Out-of-round Tire, Bent Wheel, Or Bent Axle?

A friend and I were driving separate cars to scouts last night. I was driving my '53 CJ3B. When we got out of our vehicles, he said my rear passenger tire was wobbling as he was following me down the road. I couldn't really feel anything, but I believed him.

Tonight I blocked both sides of the front tires and jacked up the rear of the jeep and put it on jack stands. I had a vision of starting the jeep, putting it in gear, having it somehow falling off the jack stands (maybe I had unknowingly had it in 4wd), and the jeep jumping forward and crashing through the garage door. To prevent that from happening, I convinced my wife to get in the jeep, start it, put it in gear, and slam on the brakes if anything "happened."

Before watching this video, what's your guess?
a) out-of-round tire
b) bent wheel
c) bent axle
d) other

Here's a 7 second video of the spinning wheel.

Now what's your guess?

Here's another short video with the wheel removed.

Is that a bent axle?

Here's a bonus video of the rear driveshaft. It has a lot of movement as well. How bad is that?

 

thats crazy bad. did you put the key in right? if its wrong it wont seat the hub on the axle right and split it open

 

Bent hub ?

 

I didn't do nuttin'. It must have come that way when I bought it last summer. I guess I will take it apart.

 

Pull the hub off and look for cracks in the hub's key way.

Try spinning it again with just the tapered axle sticking out just to rule out (or confirm) a bent axle.

Put the hub on without the key and try it again. If you're lucky, the hub wasn't ruined and isn't cracked or bent. If it doesn't wobble without the key, reassemble following the directions in the FSM.

My bet is the hub/key was put on in the wrong sequence and the key is bottoming before the taper can seat. Hopefully it's salvageable, but that usually puts too much stress on the hub and develops a crack down the key way.

 

Oh yeah, the driveshaft... check for play in the pinion bearing by pulling/pushing on the pinion yoke on all directions while it's up in the air. If you're lucky(?) and there's no excessive play, it's probably just a bent driveshaft, or too much slop in the slip joint.

Still have that Tom Woods coupon?

 

If it's a bent drive shaft I would think there would a nasty vibration felt through out the Jeep. I'm going key way thought.

 

the driveshaft looks like its just the axle end. Take a close look at the u joint make sure the caps are seated all the way and the clips are in place. They could have just bent the yokes when replacing the u joint id say thats most likely

 

you cant feel that? looks like something that would thow you around on the pavement.

now ive gottta know

 

I had a bent flanged axle had 3/4 inch run out could only feel it while going slow on pavement. Have since replaced the bent one after the opposite side bearing failed epically.

 

I hit a telephone pole and it bent the axle on my AMC 20 axle. It would wobble. Drove it like that for a couple months. It was funny.

 

Looking at the short video it looks like possibly the brake drum is not seated to hub evenly. It could just be that there is no wheel clamping it but it might worth looking to see if there is anything between the hub and drum. On my first rear axle I destroyed the hubs - spliting them at the keyways. It was a long time ago and I have no idea if I over tightened them, had the keys in wrong, or just abused them too much. I never did jack it up and rotate the wheels and I never felt it while driving but you could see that the rear wheels were tilted inwards at the top while parked.

 

Pull the rim/tire off and run the same test. You might be able to seemore of whats going on. I would think a bent axle or mis-fit key would cause the brakes to drag really bad. I suspect a bent rim.
-Donny

 

Donny, go back and look at the second video. Problem is not the wheel. It's a drum, hub or axle issue.

 

Here's a fresh update. I ordered a Cal-Van Tools 94800 hub puller from Amazon last night, the same one I saw in this thread. I didn't pay for any special shipping and the puller arrived this evening. It took many whacks on the puller's handle to get the hub to pop off. It came off with a bang. The hub didn't appear to be cracked. The key hadn't been abused or bent.

I started the engine and watched the bare axle spin. The axle didn't seem to wobble. I tried measuring the run-out with a dial gauge, but the key slot prevented getting a good reading.


Then I tried resting a 24" metal ruler on the spinning axle. I figured the end of the ruler would bounce up and down if the axle was bent.


When the ruler remained steady, except for a slight bump when the key way passed underneath, I figured (as one of the comments above suggested) the brake drum hadn't been tightened down. I pushed the hub back on the axle (without the key) and started the engine to test that theory. Unfortunately, the hub wobbled like crazy. Here's a video of the hub back on the axle.

Maybe the hub is bent? I have an old hub from a '68 cj5 where the key way is cracked. I pushed it on the axle and it, too, wobbles. It doesn't appear to wobble as much, but it still wobbles.

What's the prognosis?

 

Hold a marker close to the spinning hub so it marks the "near" spot as it spins.

Now rotate the hub on the axle 180 degrees and do it again. If the marker hits the same spot, it's the hub. If it hits 180 degrees off the first spot, it's the axle.

 

The key way might not be cracked, but check the outside of that area for a raised bump where the key was forced and oval'd the taper. (My memory tells me there is a seal in this area? It's been a lot of years since I've dealt with a tapered axle.)

 

can you dial it in a spot without a keyway like in the hole at the end? Its probably the hub.

 

I'm gonna bet that the hub is bent from someone in a previous life using a 3 jaw puller to remove it....... If the axle was bent enough to make the hub walk that much I think you would see the shaft end wobble. What kind of shape is the outer axle seal? In my experience, when an axle is bent, the seal and bearing dont make it too long.

 

Or a two jaw.....