The first night I drove my new f150 home the rear end was hopping First thing next morning I lowered the air pressure in both rear tires. They were over inflated. My Nephew who happens to be my salesmen said the factory has been know to fill the air pressue to max for loss with temp and storage. Especially during the winter months.

'With that being said' I keep the air pressure on the low end and if i am going to move anything heavy i just ad air before. This worked for me. and it's the nicest ride out of all the trucks I ever owned..FOR SURE!!

https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=3517

There Is A reason for the seperation between the cab and the bed. The last unibody pickup that ford made was 1962 f 100 style cab.

 

WOAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Hauling a Harley?????????? You don't say that in public, what is wrong with you? You will be made fun of in the Harley world for HAULING your bike..........

Just messing with you.... But you can't be serious about this concern, can you?

 

Well perhaps I am not serious BUT since I haven't actually seen this "bouncing" and at least one of the responses leads me to believe that even Ford see this as a problem..then why not wait until there is more information?

 

well the bed movement isn't any more than on past f150's, perhaps more noticable due to the way the cab is mounted, but I won't have ANY worries piling my Road King Classic in the back to haul it some where IF it was broke down and I had to take it to be repaired ..

Beds and cabs have always moved seperate, I think it is just more noticable in the 04's.

 

Drivers concern about bed bouncing uneven from left and right sides and are looking through the side mirrors, remember that the passenger mirror does not reflect the same way as the driver side one. Just a thought, I know it sounds dumb but I'm trying to minimize the concern on something that may not be a problem at all.

 

This afternoon, I confirmed an earlier observation and noted a new one. First, I confirmed that both the left and rear corners of my bed shake equally by visually lining up (in the rearview mirror) the top edges of both rear seat headrests to parallel the top of the tailgate and observing bed movement over sharp bumps. Second, while closing the tailgate, I noticed the bed quiver...seemingly more at the rear corners. So, I whacked the rear bumper corners with my fist and noticed a great deal of trembling/vibration of the bed...more noticeable at the rear corners aft of the wheels. This is definitely a very limber bed, more than I've experienced on any previous PU. And, this quivering/bouncing has IMO nothing to do with the classic torsional bed/cab/frame shifting. This movement seems to be more related to rear suspension dynamics. THE MYSTERY CONTINUES.

 

Grimalkin,

That reminds me of when I brought my '04 to the Line-X dealer. When the Line-X guy saw that I had an '04 F150, the 1st thing he did was open and close the tailgate. He said that they had one in the day before and it had a very obvious quiver when they closed the tailgate, enough so that it got their attention. He didn't say what the bed length was on that one.
My SCrew doesn't have the quiver at all. I also haven't noticed any unusual bed flex/movement while driving.
It might be worth your while to check out a couple of trucks on dealer lot with the same bed length to see if they have the same quiver.

 

Thanks, JohnAndDar...good idea. It also occurred to me that bed length may be a factor. I checked some of the profiles of folks posting on this subject, but not all had an ID of their truck to help in assessing clues. One mystery...you and I both have Screws.

Do you suppose the colors we selected have anything to do with it?

 

Sounds like I need to do another lap with my old SCrew so they can work the bugs out.

Note: I've never noticed my bed shimmy.

 

I agree with F150 Diesel

My screw 4x4 has a vibration coming from the rear. I first noticed it when driving on rough roads (the kind with little potholes everywhere). Now I can feel it when driving down the highway. I hit a few joints in the road and the bed starts resonating so bad my leg shakes, then after a second it smoothes back out. This can not be normal!

I know the bed is on tight so the problem is deeper then that. I've even tried to duplicate the vibration by hand but the bed won't budge. Also I know how normal it is to have cab-bed-frame flex. But My truck frame is 9X stiffer in torsional strength then the previous model. This shouldn't be happening!

smcFx4 might be right about the tire inflation. I'll see if lowering the pressure changes anything.

 

In the continuing saga of the '04's JELL-O bed, I followed JohnAndDar's suggestion and visited a local dealer's lot to slam a few tailgates and pound a few bumper corners. Every bed, regardless of truck model, bed length, or wheelbase had the shakes. I suspect each of those trucks, if driven slowly over a rough or corrugated pavement, would experience the same bed shake others are reporting.

After several experiments with a professional mechanic on hand, we came to a conclusion that the dynamics of bed construction, overhang, the new shock location, and new leaf spring design have all combined in the '04 to make a very limber bed. We also concluded that the JELL-0 bed may be visually alarming to observe in the left side view mirror, but it is a PECULIARITY, not a defect.

 

I've been watching this thread and started checking out my bed to see how it does. The dirt road to my house has potholes that will swallow a VW whole, so I purposely drove through a few. There was a little visible shake (I couldn't tell if it was bed or cab), but very little. I'd guess about 1/2" max.

With the stiffness of this frame, I *think* it can be attributed to the soft mounting of the cab. I don't see any when closing the tailgate. All other trucks, including earlier Fords have a lot more flex in the frame and should be much more likely to have movement between the cab and the bed, unless the bolts are halfway tightened or something. I'm just not seeing anything significant on my end.

 

KJB...when I was flying out of Whidbey Island NAS many years ago, I ran a boat on Lake Whatcom. My girlfriend and I used to explore many dirt roads overlooking the lake or Chukanut Drive on moonlight nights. Perhaps we wandered up your road on such occasions.

 

If you know where the fire station is on Yew St Rd about a mile north of Lake Padden, you know about where I live. I'm straight east of the radio station there, up in the hills. I *almost* bought a house on Lake Whatcom, but the yard was too small. I ended up with five acres tucked away from everything, but only a few miles from everything

 

Know right where ya are...right on! Enjoy...