Summit Cruisers Jr
Well-known member
Backstory: My 1992 cruiser was pretty smooth on my first set of Kenda Klevers MTs that were installed around 360k miles, but when they warrantied that set last at 374k miles March the ride quality deteriorated. We had a set put on and then headed out for Moab a day later, and it was shaking worse than it ever had. Since then, the shake/vibration has gotten worse and I always just assumed it was mostly the tires.
My dad and I did a bunch of trouble shooting trying to get to the bottom of the vibrations. Last weekend after returning from Colorado/Utah, we watched the truck from another vehicle on the highway and looked for a potentially bad tire/wheel combo.
Noticeably worse than the rest, the passenger rear tire was really vibrating. The passenger front tire was smooth so we started by swapping the tires. No luck
Next we checked all the pressures. All good there.
We swapped the rear shocks side to side hoping that maybe one of them was not providing enough dampening. Not much luck there.
Deflated the residual air pressure in my rear air bags. Helped just slightly.
Checked the wheel bearings. All good there.
Then we drooped the rear axle with the tires off the ground and put a prybar between the lower RCA mount on the frame and the arm. Sure enough it had some play that would wiggle the rear axle.
With new OEM bushings for the 4 control arms, panhard bar, and sway bar on the way, we also decided to get new rear shocks just to further eliminate any doubts.
Taking off the arms took less than an hour and was the easiest part. We wrapped a ratchet strap around the rear axle to keep it from slightly moving while everything was off and the truck was up in the air.
Pressing out the old bushings probably took about an hour. Luckily I picked up the 8 piece metric 3/4" drive socket set from harbor freight that had sockets that were nearly perfect for pressing them out and back in.
A lot of the bushings had deep cracking evident, and while some looked better than others, I'm glad we changed them all out. The panhard bar seemed to have the best surviving bushings.
Once they were all pressed in, I decided to clean them up a little bit. 400k miles of grime came off with some brake cleaner and a lot of scrubbing. I'm amazed that the factory finish was still there and shining after all this time.
After putting them back in and installing the new OME Sport Series L Shocks in the rear, the ride has really tightened up and the vibration has probably been reduced by 60-70%. Along with less vibration, the on road stability has drastically improved. The front of the vehicle still floats and dives like a boat while cornering so a matching set of OMEs for the front are on the way. The Ironman Foam Cell shocks were great at stock to slightly heavier than stock weight, but definitely not up to the task nowadays.
Whenever I get around to it, I'll likely go with a fresh set of BFG KO2s. That will hopefully take care of the remaining vibrations, but for now it's much improved.
While at home I also pulled out the rear carpet after some fuel injection cleaner fell over and spilled out while we were in Moab. Since the carpet was out I decided to pull the rear panels off and replace the broken poppers. I also added a little more sound deadener to the passenger side quarter panel. I also had a small Pyle Subwoofer sitting in the garage so I put that in and plugged it into the amp. The cargo storage cubby in the passenger panel had also started breaking the plastic rivets and flopping around so that had to be fixed as well. Some plastic welder sealed that back up nicely. In addition to that, I also zip tied a couple random unused plugs that were flopping around and rattling in the quarter panel. While the plastic welder was drying I turned my attention to the couple of millimeters of lateral play that had developed in my steering wheel.
I didn't think the old control arm bushings would have ever served another purpose, but they did a good job holding this cubby down.
I tried tightening up the mounting bolts, but that didn't help. I then put a small pick in the space to the side of it and it stopped the wiggles. With a small hole on each of the mount, a short self tapping screw made easy work of fixing the play.
While the back of the car was open we also put in some new reverse lights. I didn't really have any complaints about them, but he had gotten a pair for my brother and wanted me to have some. Instead of just being a corn cob of lights, this one actually had an optic lens on the back. They are way brighter than I could have imagined and I'm glad to have them now.
My dad and I did a bunch of trouble shooting trying to get to the bottom of the vibrations. Last weekend after returning from Colorado/Utah, we watched the truck from another vehicle on the highway and looked for a potentially bad tire/wheel combo.
Noticeably worse than the rest, the passenger rear tire was really vibrating. The passenger front tire was smooth so we started by swapping the tires. No luck
Next we checked all the pressures. All good there.
We swapped the rear shocks side to side hoping that maybe one of them was not providing enough dampening. Not much luck there.
Deflated the residual air pressure in my rear air bags. Helped just slightly.
Checked the wheel bearings. All good there.
Then we drooped the rear axle with the tires off the ground and put a prybar between the lower RCA mount on the frame and the arm. Sure enough it had some play that would wiggle the rear axle.
With new OEM bushings for the 4 control arms, panhard bar, and sway bar on the way, we also decided to get new rear shocks just to further eliminate any doubts.
Taking off the arms took less than an hour and was the easiest part. We wrapped a ratchet strap around the rear axle to keep it from slightly moving while everything was off and the truck was up in the air.
Pressing out the old bushings probably took about an hour. Luckily I picked up the 8 piece metric 3/4" drive socket set from harbor freight that had sockets that were nearly perfect for pressing them out and back in.
A lot of the bushings had deep cracking evident, and while some looked better than others, I'm glad we changed them all out. The panhard bar seemed to have the best surviving bushings.
Once they were all pressed in, I decided to clean them up a little bit. 400k miles of grime came off with some brake cleaner and a lot of scrubbing. I'm amazed that the factory finish was still there and shining after all this time.
After putting them back in and installing the new OME Sport Series L Shocks in the rear, the ride has really tightened up and the vibration has probably been reduced by 60-70%. Along with less vibration, the on road stability has drastically improved. The front of the vehicle still floats and dives like a boat while cornering so a matching set of OMEs for the front are on the way. The Ironman Foam Cell shocks were great at stock to slightly heavier than stock weight, but definitely not up to the task nowadays.
Whenever I get around to it, I'll likely go with a fresh set of BFG KO2s. That will hopefully take care of the remaining vibrations, but for now it's much improved.
While at home I also pulled out the rear carpet after some fuel injection cleaner fell over and spilled out while we were in Moab. Since the carpet was out I decided to pull the rear panels off and replace the broken poppers. I also added a little more sound deadener to the passenger side quarter panel. I also had a small Pyle Subwoofer sitting in the garage so I put that in and plugged it into the amp. The cargo storage cubby in the passenger panel had also started breaking the plastic rivets and flopping around so that had to be fixed as well. Some plastic welder sealed that back up nicely. In addition to that, I also zip tied a couple random unused plugs that were flopping around and rattling in the quarter panel. While the plastic welder was drying I turned my attention to the couple of millimeters of lateral play that had developed in my steering wheel.
I didn't think the old control arm bushings would have ever served another purpose, but they did a good job holding this cubby down.
I tried tightening up the mounting bolts, but that didn't help. I then put a small pick in the space to the side of it and it stopped the wiggles. With a small hole on each of the mount, a short self tapping screw made easy work of fixing the play.
While the back of the car was open we also put in some new reverse lights. I didn't really have any complaints about them, but he had gotten a pair for my brother and wanted me to have some. Instead of just being a corn cob of lights, this one actually had an optic lens on the back. They are way brighter than I could have imagined and I'm glad to have them now.
