Blazer issues

[sstanton]

Todd, I do have a thumping noise from the left front and it seems to thump more when I take a right hand turn, I think because of the front end wanting to push that way. I hadnt thought of checking the cv joints but will do so. I dont off road with it (wife would kill me) so I think broken belts from our less than stellar NY roads could be a great cause. I will force my wife to turn the steering wheel to check the pitman and idler arms out! Ball joints are good I checked and rechecked them. I think some C-4 or dynamite would fix everything wrong with that thing!!!!

 

[dfrisk]

SCOTT - Don't give up on the Blazer, Could be worse, Could be a DURANGO!

 

[klejeune]

Dodge 1/2 ton is IFS as is Ford and GM. You can get a Dodge 1/2 ton with solid front axle, but you have to buy a MegaCab version.
GM has no truck with SFA, 1/2, 3/4 or 1 ton.
Ford SuperDuty is SFA.
Jeep Wrangler is the only light duty vehicle that has solid axles front and rear... to my knowledge.

 

[sstanton]

I checked the tires out I think I have to take it to a shop to have the alignment checked. I looked at the tires and they look like a rip saw! I'm running Cooper ST's on it and they shouldnt be as worn as they are, they are only just under a year old. That might be the cause for some of the thumping noise!

 

[theaton]

Ahh, chopped tires! They can mimick the sound of bad wheel bearing(s). What do your rear tires look like? Have ya tried rotating front to back, if the rear tires are decent? Having the alignment checked is a good idea, but if you have bad tires... The shop will most likely want to sell you tires before even checking the alignment. Do you regularly rotate the blazer's tires? Even with an alignment in spec, tires can get chopped/feathered without rotation.

My shop sells Cooper tires and I am not a fan of them. Our base tire line is Cooper Trendsetters. They seem to wear out quick.

 

[sstanton]

Todd, I am at fault, I do not rotate the tires. I know I should and keep procrastinating it. I had thought about that today on my way home from work and figured I would take a break from the cubs and rotate my tires! I have tomorrow off so I will do them then! Then I will go to a good shop and have the alignment checked. I thought those Coopers were a bit soft when I got them but was in a bind for some tires that had some tread, and I got a decent deal on them. Although I ran Kumho's on the S-10 I had and they wore very well.

 

[theaton]

Scott, you are not alone on the non-rotation practice. Lets see the last time I rotated the tires on my Yota was

. I have about 30,000 miles on my Goodyear AT's over about 4 years and they are wearing nicely. I think they have been rotated maybe 3 times. Most manufactures recommend "every other oil change" for rotations. I believe with a good alignment and quality tire you can go longer between rotations IMPO.....

My shop/work does a large number of state inspections and find vehicles needing only 1 or 2 tires for inspection. Other than for inspection purposes, we don't sell alot of tires. The Cooper line we carry seems to be in the price range for folks who need tires to pass inspection. Most of our regular customers prefer to have us order diff brand name tires for their vehicles.

Let us know if the noise changes at all after the rotation

 

[dfrisk]

TODD - I'm guilty of ignoring Mfg's tire rotation recommendations also. Depending on the vehicle & how the tires are wearing I may rotate tires around 40,000 to 50,000 miles (like on My F-250 4X4) The rear tires wear faster than the fronts. I replaced the factory Firestone Steeltex AT's @ 95,000 miles with one rotation, the Firestone Wilderness AT's @ 127,000 also one rotation, and the Bridgestone Dueler AT's have about 80,000 with only one rotation. The Wilderness AT's could have run longer but one of them started vibrating and they only had about 1/4" tread depth and winter was coming. Time for new shoes!

On My '06 Volvo S40 I didn't rotate the cheap Michelin OEM tires at all, just replaced them at about 80,000 miles. And I have a "Six tire" rotation going on it, It's just frt wheel drive and I run Winter tires on the frt in winter.

I check the tires on everything every oil change, and watch air pressure closely, etc. But only rotate to correct wear imbalances. And maybe it's "Old Fashioned" but I always rotate tires front-to-back, NEVER side-to-side.

 

[klejeune]

On an IFS rig I found it best to rotate the front tires crosswise to the back and roll the back tires forward. Helped my mud tires last longer on our lifted Jeep Liberty. It was lifted a little over 2-1/2" in the front and 3" in the back and running 32" BFG M/T's.

