A very shimmy shimmy moment

[Omcge]

About a week ago I was on my 2013 RTL running about 65 when I crossed a road patch with a little bump.
The front 2 tires started to shimmy/speed wobble up and down and sideways and I had to hit the brakes hard
and it didn't stop shaking till I was down to about 30-40 mph,a very scary moment.:banghead:

When I got it home I went over the whole front end and only found a heim joint loose and the fender bracket loose.

I had a laser alignment done just about 300 miles ago. The spyder has about 6000 miles on it, the tires look good ,17 psi on both. It is very smooth, no vibrations on the highway. The right front has a slight vibration that you can see on the fender, it might need a little balancing .

When they were doing the alignment they found a nail in one of the fronts ,so they put a slime leak stop type product that they had in both tires. It turned out that it was a small screw and it didn't penetrate the tire,
Can that stuff cause a problem at speed? I've only used it on lawn mowers.

I had it out several times last week and it seemed normal. I took it out Sat and went over the same bump and got the same Shimmy Shimmy and had to hit the brakes hard to get it to stop.

If it's an easy fix I had rather fix it myself. I hate having to go to the Dealer, leaving it a week and then it may not be fixed.

Anyone ever have this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Jeriatric]

Check your ball joints. Without lifting the spyder. Grab the front of a tire (@ 3 or 9 o'clock) and with a stiff arm push and pull the tire in a short, but deliberate motion. If you feel a tick of any size. It's likely ball joints. Experienced the same wobble you describe and did as suggested to identify faulty ball joints. Later confirmed by BRP trained dealer tech.

Keep us posted.

 

[Chupaca]

:agree: seems they would have noticed problems when doing the alignment. Being only 300 miles since it was done what could have changed. Not crazy about having anything rolling around in my tires. Slime was designed for off road vehicles though many use it. I would go through the front end checking all bearings, bushings, lug bolts, tie rods etc. The only other thing would be a faulty DPS or over-gripping. :dontknow:

 

[Omcge]

Check your ball joints. Without lifting the spyder. Grab the front of a tire (@ 3 or 9 o'clock) and with a stiff arm push and pull the tire in a short, but deliberate motion. If you feel a tick of any size. It's likeky ball joints. Experienced the same wobble you describe and did as suggested to identify faulty ball joints. Latter confirmed by BRP trained dealer tech.

Keep us posted.

Thanks Jerbear for your reply.
I just checked as you said and one side feels tight, the other maybe just a tick.
I had some help and checking the shocks, I think that one is bad. It rebounds more than once. The other side is maybe ok, It's definitely different.

I guess that I will call the Dealer tomorrow and take it in and see what they say.

 

[ARCTIC]

Your laser alignment is no good if the ball joint is worn. Have to redo it

 

[Omcge]

About a week ago I was on my 2013 RTL running about 65 when I crossed a road patch with a little bump.
The front 2 tires started to shimmy/speed wobble up and down and sideways and I had to hit the brakes hard
and it didn't stop shaking till I was down to about 30-40 mph,a very scary moment.:banghead:

When I got it home I went over the whole front end and only found a heim joint loose and the fender bracket loose.

I had a laser alignment done just about 300 miles ago. The spyder has about 6000 miles on it, the tires look good ,17 psi on both. It is very smooth, no vibrations on the highway. The right front has a slight vibration that you can see on the fender, it might need a little balancing .

When they were doing the alignment they found a nail in one of the fronts ,so they put a slime leak stop type product that they had in both tires. It turned out that it was a small screw and it didn't penetrate the tire,
Can that stuff cause a problem at speed? I've only used it on lawn mowers.

I had it out several times last week and it seemed normal. I took it out Sat and went over the same bump and got the same Shimmy Shimmy and had to hit the brakes hard to get it to stop.

If it's an easy fix I had rather fix it myself. I hate having to go to the Dealer, leaving it a week and then it may not be fixed.

Anyone ever have this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

It took a week to get an appointment at the Dealer. After a week they said that they couldn't find anything wrong with it, so I insisted that they check the shocks. After another week I called, and they decided that it did need new shocks. It took another week to get them in and installed, nearly 4 weeks from the time I called for an appointment. :banghead:
I took it over the same bump at speed and it appears that my speed wobble is gone. :yes:

 

[Saluda]

Sounds like a fix! Too bad it took so long.

