Hi all. Thanks for looking here. GVCW 18,000lbs including 5th wheel RV. Went through a red light at the bottom of a mountain hwy road. My fault. Complete brain phart. Eight wheels locked and smoking, horn blowing and sphincter puckered tight. Got through with no contact with other vehicles - thank you higher spirit!
However, truck now vibrates really bad like wheel(s) are unbalanced, they feel like they are "thumping" on the road and now it pulls hard to the right! These symptoms are present with the RV unhooked. I am not really gifted with suspension mechanics and dynamics knowledge. Any thoughts about what got buggered up would really be appreciated. It feels to me like there is something wrong front and back.
BTW, this scared the living crap outta me and the three other vehicles I managed to slide around or by.

Cheers!

Mike

 

You flat spotted your tires.

Beyond that, with no physical contact involving immovable objects, you should be just fine. Get the tires changed out, and see if it still pulls to the right. If it does, get the alignment checked, but if you skidded the tires that hard, its probably separating on one of the fronts.

Check the condition of your brakes while its apart. A severe panic stop condition like that, can overheat the brakes badly, and cause glazing on the friction surfaces. This can also contribute to a "pull"

good luck

 

I know what you mean man, I came home from work after working all night, and I passed a stop light under an overpass and a car nearly T boned me, pretty scary stuff. Needless to say, I wasn't sleepy after that.

 

Mike, sometimes a panic stop will bring brake issues to the top that you had but didn't really recognize yet. I agree the vibration is flat spots on the tires from the slide. The pull to right mught be an alignment issue but before I spent money on the rack, take the truck for a spin to get the brakes warmed up. Then jack both wheels off the ground and spin the tires by hand. If you notice the one on the side of the pull is harder to turn, you might need to look into a caliper and flex hose.

 

If a caliper is hanging up and causing a pull, that side will be hot after a short drive, if both sides are cool them that's not causing the pull, and yea the vibration is defiantly flat spots!

 

Hey All! Thanks for your insightful thoughts and ideas. Today I took the beast to the local store of the chain that I bought the tires from. They put it up in the air and examined the tires. The front tires were both shot, completely separated and flat-spotted. The rear two tires were fine. The store manager was a little sceptical at first and said that the damage from a panic stop did not really fall under the terms of the tire warranty. He also said that he simply didn't even want to know what would cause me to have to jam on the brakes that hard for that long of a stop. Then, for whatever reason, he caved with a smile and said that they would gladly replace the two buggered tires rather than lose a customer. They put the new rubber on, balanced and warranteed and out the door I went. All was smooth and straight going down the road so I am happy again!

Cheers!

Mike

 

Wow I can't believe you got them changed under warranty, good on ya for that!