I know its been talked about before, the shaking bed or whatever people sees or feels. I still feel a after vibration/shudder from the front suspension, or maybe rear or both. I think, Fieldman, made a post awhile back that Ford knew of this problem and were working on a fix. Has anybody heard of anything? I just came back from a ride and it just doesn't feel like the suspension should do that. I've had other trucks, cars, company vehicles, and have never noticed it. My 2000 Jeep Wrangler rides stiff and harsh on the same road, stiffer and harsher than my truck, but does not have that vibrating suspension feeling. Does anybody else notice this?

2004 FX4 Super Crew
18" BFGoodrich tires 35 psi
3700 miles

 

Yeah, I know just what you are describing, but it is so difficult to describe that it appears in many guises on this forum. IMO, the shock compression and/or rebound rates need some tweaking by Ford. I remember some post-WWII Buicks with marshmallow suspensions that felt the same way (wow...that dates me). It's hard to point the blame at the rear vs the front, but I suspect the rear suspension contributes more to the peculiarity than the front, perhaps a combo of sping rate, shock tuning, and the new shock location geometry.

 

I'm glad somebody else knows what I'm talking about! Yeah, its kinda hard to explain, and maybe someone riding in the truck might not even notice it. My wife doesn't, but she's not "in tune" with the vehicle when she drives. IMO it is more in the front, especially when hitting bumps. But on smoother roads with irregularities it comes from the rear also. If you want to feel it from the front just find a parking lot where you drive 5mph and ease thru a small pothole or bad place in the pavement. I think it may be the "New" bushings that are used where the upper and lower control arms attach to the frame. I think the bed shake is just because of the new sheet metal design, look how the side of your door does when you shut the door! I just can't believe with all of the testing that was done on it and all of the people who reviewed it that nobody noticed it. But, I still like driving it, I guess no vehicle is perfect.

 

Hello-

I noticed this ride characteristic since day one(now after 6 months with NO help from Ford). I think that the is a resonant frequency throughout the truck due to a number of things not being properly matched to the stiffer frame. It's a shame than Ford would allow a truck to act like this. My FX4 4X4 regular cab is terrible when you hit some small potholes in the road. Feels like a 'bowl of jelly', or the familiar 'cowl shake' on a convertible car . Someone said that Ford is going to try and hang weights on the frame somewhere to curb some of this- Who would let a new vehicle out the door to the public like this, when the competition is that tough nowadays? My '98 and '01 F150 4X4 trucks were fine, and did not exhibit anything like this. Any engineers out there working on this problem? I also have been fighting the 'take off shudder' from day one; you know the one that shudders the truck from the start 100% on straight line from a stop-how could this problem be the rear clutches when taking off straight from a standstill? Any one had theirs fixed yet for this version of shudder?-Thanks Dave Christo

 

Well, maybe they haven't fixed it as many of us have never felt it!

Doesn't mean your problem isn't real, just might be diffecult for Ford to pinpoint if only a small number of trucks have it.

 

Mine does not ever have the shudder feeling. Yeah it only takes a very small bump to feel it. It's kinda like a jello feeling or like something is loose, but its not. On some country black top roads the feeling is almost always there. I wonder if all or a large % have this vibrating suspension problem. I wonder if it's only 4x4's, I think they have a different coil spring. I might go to the dealer and test drive the exact truck that I have on the same road, and see how it performs. Some people may think that it's normal, it's not. It kinda pisses me off that with all of the R&D that went into this new design that nobody, repeat nobody, noticed this! I just can't believe that. I think they just said, "Well it's not that noticeable". I guess that's the chance you take on a first model year vehicle.

 

justsomeguy3116

Is your truck a 4x4? I know its a Lariat Super cab. It might only be noticeable on 4x4's. I think some people just think its a normal thing and do not notice it as different.

 

Mine is a 4x4, as you go into it more in further posts I understand what you are describing, and yes, I have it as well. Mine is a supercab with a shortbed so maybe it isn't as bad in the lighter models? I don't know.

 

I noticed this "vibration" through the steering wheel only above 72 mph on the expressway and only certain surfaces. I will be getting my free oil change next weekend and i am going to have them rebalance the front tires and see if this helps. It really doesn't feel like a tire balance issue, just sort of a resonance like was stated ^^^^.

 

A super cab short box may have the same wheelbase as mine or close to it. Yeah its not really a bothersome thing, like I said earlier, my wife doesn't even notice it. But it should'nt be there. I think Ford knows about it, but it's going to be hard to cure, unless its component related. It's actually worse when you hit a hole or bump at real slow speeds, i.e. parking lots.

 

Cincy F150

These kind of problems are kinda like asking somebody "Well what does it taste like?" everybody has a different take on it. See I don't notice anything while cruising at 70-75mph, it actually rides smoother at highway speeds. Which most stiff suspension vehicles do. Try a very small pothole at 5mph and let me know what you think.

 

I'll just contribute one more 'NOT' to this issue and then get off the subject of this 'tuning fork' or 'bowl of jelly' topic some of us notice. It is NOT a tire issue, i.e. tire brand or tire pressure. I swapped my wimpy Generals for some slightly more aggressinve P165s and experimented with tire pressures to no effect.

dg and dave...some of your descriptions and analyses are on the money (worse over pavement cracks at slow speed, cowl shake comparison, new frame, etc.). It's a mystery why more don't seem to be affected by it (like the bed shake). However, it's pronounced enough that I'm positive that Ford egineering is aware of it and we'll see a frame/suspension mod on the '05s.

 

Grimalkin

You are 100% correct that it is NOT a tire issue.

 

I just recently upgraded from a"93 SCab 4X2 to this '04 SCab 4X4. The '93 had the best shocks on it I could find. Believe me there is no comparison in the highway ride. This '04 is much more solid. Some of the pavement cracks on the road I drive every day resonated thru the cab enough to make you grit your teeth in the '93 and they're barely noticeable on the '04. The ride on some of the washboard roads I drive on a regular basis is not much improved at slow speed except the '04 still feels more solid. I would think a rougher ride would be expected with the 4X4. When I bought that '93 I thought it was the best ride I had ever seen in a truck and now I think that about this new one. My dad has a '99 Superduty and it rides more like the '93 did. It's my opinion that we are much better off than we were a few years ago. I would hate to see them add more weight to this truck to make it drive less like a truck. It has all the "road hugging weight" it needs already.

 

I don't want to have any more weight added either, that would mean lower mpg. The truck rides great, better than any truck ever. It just has a vibrating suspension problem.