hi,
what's 'equal tire balancer' ??
is that a tire balancing fluid ? .............if anyone has even ever HEARD
of tire balancing fluid.......there is or was such a thing.
so what is 'Equal tire blancer' ?

always check wheel rims for out of round, and dents.
The obvious thing is to rotate tires front to back........as a test, which
apparently you did.
Also exammine tires extra carefully for 'tread separtation' ...........( ! )
and flat spots, and out of round.
( I have a front hub rigged up on a work bench .........
with no bearing seals in it, and WD-40 to lube the bearings, so it turns
extra easily .........
this makes a great tester for rims and tires mounted on rims for checking
roundness, thread separation, and flat spots.
it also makes a crude bt passible balancer..............
you just let the whee/tire turn gently until it stops with the heavy spot
down......
then you add weights on both sides of the rim opposite of that.
Not saying this is perfect, but will get you in the ball park, and sure make
it easy to check roundness and basic balance.

does the vibration show up in the steering wheel, or the body ?????

does gently swearing at 35 mph change or affect the vibration ?
At what speed does the vibration start ?

scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel VanderKwaak" <joelvanderkwaak@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 10:49 AM
Subject: front end vibration

> Hello collective wisdom,
>
> I've had an intermittent vibration in front right side of my van (91
> 2wd multivan) since returning home from the Buses in Ruins trip last
> fall. I finally pulled the entire thing apart this weekend and the
> bearings, etc all looked good, so I repacked with grease and put it
> back together; and the vibration is, if anything, worse than before.
> So, next steps are looking at (1) rotor warp and (2) tire balance.
> Anything else I should be looking at?
>
> For clarity, I rebuilt the entire front end last fall, before the
> trip, including new joints, upgraded springs (GoWesty), a set of
> Overland big brakes (from VolksCafe), and a set of new tires (Pirelli
> ATR, with Equal tire balancer). So, there were a  lot of changes, but
> the van drove without issue on a Sierra test run, and had no issues on
> the way out to Utah. I previously had a set of BFG KO's with Equal,
> and there were no balancing issues; I've also rotated the tires since
> returning from Utah.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joel