Picked up my A3 and have an axel question

[lonegunman]

I picked up my A3 today after nearly three months of waiting. The folks at Forest Park were helpful, friendly and everything there went smoothly.

I have my truck getting checked out and took it for an hours drive. It has two new front tires and a new left rear tire, the others are 75% or better.

At about 50 mph the rear axel picks up a bounce when the pavement is rough or the concrete is bouncy. The rear tires bounce at opposites so basically the rear axel rocks left to right and up and down until they steady out. It happens on and off but otherwise it runs fairly smooth for a bouncy truck..

Do I have a problem with a trailing link or something in the suspension or is this because the tire on one side is nearly new and the other is not?

Any ideas would be useful. Especially good ones.

 

[rwoods]

Both of my A3 bounce at 50 mph when empty. I believe it is the tires. I am thinking about using some beads to balance them but I'm waiting to hear if BullDogMack is happy with his long term. His initial report was good.

 

[davidkroberts]

i wasnt aware that mil vehicles didnt shake bounce and squeal at speed.... not being a smarta** i promise but all of them are a bit rough at higher speeds. hard tires, hard suspension, ect

 

[rwoods]

i wasnt aware that mil vehicles didnt shake bounce and squeal at speed.... not being a smarta** i promise but all of them are a bit rough at higher speeds. hard tires, hard suspension, ect

They are not Cadillacs for sure. But the one shown in my avatar rode fairly smooth when evenly aired (you could at least talk without sounding like a kid trying to do an Indian war cry) but it developed a rear axle bounce at 50 mph when I removed the hardsided top. My other A3 is similar except the speedo reads 49 mph when it starts. With either truck you can back off or drive through it. It has been my experience that these characteristics usually indicate a tire issue. Fortunately. I usually drive over 45 mph only when pushed by traffic.

 

[lonegunman]

I drove three or four different A3's while in the ANG and they all were a bit bouncy unloaded. This one just seemed to get a little hippity hoppie and stay that way for a minute or two, then quiet down.

I was thinking at some point to maybe shut off the CTIS and keep the rears about 10psi lower than the fronts.

Other than that, the truck is in nice shape. There are a couple of small tears in the drivers seat, the plaques are peeling a little and some peeling paint. Otherwise there are no leaks, the brakes are fine, trans shifts solid and the engine sounds and runs perfect. THUS FAR,,hahaha

It even came 1/2 a tank of diesel and an inspection check list to let me know the -10 was not going to come with it but that is had got a once over before turn-in and was considered OK.

 

[bulldog_mack13]

They all bounce, and they dont go much more over the 50 mph mark any way.

The beads do work, I drove for a hour the other day and you can notice them starting to make a diff. , dont know how looong term is yet but they do work for me.
Glad guys are buying them , I was at Camp Lejune yesterday and they have 15 M35A3's and one M36A3 that you could eat off of they were so nice and all of them are going to Egypt. Part of the give away program. Every time I find a A3 its going to a diff country. Last time in VA they were going to Moracco. Enjoy yours/ one of the few it seems- Jay

 

[wsucougarx]

Lonegunman it appears you got yourself a good truck. Now let the adventure begin. You do realise we all expect a day to day log of your activities If for some reason you are too tired to log in for updates, there will be rumors about how you may have gotten stranded somewhere and your thread will be filled with "nervous mothers" wondering if you're ok Just ask USMC Deuce CPL, several us were monitoring his status on his Alabama (or was it Georgia) to Seattle journey in his M35A2. I do pray for your safety and hope you enjoy your trip. Good time to get alone and think about things....like when you're going to get your next truck and how you should have gotten something else to sit on

 

[lonegunman]

I had Cat do the overhead on the engine and service everything yesterday, today is bolt tightening and replacing the fan belt if we can find the thing. If I can do a quick adjustment on the steering to get a little more power assist we will be cooking with gas. The guys who maintained it for the army did a pretty decent job, things were in great shape engine wise. The solar charger had kept the batts up to snuff as well.

On the bright side, the thing runs like a champ and sounds awesome. The smoking 52mph top speed is a bit of a bummer but it purrs along at that speed and the bounce steadies out.

I've taken it on two drives of a little more than an hour each and things are shaking out. I brought the camera along and will record the adventure. Basically I'm heading northwest until I hit I-90 the puttering to Washington state.

The trans temp guage does not appear to work. The tach has been replaced so the hours are off by an unknown amount, probably 200 or so if the random paperwork is correct. But the odometer is correct and works fine.

Now if I post in three days about being stuck with a dead truck in the middle of nowhere, that would be a darned shame. I'm hoping all the prep pays off with a long slow drive with no problems.

 

[CARNAC]

We had an A3 years ago we called Galloping Girdy due to the bouncing.

 

[srodocker]

cant wait to see it sometime

 

[jwaller]

find yourself some fill dirt to load in the back to smooth it out on the long drive.