Foto-n-T
Well-known member
A few weeks ago I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment at Corpus Christi Freightliner to have our FL50 checked out. The chinese steer tires that were on it when we purchased it four years ago have over the last 50k+ miles gotten chewed up pretty bad and the truck had developed a couple of nasty vibrations at certain speeds. My suspicion was that the kingpins were shot but I figured that I'd leave the final diagnosis up to the experts and their Vis-Check machine.
As it turned out I was correct about the kingpins but the drag link was also shot as well so the decision was made to basically rebuild the front end of the old workhorse. Since the Freightliner dealership didn't do tires I contacted Wingfoot down the road and got a quote for a couple of new Goodyear steer tires to be installed prior to doing the front end alignment. Since I've read a little about Dyna Beads on the forum I decided to give them a try. As it turns out, Wingfoot doesn't endorse Dyna Beads, they'd rather charge $180 per wheel position for Centra-Matic balancers but I did find Dyna Beads at Fleet Pride and Wingfoot agreed to install them when they did the tires.
I've got to say that I'm impressed with the Dyna Beads, so much so that when the drives get replaced they too will get them. Also when the 5th wheel needs tires again I'll make sure that the Dyna Beads go there as well. The smoooothness of the truck is now beyond my expectations. Here's a video of what helped me to make my decision on the Dyna Beads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq263AYgyYg
As it turned out I was correct about the kingpins but the drag link was also shot as well so the decision was made to basically rebuild the front end of the old workhorse. Since the Freightliner dealership didn't do tires I contacted Wingfoot down the road and got a quote for a couple of new Goodyear steer tires to be installed prior to doing the front end alignment. Since I've read a little about Dyna Beads on the forum I decided to give them a try. As it turns out, Wingfoot doesn't endorse Dyna Beads, they'd rather charge $180 per wheel position for Centra-Matic balancers but I did find Dyna Beads at Fleet Pride and Wingfoot agreed to install them when they did the tires.
I've got to say that I'm impressed with the Dyna Beads, so much so that when the drives get replaced they too will get them. Also when the 5th wheel needs tires again I'll make sure that the Dyna Beads go there as well. The smoooothness of the truck is now beyond my expectations. Here's a video of what helped me to make my decision on the Dyna Beads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq263AYgyYg
