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Cold Weather Death Wobble?

ATPTac

Member
379
3
16
Location
Charlotte, North Carolina
I tend to agree that IF it is in fact temperature related its more than likely water that got in the tire and froze. I would most definitely check ALL of your lugs and make sure they're tight, as well as wheel bearings. In my experience with cars and light duty trucks, bad vibrations are typically, but not always, tire/wheel related and sometimes drive line related. Normally when you have loose lugs or a wheel bearing that's about to come apart it will make one heck of a racket, but not always give you a vibration. But that's no reason to not check them, everything on any kind of vehicle should be considered a "unique incident" and not treated as a known problem.
 
308
11
16
Location
Bear Creek PA
I had NYLON tires on one of the Deuces I had, they had no visible dry rot or anything that would tip you off to a problem. Drove the truck all summer, no problems. First day it was 10 degrees you would swear the front end of my truck was going to fall off. Rough shaking and wobble. Checked the joints, bearings, etc , nothing. Took the tires and rims to a local truck tire place that had been around for decades, BINGO, not only were my tires egg shaped cold, but twisted the internal NYLON bands were not expanding at the same rate as the mixed material tire itself . He also managed to get the date from the code stamped on the tire, 1965. This was in 2001 ! Well, I Pulled all the NYLON tires off the truck and replaced them with good used steel/rubber tires. The problem vanished.

Tires can be deceptive, here are two on a Deuce I have now, no rot but were made in 1957 ! What ever they were made of, its scary.
 

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ATPTac

Member
379
3
16
Location
Charlotte, North Carolina
I had NYLON tires on one of the Deuces I had, they had no visible dry rot or anything that would tip you off to a problem. Drove the truck all summer, no problems. First day it was 10 degrees you would swear the front end of my truck was going to fall off. Rough shaking and wobble. Checked the joints, bearings, etc , nothing. Took the tires and rims to a local truck tire place that had been around for decades, BINGO, not only were my tires egg shaped cold, but twisted the internal NYLON bands were not expanding at the same rate as the mixed material tire itself . He also managed to get the date from the code stamped on the tire, 1965. This was in 2001 ! Well, I Pulled all the NYLON tires off the truck and replaced them with good used steel/rubber tires. The problem vanished.

Tires can be deceptive, here are two on a Deuce I have now, no rot but were made in 1957 ! What ever they were made of, its scary.
That's nuts... I see a decent amount of modern car tires starting to dry rot after 4-5 years. I've seen some tires that were in that age range that had dry rot go all the way to the steel belts. It's a ton of fun trying to tell a customer they need tires when their reply is "What? Those tires aren't even halfway worn!"
 

Trailboss

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,577
138
63
Location
Norwood LA
Do NOT buy anything made of rubber from China if you expect it to last. I've had tires and air hoses quickly crack/dry rot if exposed to the sun within 2-4 years. Our military tires are made to last for many years, perhaps at the expense of comfort, high mileage, or high-speed travel.

As a personal practice, I try to not buy anything made in China due to the lack of quality control and short expected lifespan.
 
Last edited:
308
11
16
Location
Bear Creek PA
You got that right, Chinese Rubber is garbage. I put four new tires, Firestones on my M1009 three years ago. Drove it maybe 8K miles . Not only are they cracked and showing rot, but the rubber was so soft it wore through two thirds in that mileage ! But sad to say there are very few American tire companies left.

The military rubber in the old days was not really all rubber. From what I learned there was a lot of experimentation and formulas tried. The NYLON mix stuff hates the cold. NYLON belts with a NYLON / Synthetic Rubber / Rubber mix was my problem. When it got cold , it got nasty and deformed.
 

hambo

New member
51
0
0
Location
Illinois
Jacked up the front end today. Checked both hubs for slack and there was no movement that I could feel. Check the drivers side tire and it spun like normal. I didn't even have to take off the hub cover to spin it! Now the passengers side tire, thats a different story. I go to spin it and I can spin it a little in either direction, and then it wont let me. So then I finally push it really hard in one direction, and it goes over the "hump" and spins crazy fast. So, I definitely think theres ice in the tire. Now, is there anyway to get the ice out without taking the rim off the tire? thanks for everyones help diagnosing this problem.
 

doghead

4 Star General /Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
26,246
1,179
113
Location
NY
A tire breakdown is required for sure.
 

John S-B

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,796
1,048
113
Location
Ostrander, Ohio
Do NOT buy anything from China if you expect it to last. I've had tires and air hoses quickly crack/dry rot if exposed to the sun within 2-4 years. Our military tires are made to last for many years, perhaps at the expense of comfort, high mileage, or high-speed travel.

As a personal practice, I try to not buy anything made in China due to the lack of quality control and short expected lifespan.
Fixed it for ya.
 

rustystud

Well-known member
9,280
2,987
113
Location
Woodinville, Washington
You got that right, Chinese Rubber is garbage. I put four new tires, Firestones on my M1009 three years ago. Drove it maybe 8K miles . Not only are they cracked and showing rot, but the rubber was so soft it wore through two thirds in that mileage ! But sad to say there are very few American tire companies left.

The military rubber in the old days was not really all rubber. From what I learned there was a lot of experimentation and formulas tried. The NYLON mix stuff hates the cold. NYLON belts with a NYLON / Synthetic Rubber / Rubber mix was my problem. When it got cold , it got nasty and deformed.
I too had some tires from Firestone. The car is was using was my old Crown Victoria (ex-cop car ) It had set for a couple of years since we had bought the Honda Crv. We'll my wife wrapped it around a tree that winter so she ended up using my car, and I had to drove the old Crown Vicky. I had bought NEW tires for it before I parked it, and they looked great. But after driving only 2 days the right front split all around the rim. I was going 50 MPH at the time. After I got the tire replaced, I checked it out to see what had happened. A rock? A nail ? No dry rotted all the way through. Needless to say I bought a full set of tires right then. Now I'm a mechanic, and I couldn't spot the dry rot. It was all inside. My best friend (we went to trade school together ) owns a gas station. The old kind, full service and repair. He told me after this incident, he tells his customers to replace there tires every 4 or 5 years no matter what the tread looks like. Cheap Chinese Crap !!!!
And yes I stored the car correctly.
 

brianp454

Member
572
11
18
Location
Portland, OR
A sign of things to come with the great cheap stuff we get in exchange for our jobs and manufacturing base. It will get worse before it gets better
 
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