Turning the drums won't balance them. If they ever warped, turning them will make the hole round again, but then they are thicker on one side and they warp again when they get hot.

 

So I got home and got it up on stands and took the rear wheels off to have a good look at the leaf springs. Got my wife to help me take pictures. The following are pictures of them. I had her center the tape measure on the bolts that hold the springs. They are clearly longer on the rear half of the spring by 4 inches. The longer portion of the spring is towards the rear of the truck. I don't know which way they are supposed to go. One of the pictures shows the side view of the springs and it just looks strange. I think if I take them and flip them around, i think it'll be correct then. You can see the whole block and spring is tilting forward (yes I know it's on stands and leaning forward to begin with). Am I just wet? Does anybody think this is odd looking? Anybody know for sure which side of the spring is supposed to front or back? The axle itself is centered where it should be, but I think flipping the springs will rotate things back to where they should be.

 

Doesn't look out of whack. How's the new Redhead?

 

Haven't gotten the chance to install it yet. Tomorrow I'm hoping.

 

If the axle is fairly well centered in the wheel wells, the springs are installed properly. Moving the axle four inches will be a MAJOR difference, and will likely offset it enough, that you won't even be able to put the tires back on, without hitting something.

 

Well this weekend I had the drums turned. The shop that did it for me said they were way out of wack. He said he barely got them true again. Still having it on jack stands, I put the drums back on, fired it up and sped it up to 60 mph. The shake feels about 99% gone! At least it's gone when the rear tires are turning, we'll see about the front end but I feel confident that those were my issue now. Didn't get to take it out on the road yet because I wanted to start on getting the redhead installed.

Got the redhead in and new power steering hose lines hooked up, but noticed when bleeding it that there was a crack in the brand new pressure side hardline on one of the hoses. So I could not finish it. I will have to get another new pressure hose and finish it tomorrow night.

 

Good news!

 

So I got the redhead box finished tonight and man what a difference! The steering is so responsive now and feels smoother than the stock box. Definitely worth the upgrade.

On another note, the shake is back. I'm wondering if I've got a bent wheel. It's definitely better though since the drums were turned, but it's still present. It was smooth on jack stands until I put the wheels back on. Maybe get the new tires balanced again?

 

You need to take them somewhere that can roadforce balance them. I'm not saying it's fundamentally better, but most of the time checking wheel run out is part of that process.

 

Getting closer!