'06 F150 XLT 2wd 5.4 10.25" rear,7 lug, Reg Cab, 8ft bed.

Dad bought used 10/'08 with ~20K miles.

Truck always seemed to just be loud in general. Booming over bumps in the road with an empty bed. Not noisy, just a constant low vibration/resonance throughout the truck. Mostly notable when driven solo.

~35K mile; Original General tires were replaced with BFG T/As this helped with the 'I can feel running over an ant' syndrome. Tire pressures were always checked cold. Truck is lightly used, payload wise. Alignment done.

~40K miles; After new tires installed it was noted that every other inside tread block was wearing on the front. Easily noticeable after driving on dirt/dust and then on asphalt. Checked front rotors, one piece hub in rotor design, they were at the service limit and bearing replacement alone(if rotors were good) was cost prohibitive. Replaced rotors with Raybestos units.
Steering self-centering improved, reduction of some vibration.

~60K mile; Replaced rear gear oil before road trip. This removed suspected gear noise, a considerable amount of chassis noise, and some slight chatter that was developing when going around a corner. Also removed a considerable amount of, for lack of term, bed booming over bumps in the road.
Checked serpentine belt, noted no cracks but what appeared to be glass and debris embedded in belt. On belt replacement the grooved idler pulley was found to be sloppy. Due to the air cleaner snorkel intake it is hard to note this pulley unless one is looking directly for it. Replaced pulley and belt, and cab resonance/noise was eliminated. Very quiet at highway speeds.

~62K mile; Dipstick ATF seemed to be a bit darker than normal red, not burnt. Replaced AT filter and ATF in pan ~4.5 quarts, cleaned slurry off pan and magnet. This removed a slight murmur noise, and a strange shift event that would occur if throttle was modulated too quickly from a slight roll after a stop. Not sure if this shift event has anything do to with the above mentioned known transmission problem.

 

Welcome MADMIKE ..... you looked deep to find this one!

Like 8 years deep.

Even from way before I had my '07 FX4 Scab Flareside / 5.4 / 3.55s/ 43K miles now / secret weight mounted atop the rear frame rail .... and NO vibes .

 

So this vibration thing has been a common problem ? I bought a 2005 last year and at times the steering will just about shake out of your hands . I always thought it was just the tires needing balanced or maybe replaced. Being a used truck I have no idea how many miles on the tires . Truck has 91k . So far I havent been able to pin down a certain time or speed for the shake. Seems pretty random . Maybe more in the 50 - 60 speed.
Has anyone found a for sure reason or has most of the effort been toward tires ?

 

I have a 05 I bought new in November of 05, It currently has 121k+ miles on it I have the vibration its most noticeable between 53 and 60 MPH range then again at around 70MPH but not as bad as the around 55. The vibration was worse with the 2nd set of tires the truck had. The current set plus the set before the vibrations hasn't been as bad.

 

I cannot say definitive, but on dads '06 after new tires were installed the truck was quieter, but a light vibration was noticed in the steering wheel. It was almost imperceivable, an auditory event. I was able to induce a slight shimmy if I hit a few cats eyes on the freeway, nerf two or three while changing lanes and then let the steering wheel go after the lane change. The wheel would have a slight shimmy, while on smooth freeway surface(not hitting cats eyes).

If the brakes were gently applied, not enough to cause any slowing, the vibration would go away in the steering wheel.
There always seemed to be quite a bit of pad knockback, it was unnerving as it was easily created by simply weaving the truck back and forth in the lane, not 'tire warming' aggressive, just a gentle back and forth pendulum like motion.

From past experience with 94-04 Mustang front wheel bearings failing/front spindle nut not fully torqued it would cause knockback. I suspected the same with dad's '06 F150. Initially was just going to re-torque the spindle nuts and see if it was a simple loss of clamp load. However, when I was inspecting the pads and rotors, I noticed how worn they both were, brought them to be checked for runout and rotor thickness, both of which were well out of spec, the wheel bearings were very easy to spin.

Replacement of the rotor/wheel bearing assembly removed the vibration and pad knockback.

Centric(StopTech parent company, Power Slot rotors) has an upgrade kit which replaces the one piece hub/rotor/bearing assembly into a two piece divorced rotor and hub. This might aid in adding more mass to the assemble for better heat dissipation, but that is just my crapshot theory.

We have suspected the truck was abused by its original owner, it was purchased as a Used Certified from Hayward Ford. It wasn't until a road trip last year did we notice the truck had been towed/flatbedded in the past(damage to a few tow hook holes in the frame). Along with a spare chrome 6 lug wheel, the truck is 7 lug.

 

I have a 2004 SuperCab with around 121000 on it. I bought it used about 16 months ago and have the Vib at right around 58 or so since I got it. I've changed out the entire front suspension and rear shocks. I thought one or two of the Cooper tires I had put on it were the issue since the vibration seemed to move from the rear to the front and vice-versa when I would have the tires rotated (with every 3k oil change).

I started taking it to the dealer when the bed of my truck was visibly shaking at speed. They said the wheels and tires were fine (I had them check the tires for an out of round condition) but that the balance was off. Over the past month or so I've taken it in twice and each time they had thrown their balance weights. At this point my mechanics are at a loss. I've considered having the frame checked for alignment as well as having the drivetrain checked for something out of balance but I don't have high hopes of ever eliminating the Vib. It wouldn't be so bothersome if it didn't happen right at the normal cruising range...

 

I've had two of these trucks. I bought my '04 new and totalled it last year when someone pulled out in front of me. It had the "vibration" all of its life of 155K miles.

Now my replacement '05 also has "the vibration". I've gotten used to it. While owning two of these trucks I feel its just built in vibration.

 

My 05 is pretty smooth. 150k mi, original suspension parts and bushings (including ball joints) 33" bfg all terrains are somewhat notchy, but no vibration as most are describing.

 

The truck started getting noisy again, it is currently at 69Kmiles.
I thought I had replaced one of the smooth idlers, and am now dismayed to see that the grooved unit is what was bad. Replacement seems wobbly(IIRC it was a 'GOODYEAR' brand), along with one of the smooth idlers. BAH!
Might just change them all out and see if that improves anything.
We never did get around to doing a full change out of fluid, and the trans has become noisy again. I'll chock that up to us not replacing all the fluid in short order. Will replace all fluid gradually this week, weather permitting.

 

I have this issue and it bugs the hell out of me .. CONSTANTLY having to correct the steering while going over bumps..... i wish i could find out what it is... i mean I've already replaced Ball joints tie rods... I'm thinking its

- the one piece rotor design....
-the steering rack
-road force balancing which is also $$$

so i just wanna know what it is first before i fork out the cash...

I DO know that the steering wheel vibrates noticeably when turning the wheel to the right when in motion

any luck anyone? also a quick bump

 

I get a good amount of shaking in the steering wheel only, most noticeable on the freeway going about 70-75mph.

Would a tire balance be worth it?

 

I get a good amount of shaking in the steering wheel only, most noticeable on the freeway going about 70-75mph.

Would a tire balance be worth it?

 

Certainly does not hurt to have your front wheels balance checked. If that doesn't fix it, a wheel bearing and ball joint inspection, if that isn't it, control arm bushings, sway arm end links, steering rack, shoudn't be anything more than that, unless an upper motor mount is known to become lose.

 

Hm thanks for the tips.

Not sure if it's related or not but a sudden brake from high speeds does cause a nasty bit of vibration/shaking as well. Brakes themselves work just fine and at under 50mph speeds this isn't felt.