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03-05-2020, 09:33 PM
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#1
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Mini-Skoolie
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Bus name is Farley
Posts: 20
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Blue bird
Engine: 5.9l 12v Cummins
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Bus wanders with new rear tires
Not sure where to post this so I’ll just try it here since our bus is a 25’ 97 blue bird tc 1000 with a 12v Cummins and the dreaded 545 Allison. Anyhoo, we put 4 new rear traction tires on and it makes the bus wander terribly at 45-60mph. It’s downright scary. The local shop we bought the tires from says it’s due to tire (tread) squirm and that It’ll get better with more miles on them. At this point they’re so horrible I can’t imagine driving the bus long enough to see if that’s actually true. Prior to the new tires the bus tracked straight and true so I’m not inclined to think it’s an alignment issue or a steering/suspension issue. Something else to note is it seems way worse in a crosswind. Any advice from the skoolie community is appreciated.
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03-05-2020, 09:47 PM
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#2
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Andrews,Indiana
Posts: 2,430
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: AARE
Engine: 3116 Cat 250hp
Rated Cap: Just the two of us.
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Tire shop is probably right, especially if your old tires were worn down. My semi always did the same thing.
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03-05-2020, 10:14 PM
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#3
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3,856
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Thomas Built Bus
Chassis: Freightliner FS65
Engine: Caterpillar 3126E Diesel
Rated Cap: 71 Passenger- 30,000 lbs.
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I know, have the shop owner/manager put his kids in your bus and drive it at 45-60MPH and see if he still claims it is okay.
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03-05-2020, 10:45 PM
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#4
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 2,264
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: IH
Engine: T444E
Rated Cap: 14
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I've experienced this on semi's too. Seems to settle down after 5-10K miles. Not all tires do this, for some reason. The last 2-3 sets I bought rode fine from day 1, one had a terrible intermittent shake bobtailing but rode fine loaded (it was a company truck and we never had it checked out, not sure if a tire was defective, out-of-round, or way out of balance). Had it been my own personal vehicle, you can bet I'd have been taking it back.
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03-06-2020, 09:07 AM
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#5
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Claremont, NH
Posts: 480
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DT466E (195hp, 520tq)
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Make sure they are all up to the proper pressure for starters.
__________________
Dave
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03-06-2020, 10:03 AM
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#6
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Mini-Skoolie
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Bus name is Farley
Posts: 20
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Blue bird
Engine: 5.9l 12v Cummins
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Thanks for the feedback folks. I did take the bus back to the shop and had them check the pressures and balance as well. Still wanders like a stray dog. Since it’s such a heavily lugged (Toyo hyparadial s) tire maybe I’d be better off with something a bit less aggressive? We live in snow country and intend to use this as mostly a 3 season bus but has already seen a little winter camping, hence the desire for a bit more aggressive tread. Any suggestions on 19.5” tires that might work?
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03-06-2020, 10:25 AM
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#7
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Bus Nut
Join Date: May 2019
Location: Lebanon, Indiana
Posts: 911
Year: 2000
Coachwork: Winnebago
Chassis: Ford F53
Engine: Ford Triton V-10
Rated Cap: currently 2
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You say these new tires are large lugs... If you look across the tread does it appear to be crowned in the middle? If so I'm wondering if maybe drop the pressure a little bit so that you're not riding on just the middle portion of the tire. If it's a rated tire for your GVWR but you're probably nowhere near as heavy as gross then the tire was probably engineered to carry more weight at it's stated PSI than you're demanding of it. So long as you don't drop the pressure to the point that the sidewall bulges at the bottom.
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03-06-2020, 10:35 AM
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#8
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Claremont, NH
Posts: 480
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DT466E (195hp, 520tq)
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Yeah those are pretty big lugs. Wonder if the direction of angle of them are the same on each side? Maybe alternating the patterns on the tires?
We just bought some Falken BI850s for our drive tire. Pretty agressive, but smaller blocks and they have worked fine on the highway.
__________________
Dave
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03-06-2020, 10:36 AM
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#9
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Claremont, NH
Posts: 480
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DT466E (195hp, 520tq)
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Yeah those are pretty big lugs. Wonder if the direction of angle of them are the same on each side? Maybe alternating the patterns on the tires?
We just bought some Falken BI850s for our drive tire. Pretty agressive, but smaller blocks and they have worked fine on the highway.
__________________
Dave
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03-06-2020, 10:51 AM
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#10
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Lebanon, IN
Posts: 272
Year: 1998
Chassis: TC 2000 bluebird
Engine: 5.9 cummins
Rated Cap: 66
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Usually when I have this problem increasing tire pressure helps.