 

[Omcge]

It took a week to get an appointment at the Dealer. After a week they said that they couldn't find anything wrong with it so I insisted that they check the shocks. After another week I called and they decided that it did need new shocks. It took another week to get them in and installed, nearly 4 weeks from the time I called for an appointment. :banghead:
I took it over the same bump at speed and it appears that my speed wobble is gone.:yes:

I was wrong, it wasn't cured! After a couple of weeks, I was coming off a freeway at about 60 and hit a patch with both fronts and it went into a violent wobble again! I had a car on my tail and the only way to stop the wobble was to brake hard to get it down to about 40 and I thought I was going to get run over from behind. I went on down the road at about 50 and hit another patch and it did it again.
In my first post I stated that a dealer that was doing a laser alignment had thought that I had a nail and was doing me a favor by putting some leak-stop in both fronts. The little screw wasn't even close to penetrating the tire. After much thought I decided to take the fronts off and clean the crap out and rebalance. They had a small coffee-can full in each tire.
Turns out that was the problem. I think that hitting a bump at speed with both wheels at the same time, the crap would go to one side creating a severe out of balance condition and the sway bar would help to keep it going and new shocks wouldn't control it.
I have gone over the same road about 4 times and no more wobble. In my opinion the leak stop is only for bicycles and lawn mowers.

 

[BajaRon]

I was wrong it wasn't cured. After a couple of weeks I was coming off a freeway at about 60 and hit a patch with both fronts and it went into a violent wobble again and I had a car on my tail and the only way to stop the wobble was to brake hard to get it down to about 40 and thought I was going to get run over from behind. I went on down the road at about 50 and hit another patch and it did it again.
In my first post I stated that a dealer that was doing a lazer alignment had thought that I had a nail and was doing me a favor by putting some leak stop in both fronts. The little screw wasn't even close to penetrating the tire.After much thought I decided to take the fronts off and clean the crap out and rebalance.They had a small coffee can full in each tire.
Turns out that was the problem. I think that hitting a bump at speed with both wheels at the same time ,the crap would go to one side creating a severe out of balance condition and the sway bar would help to keep it going and new shocks wouldn't control it.
I have gone over the same road about 4 times and no more wobble. In my opinion the leak stop is only for bicycles and lawn mowers.

If they used something designed for high speed tires, like Ride-On, you'll have no problems. But if they used a low speed, ATV sealant like Slime, then you're really looking for trouble.

It is always important to use a product designed for the job.

 

[Jeriatric]

See WARNING lower right bottom of page.

http://www.slime.com/how-much-slime-do-i-need/

 

[Bob Denman]

I was wrong it wasn't cured. After a couple of weeks I was coming off a freeway at about 60 and hit a patch with both fronts and it went into a violent wobble again and I had a car on my tail and the only way to stop the wobble was to brake hard to get it down to about 40 and thought I was going to get run over from behind. I went on down the road at about 50 and hit another patch and it did it again.
In my first post I stated that a dealer that was doing a lazer alignment had thought that I had a nail and was doing me a favor by putting some leak stop in both fronts. The little screw wasn't even close to penetrating the tire.After much thought I decided to take the fronts off and clean the crap out and rebalance.They had a small coffee can full in each tire.
Turns out that was the problem. I think that hitting a bump at speed with both wheels at the same time ,the crap would go to one side creating a severe out of balance condition and the sway bar would help to keep it going and new shocks wouldn't control it.
I have gone over the same road about 4 times and no more wobble. In my opinion the leak stop is only for bicycles and lawn mowers.

I'm glad to hear that you were able to find and fix (Well; clean out!) the problem!
I think that I'd go back to the dealer, and ask them exactly what they put in your tires?
This could have turned out WAY worse than it did... :shocked:

 

[Lagaffe]

I don't know for SLIME, but I have RIDE-ON tire sealant in all my RT tires without any problem...
In fact, they are better balanced than ever.

 

[BajaRon]

I don't know for SLIME, but I have RIDE-ON tire sealant in all my RT tires without any problem...
In fact, they are better balanced than ever.

:agree:

Though Ride-On is not without some complaints. I've used it for thousands of miles in 2 sets of tires and it has worked very well for me.