I'm trying my best to stay away from another 4wheel drive IFS truck. We have a 2004 Grand Cherokee that was the last year for solid axles in the Grands and I drive a 2003 Dodge 2500 4x4. The only thing I don't care for is the unit bearings are non-serviceable and no lock outs. I know the Fords can still be ordered with lockout hubs. I can get lockout hubs for my Dodge for around $2k... I don't need them that bad.

 

[dfrisk]

KEITH - Actually, unless You're silly enough to order the "Shift-on-the-Fly" transfer case Ford Super-Duties come standard with frt axle lock-outs.
My '96 is My third Ford 4X4, I had a '78 and an '87 F-150, both with 300-6 & NP-435 4-speeds. The '78 had the great NP-205 T-case & 9" rear axle/Dana 44 frt, and the '87 had a Borg-Warner t-case, can't remember the number, 8.8" rear & Dana 44 Twin-traction beam frt axle. If You run with the front hubs locked in You can shift from 2-Hi to 4-Hi and back at speed. As soon as I walk out to the shop to leave with My truck I can tell if I need to lock the hubs in or not. For the added expense in up-front costs and maintenance & repair costs I never have seen an advantage to auto-locking or electronic locking frt hubs comnpared to manual lock-outs.

Another comment on My '96, as a F-250 it has the leaf spring twin-traction beam frt end also. I had the ball joints and U-joints replaced in it at 150,000 miles. It now has over 297,000 miles on it with NO other work done to the frt end. The set of tires I got 127,000 on had the first 55,000 miles put on them with the factory OEM frt axle parts & alignment, the last 72,000 with the new MOOG ball joints. Most Guys with F-250 4X4's over at TDS pay BIG money to convert to a Dana 60 frt axle off an F-350. I guess they must abuse their trucks or something.

 

[sstanton]

I did rotate the the tires and crossed the front ones to the opposite side in the rear today, what a difference. It seems as though that was the problem all along. I guess I should have listened to my buddy down the street who works in a car shop all those months ago! I'm feeling kinda dense! I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped me out though! I still think the dynamite or C-4 is a good idea! I noticed all the noise is gone and no more vibrating going down the road at any speed. I will still have the alignment done though just to make sure.

 

[aschumacher]

And so ends another day at the playground on, As The Tire Turns.

 

[aaytay]

LOL!

 

[proessler]

Way to go Scott...

 

[theaton]

Scott S.,

Dennis/Keith, I never rotate tires side to side for rotations. The only time I have seen tires rotated side to side is after an alignment is done. I don't do alignments, but the rack is one bay over from my two bays. Rotating side to side, (from what I am told, corrects a radial pull). On a rear wheel(2wd)vehicle, I bring the rear tires forward and cross the front tires to the back. Just the reverse for a FWD. On 4WD vehicles, I make a point to personally ask the customer how they would like their tires rotated. I have had to re-rotate to many tires, because the customer had wanted them rotated a "certain" way. That leads into another topic(words with the boss).

 

[blanasa]

Poor tire wear is caused by poor alignment/ front end component failure (spindle bearings, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc) Possibly, unbalanced tires will cause tire wear. Just rotating the tires will only give you a temporary fix.
I rotate tires on my personal vehicles with every oil change (5000 miles). On vehicles that I service at work, I rotate according to tread wear since some vehicles are serviced according to calendar instead of mileage. If I see tire wear I check alignment and components and correct as needed. (Always align after component replacement).
The only time that I have seen rear tires wear more than front is from overloading, improper inflation or heavy accelerator foot syndrome.

 

[theaton]

Brian L., I agree that poor alignmant, worn front end parts(tie rods, ball joints, idler arms, pitman arms, drag links, etc) will cause front tire wear. The first thing my work does, when an alignment comes in is a road test. It is hard for the customer to swallow after spending $$$ on replacing worn front end parts/tires/alignment and after the road test(post repair) you hear a roaring wheel/spindle bearing.

On the tire rotation interval... to each his own(not a dig at you or anybody). 5000 mile oil change interval... see tire rotation interval. That is worthy of a thread of its own...

The tire rotation I suggested to Scott S was to determine if the noise he had was in the front tires or front end components. YES, a temporary fix.