Bill
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03-06-2020, 02:38 PM
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#11
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 2,264
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: IH
Engine: T444E
Rated Cap: 14
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I drove a big truck today, virtually brand new (5K miles) and it had a bit of wander to it. The rear tires did, in fact, have a bit of crown in the center of the tread.
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03-06-2020, 03:18 PM
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#12
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Andrews,Indiana
Posts: 2,430
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: AARE
Engine: 3116 Cat 250hp
Rated Cap: Just the two of us.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by miltruckman
Bill
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Off topic Bill are you going to have a rally again this year?
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03-06-2020, 04:12 PM
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#13
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Mini-Skoolie
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Bus name is Farley
Posts: 20
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Blue bird
Engine: 5.9l 12v Cummins
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When I took the bus back to the tire dealer and had them check the air pressure the said it was at 100lbs and they lowered it to 80 and it seemed to help a bit. Seems somewhat counterintuitive to me as I think that would make the contact patch larger and therefore engaging the lugs even more. I’m wondering if they did so to help the tires break in quicker?
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03-06-2020, 05:02 PM
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#14
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,764
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gostrong_13
When I took the bus back to the tire dealer and had them check the air pressure the said it was at 100lbs and they lowered it to 80 and it seemed to help a bit. Seems somewhat counterintuitive to me as I think that would make the contact patch larger and therefore engaging the lugs even more. I’m wondering if they did so to help the tires break in quicker?
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I run 85 in mine. It sure rides better than with 100.
When I got these aggressive tires on my bus it wandered a bit more than the mostly worn tires I replaced. After a couple hundred miles its calmed down and they feel a lot better.
Give them time.
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03-06-2020, 06:08 PM
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#15
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Athens, TN
Posts: 1,574
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Amtran
Chassis: International RE
Engine: International T444e
Rated Cap: 76
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Great thread, now this wont be a surprise to me. I just replaced all four rears with these last year (and fronts with others, at they had all aged out):
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03-06-2020, 09:00 PM
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#16
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Wright City MO
Posts: 280
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Bluebird
Engine: 5.9 Cummins/Allison
Rated Cap: 74
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Tall new tread can be very spooky but generally a few road trips that heat the tread up pretty well helps fix the prob. really aggressive tread on shorter vehicles can be really difficult to drive but only for a relatively short period of time. Gene
__________________
Its hard to be wrong when you live in Wright City!
There is no mechanical problem that cannot be overcome by a skillfully applied combination of brute force and ignorance!
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03-06-2020, 09:48 PM
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#17
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3,856
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Thomas Built Bus
Chassis: Freightliner FS65
Engine: Caterpillar 3126E Diesel
Rated Cap: 71 Passenger- 30,000 lbs.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EastCoastCB
I run 85 in mine. It sure rides better than with 100.
When I got these aggressive tires on my bus it wandered a bit more than the mostly worn tires I replaced. After a couple hundred miles its calmed down and they feel a lot better.
Give them time.
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Funny! When those tires were on our 38' bus, I noticed no wandering at all. Perhaps the length of our bus provides enough difference to change the natural harmonics of the drivetrain/wheels. That is a head scratcher to say the least.
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03-11-2020, 09:06 PM
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#18
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Mini-Skoolie
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Bus name is Farley
Posts: 20
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Blue bird
Engine: 5.9l 12v Cummins
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On a somewhat related note, has anyone done a rear stabilizer on their bus? Maybe that would help with the tail wag? BTW, we’re going to dry a different set of tires tomorrow. I’ll let you know how they work out.
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03-12-2020, 03:45 AM
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#19
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Bus Nut
Join Date: May 2019
Location: Lebanon, Indiana
Posts: 911
Year: 2000
Coachwork: Winnebago
Chassis: Ford F53
Engine: Ford Triton V-10
Rated Cap: currently 2
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A 25' bus shouldn't have much tail wagging to begin with. Before you start pumping money into modifications may I suggest just having the basics checked out like bad shocks? Like the tires, there's nothing inherently wrong with the manufacturer's design of the vehicle that must be overcome but it is almost 25 years old and things simply wear out with use.
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03-12-2020, 06:50 AM
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#20
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Virginia
Posts: 2,324
Year: 1971
Coachwork: Wayne
Chassis: International Loadstar 1700
Engine: 345 international V-8
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I am with most others in saying the aggressive tires do tend to wander for a bit till broken in. I have experianced this on any short wheelbase vehicle with mud tires. Lower tire pressure does help. By the way I do not like mud tires for snow. Snow tires need sipeing to be able to bite on hard packed snow and ice typical on a road. The big lugs on mud tires just play slip and slide.
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