and see if there is an improvement. I need to drive it to NC in a week so hopefully I can figure this out.

 

A shock could have failed on you, you might have a bent rim, could be chance that the last few times you've had it balanced that either the machine is off or the person doing it doesn't know what they are doing. Is it an up and down bounce, or more like a vibration? A lot of AT tires are prone to shuddering around 35-45 MPH but only on a small almost unrecognizable scale.

 

Did the truck sit that entire time? If so, sounds like you flat spotted a tire. The rubber will stiffen over time when not rolled causing a hard spot where it bulges from contact with the floor. It might be hard to spot physically, but the tire kn ows it's there. This is a common problem with RVs that sit for long periods of time. Not much you can do besides replace the tires.

 

there are other possibilities like an out of balance drive shaft or something.....but mine did the same thing until i just got my tires balanced since the po never had it done....your old tires likely had bad flat spots from sitting for so long....its bad to even leave them sit one winter without moving let alone three years.....your new tires shouldnt be doing the same thing though...

 

army? navy? air force?

i was in grmany for 2 years and my truck sat in storage the whole time. the same thing happened to my truck. mine came out to be the brakes. the calipers were sticking...the faster i went the better it got. i replaced the calipers, wheel cylinders and softlines along with pads and shoes...no problem since.

good luck

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I'll be taking it back in to have them balanced again hopefully that will fix it. If not I'm going to have to check the brakes out as well as the drive-shaft.

Miami_Son: Augiedoggy:
They moved the truck around but I have put new tires and shocks on a since it came out of storage.

AlabamaRam95:
Army, spent 3 years in Japan. She runs nice and smooth right up to around 45 mph which leads me to believe that the brakes should be ok, I would assume I would feel that at any speed. But I'll take a look at them too I wont rule anything out

Thank you everyone for all the advice, I'll post back with an update in a day or two
Nick