i'll try to make a long pointless story somewhat short for you guys. heres the back story leading up the the "problem".

I get a flat tire from a rock going into my front left (drivers side) i jack it up by the pinion arm which your supposed to do when replacing the tire. I get to one lug that seemed too big for the ****ty tire iron. i kinda muscled that lug off but it all seemed cool. i got the old tire plugged and i put it back on. when i was putting it back on i noticed that the f'tard of a lugnut was having a hard time going back on (the lugs were still hot because i drove it back home) and it wound up stripping the front part of the lug. i put the other four lug nuts back on. then i notice a little bit of a shimmy when i was driving it would get a little bumpy around 55mph. so i thought it might be the lug nuts were a little lose so i tighten them as best i could and keep on rolling on it.

now at about 43mph it feels like i'm going over cobble stone, and when i break it makes the entire truck shake. but only when i'm in the 40-50mph range. i'm still only running with 4 of the 5 lugs. and i've tightened them as much as possible. i'm wondering of i either lost one of the balancing weights on the rim, if it's because of the stupid lug being off, or if it's something totally different.

ps the truck also needs an alignment but it's not too bad.

any ideas or experience would be much appreciated

 

Well, the first thing is for sure, get the lug back on there as soon as possible, especially with it being on a front tire, you're causing a lot more strain on the rest of your lugs when you go around a corner or curve, you might get a little shimmy from a missing nut, but nothing to major.

Sounds like the tire's not balanced very well. If you plugged it yourself, you need to take it and have it balanced again... It's amazing what that little extra weight of a plug will do to your ride quality..

 

probably a messed up belt in the tire. plugging a tire is not good. even though i have done it many times.

 

a lug being off shouldnt do that, my wife's volvo is missing a lug and its fine, my younger brothers 4runner is missing a lug from each of the wheels and its fine...might need to get that checked out, if its not the tire being off balance there might be a more painful problem

 

possibly a belt...i had a bad belt problem before i got my new tires and it felt like i has doing some hardcore off roading on the pavement! after the new tires everyhings great!

 

I agree, plugging a tire is no good. You should have had it patched. It's either starting to separate from the plug, you slung a weight off, or did not seat the wheel properley when you tightened the lugs (or the lugs are loose). Those are the only things that could cause that issue based on the information provided.