Heavy vibrations above 40Mph after work on rear brake drum

[michel1973]

Hello,

I bought a 18 foot 1978 Sunrader a month ago.

Yesterday I did some work on the right rear brake drum. There was a big oily mess inside the drum. I suspect the cause was a bad oil seal (wheel cilinder seemed okay). Cleaned it up and decided to change the bearrings, oil seals and brake shoes later this week (after I get the parts). After cleaning I put the brakes back together and put the wheels back on.

Now when I'm driving there is a strong vibration, especially above 40mph (the RV seems to be bouncing up and down above that speed). When I jack up the back of the rv just an inch and I spin the wheel, you can see the distance between the floor and the bottom of the tyre change a little bit (a third of an inch maybe, about 0,5cm), as if the hub is slanting a bit.

After jacking up the back of the motorhome I did place both axle stands below the axles (I have a Hilux repair manual which told me to place it there, although this RV is way heavier than a standard pickup truck I realized later on). I also kept the jack supporting the diff for safety.

What could this be? Could my rear axle be bent due to the wrong placement of the axle stands (I have the 5 lug axle). Or are it just my bearings that need replacement. If I need to replace the axle, can I also use landcruiser axles? (because I live in the Netherlands and you don't see much hilux pickups here).

Thanks,

Michel

Edited May 3, 2009 by michel1973

[Maineah]

I doubt that you bent any thing the jack stands would be no worse then sitting on it's tires. How ever what you took apart you should do again and see if some thing is not assembled right. .5 cm is not much just about any tire will run out that much. I'll assume there is no noise like a bad bearing? Generally a bad wheel bearing will not cause a vibration it can cause the seal to leak though. As far as different axles I can't tell you the European trucks are a bit different then what we get over here a scrap yard maybe able to tell you. The best possable fix would be the ! ton duel wheel assembly.

[Gulfstream Greg]

What axle do you have, full floating or the bad non floating axle? Take the wheel off and check the runout. If you got the bad axle it may have just broken, the reason for the oily mess.