cathead

I just recently purchased a 94 x-tracab v6 4x4 from the original owner with 104,000 miles. Truck just had a new exhaust sytem installed, new clutch, new o2 sensor, new rear brakes, new hoses, and several new suspension parts. I have a couple of questions for the experts here:

1. The seller stated that the mechanic who did the above mentioned work told him that the timing belt/chain didn't need to be replaced for another 50,000 miles. Is there any way to tell?

2. If I try to stop quickly at 50 mph or faster the truck shakes violently. There is no grinding sound related to this. Warped rotors possibly?

3. I have the opportunity to by a set of wheels for this truck that are 15x8. I want to put 31 x10.50 tires on the truck. Are the wheels too big for these tires and will they fit on the truck?

4. If anyone lives in the Northern VA area can you recommend a body/paint shop? The truck is blue and I want to keep it the same color. I just want to fix a couple of rust spots, but I can't spend mega bucks.

Thanks and this is a great site.

85excab

1 the timing belt needs replaced every 80,000 miles, if it has been replacen once, there should be a sticker on the core support stating when it was done.

2 sounds like a warped rotor, some brake shops do free inspections

3 they will fit fine.

cathead

I had the front brakes replaced, rotors turned, and the rears turned. The truck now drives much better. I purchased a set of American Racing wheels with 31"x10.50x15" Dunlop tires from Craigslist. The wheels and tires are in perfect condition. When I went to pick up the truck from my mechanic today he said that they put the new wheels on but that they rubbed so bad that you could not make moderate to sharp turns. I thought this size tire would fit fine but maybe the back spacing was wrong? I bought them from a guy who had them on a 89 Toyota 4x4 and he said he had no problems at all.

abecedarian

Where are they rubbing? Frame or fender?

cathead

They told me it was the fender. They put the stock tires back on before I picked the truck up.

abecedarian

If it was the fender, it could be caused by not enough backspacing which would cause the tires to stick out too far, or could be just because the tire is wider than stock and might rub even on wheels with stock backspacing. Unfortunately, the only ways to deal with it is either by pounding in the fender opening and pinch weld where the tire contacts it, installing a small body lift in order to raise the fender out of the reach of the wheel, or replacing the rims with ones having more backspacing thus sucking the tire in towards the frame but then you risk the tire rubbing on the frame at full turn.

cathead

I put the wheels and tires on Craigslist and will just use the stock wheels.