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XPO | the 45mph shimmy (shake it baby)

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shadowboxer

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alot of the trucks i drive have a shimmy that goes from mild to violent at around 45 mph. this mostly occurs once the front tires have a some wear on them. i don't know it they balance them or not. i suspect that the toe is set incorrectly (to positive). but it is an on going issue. it could just be our pm shop. but for a company so concerned with safety they are pretending this doesn't exsist. comments from elsewhere please
 
Our '05 and '06 models had this for a while, but after repeated write-ups the shop that services our units (we don't have a shop at our place)managed to solve the issue. I don't think the tires are balanced, drives or steers, before they are put on. I have been thru the shop a bunch of times, never seen a tire balance machine in there.
 
i talked to our shop here in dallas. shop says it is not the tires, but a frame issue. they say they have the parts to fix this problem at the next pm, if the truck can make it there. besides the shimmy it acts like a excersise machine. helping me shake the body fat and making me healthier
 
How apathetic is our maintainence head? This has been a problem from day one with many of our '06 tractors. The solution to date has been to first ignore the fact that there IS a problem, then put a Band-Aid on it by putting new steer tires on. It's should be looked into to see how much of our money was wasted over the last two years by continually ruining steer tires by not getting to the root cause of the problem:greedy:. There is no way individual shop managers are making the decision to ignore this problem. It is clearly a decision by Mr. Grima. Just as we had to live with landing gear handles slipping out and spinning free for years, we have to live with a tractor that is clearly losing contact with the pavement as it jumps and wobbles down the road. I personally spoke to Mr. Grima regarding the landing gear handles and he said he knew of the problem and he really appreciated the fact that I was writing them up:BS:. Years after that conversation, the problem was still there. He was obviously putting off fixing it to keep his maintainence numbers looking good to keep his job. Eventually, the equipment would be retired or rehabilitated, so no extra cost would be involved.
OK, all done ranting. Everyone have a great day!:smilie_132:
 
We have two 04's that do the tooth shake boogie along with some 05's too. Our tractors stop shaking when new steer tires are put on,although not completely. I have also noticed that if the lead trailer is heavy in the nose it aggrevates the problem. I noticed this a lot when the trailers you pull home don't cause it to shake as bad. This has been an ongoing problem with several year models. Why can't this be fixed? Why are we still buying these tractors? I have never worked for a company that spends so much time trying to make everyone feel good about everything by telling safety is #1, We care about your family,etc,etc. while doing just the opposite. Go figure.
 
wow does any dody know why goodyear and sterling are fighting to see who payes for this .. well sterling is paying the bill to have all the trucks re shimmed and re bushinged which means they have to run grease lines to the front end ..unless you ***** it wont be fixed .. i was standing in the office as mr walker read his e-mail about this problem , i knew about before he did .. but as we all know oval office covers up alot .. so wiggle at 45 is somrthing that can be fixed if you ***** ,. hammerdown
 
I'm not sure, but am convinced that Goodyear uses a self balancer in the tires we have. This would be like a sandy substance that spreads itself as the tire rolls. Sometimes, at 45 the tire shake is very bad, so usually I'll slow down a bit, and then speed up and it may, or may not go away. Now all this is all dependent on tire wear, the inside surface of the tire, etc. The shaking would be caused by the balancer bridging up, and not spreading as it should. Most tire companies do offer this. It can be in a liquid form also.
 
ok guys calm down we are very aware of the problem. we are in the process of repairing them it is very time consuming to say the least. a minimun of 7 to 8 eight hours of work to replace the steer axle bushings and route all new grease lines to them hope this helps we as mechanics understand that it sucks
 
bradxghshop said:
ok guys calm down we are very aware of the problem. we are in the process of repairing them it is very time consuming to say the least. a minimun of 7 to 8 eight hours of work to replace the steer axle bushings and route all new grease lines to them hope this helps we as mechanics understand that it sucks
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Why are there 04's that still do this?
 
weak suspension in the front end on the 04 and 05's. they beefed up the springs in 06 and 07, as far as i am concerned the problem was addressed. keep on trucking BOYS
 
I think he is right on this. I have a new '08 now, and it doesn't do it at all.....it would seem that Sterling fixed it in the later models.:woot2:
 
shadowboxer said:
alot of the trucks i drive have a shimmy that goes from mild to violent at around 45 mph. this mostly occurs once the front tires have a some wear on them. i don't know it they balance them or not. i suspect that the toe is set incorrectly (to positive). but it is an on going issue. it could just be our pm shop. but for a company so concerned with safety they are pretending this doesn't exsist. comments from elsewhere please
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I have seen this before if it is not the tires it's the brake drums. They can cause a major vibration at 45.
 
bradxghshop said:
ok guys calm down we are very aware of the problem. we are in the process of repairing them it is very time consuming to say the least. a minimun of 7 to 8 eight hours of work to replace the steer axle bushings and route all new grease lines to them hope this helps we as mechanics understand that it sucks
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I've been calm for the last two years while I was lied to about the existence and then the cause of the problem. We're just a little sick and tired of the continuous BS coming down from the top.
 
primadona said:
I've been calm for the last two years while I was lied to about the existence and then the cause of the problem. We're just a little sick and tired of the continuous BS coming down from the top.
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well i believe that what we are doing is working but there is alot of trucks with the problem from 04-06 as far as i know we try to do one a week depending on freight levels and runs. if we would have woken up years ago and got better trucks we wouldnt be having this discussion
 
bradxghshop said:
well i believe that what we are doing is working but there is alot of trucks with the problem from 04-06 as far as i know we try to do one a week depending on freight levels and runs. if we would have woken up years ago and got better trucks we wouldnt be having this discussion
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Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what the shop mechanics are doing. My issue is with your bosses that have sat on their hands for years on this problem and others, including the landing gear handle slippage.
 
so the new 08's dont the shimy yet. give them time. why should they fix the problem. they know con-way will come back to them cause of the price of their junk. bet, grima has his hands held out for the kickbacks.
 
primadona said:
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what the shop mechanics are doing. My issue is with your bosses that have sat on their hands for years on this problem and others, including the landing gear handle slippage.
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as far as the landing gear issue if they slip tag it when you get to a shop location we replace them all the time its a pretty easy job i know ive cracked my self cranking those stupid legs when they slip
 
shadowboxer said:
alot of the trucks i drive have a shimmy that goes from mild to violent at around 45 mph. this mostly occurs once the front tires have a some wear on them. i don't know it they balance them or not. i suspect that the toe is set incorrectly (to positive). but it is an on going issue. it could just be our pm shop. but for a company so concerned with safety they are pretending this doesn't exsist. comments from elsewhere please
Click to expand...


you are sadly mistaken...none of the trucks you have ever driven with conway shake or shimmy...as we have the best shops and mechanics...dont believe me...ask brad from XGH and his sidekick mechanic1...:biglaugh:

sorry mechanic guys i couldnt resist.. hehehe no offense just a friendly joke...
 
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