For those that don't know, I work for a Lincoln-Mercury dealership, hence the information I post from time to time. And we don't see very many Ford vehicles, since we're outnumbered by two larger Ford dealerships in town. However, I got my chance at fixing an '04 F150 with a steering wheel nibble at 45 mph and higher. Just thought I'd share some observations and scuttlebutt that I heard through the grapevine, since a lot of you guys with vibration concerns are kinda kept in the dark by your dealers.

Okay, '04 Lariat 4x2 Supercab, build date 12/03, didn't check to see what axle was in it, has approx. 21000 miles. First order of business was to get initial readings using the EVA (Electronic Vibration Analyzer). A TSB told me that roadtesting the truck for 20 miles (yes, 20 miles) was required first off to eliminate any flat spotted tires before gathering intial readings. So, 20-25 miles later, with the EVA sensor placed on the steering column, I discovered I had a first order tire vibration of around 12-14 Hz.

"First order tire vibration of 12-14 Hz? What's that?" Well, to understand vibrations, we first must understand that everything in a vehicle vibrates at a certain frequency. This is the questionable vibration's fingerprint. Knowing this frequency can help us isolate the components in question. Very generally speaking, most tires vibrate in the 9-15 Hz region, driveline vibrations are 20-35 Hz, and anything higher is an engine accessory concern, typically 50-70 Hz if I remember right. Vibration "orders" are the number of times the vibration occurs during a cycle, or rotation of the component. So, let's say we have one bump in a tire, and every time it rolls around it shakes, that's a first order vibration. Two bumps, second order, and so on.

So, following TSB 04-25-07, I rechecked roadforce variation and imbalance on all tires. These tires are supposed to be balanced within 10 grams of zero, just to give you guys an idea of how sensitive these things are to tire imbalance. For a P-metric tire, anything over 24 lbs I believe is unacceptable. The highest this particular truck has was about 15 lbs. After rebalancing and obtaining roadforce variation numbers, the next step is supposed to be to mark the high point of roadforce variation on the tire, break the tire down and index to 180 degrees opposite of that high point. (any other dealer guys out there, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm going on memory at this point) I admittedly skipped this step, since I had no tires with more than 15 lbs of roadforce and none requiring over 4 ounces of weight to balance.

After rebalancing and indexing, the tires with the lowest roadforce variation are to be placed on the front of the vehicle. The lug nuts are to be torqued, and using a feeler gauge, check for equal clearance all around between the wheel and hub. A .024" guage fit snugly. If it ain't even all around, rotate the wheel one more time and try again until it is.

Roadtested one more time, and my vibration was still there, although somewhat diminished, and shifted to the higher end of the speed range, say 65-70. EVA readings were still a solid 12 Hz, indicating a tire concern. Called the tech hotline (affectionately known as "Dial-A-Prayer") and picked their brains for a bit. Seems like a lot of steering nibble problems are being fixed with revised rack and pinions. Apparently, the clearance between the rack gear and pinion gear is loose enough to where more vibrations than normal from the road are transmitted up and through the steering column to the wheel.

TSB 03-20-08 references this, but only for trucks built before August '03. Or at least that's what I thought. Turns out that regardless of the build date, a lot of nibble concerns have been fixed with the latest and greatest steering racks.

So, now I'm at an impasse. Rack's ordered, so whenever the customer returns, I'll give y'all an update. The same customer had the 04B23 butyl pad recall too, so if I remember that day, I'll bring my camera in and take some pictures so y'all can see what Uncle Henry says the official procedure is.

 

My trucks build date is 09/03 and I don’t have a nibble problem. Lucky I guess.

 

Mine was an April '04 truck, it has a bit of a steering nibble when cold but clears up after 3-5 miles or so when the tires warm up. Just FYI for guys who've been stonewalled by their dealers.

 

very intersting. My truck is in the shop for a few things right now..steering nibble included. They told me they rotated the tires and it went away. I wasnt real happy with this and told the service manager I didnt think it was gonna be the fix in the long run. He said he was gonna take another look at it when it gets back from the body shop. Guess I'll call him on monday and tell him to look into this TSB. Seeing how im leaving for Florida on tuesday and wont be back for a week, and wont be able to get my truck 'till the end of that week...lets see, thats 2 more weeks he has my truck to work on it., thats plenty of time.

Thanks for the info

can I go online somewhere and get my build date??

 

Your build date will be on the drivers side door pillar on the white sticker near the bottom.

 

Yeh...only problem is that its 273 miles away and I cant get to it for at least 2 weeks.

 

VIN?

 

one helluva post Quintin...You are definately an asset to us all

 

That is great detailed info. I had a high speed nibble at 72 mph+ the roadforce balance fixed it for now, since you mentioned the recall I bought this 04 fx4 used the build date is 8-03 what is the recall about and is my truck affected.

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=185405

Applies to trucks with 6.5' beds depending on build date.

 

My VIN...1FTPX14574KB44600

 

Your truck was built on 10/22/2003. Rack replacement would probably fix your steering concern.

 

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. Im gonna call the dealer tomorrow and tell them to look into it.

 

Brew, your build date is also on the original window sticker..

What dealer??

My nibble comes and goes at 65-70. It can appear or disappear going around a big curve on a highway. I'm convinced it has to do with the front tires running in sync with each other. When I rotate at 7500 I'm going to get the dealer on this..

 

Funny thing...I just picked mine up from the dealer last week having had several issue's with TSB's resolved (the nibble not being one of them). I left the dealer and got up to speed on the highway. As I hit around 70 and above, I felt the dreaded nibble on the stearing wheel. I just had my oil change and tires rotated too. It went away when I would slow back down under 70....but came back at 70 and above. Now the only time I've ever noticed this is when I first got the truck before my first tire rotation. Then, it was only a one or two time occurance for a short amount of distance. It never came back or concerned me after that.

Last week, they did replace my rotors in the front per TSB 04-15-01...for the brake shudder...which states to also check the rack and pinion for a green dot on the bar code. If no green dot is present, the rack and pinion is to be replaced. ....the service mgr. informed me that I had the correct rack and pinion though before I left.

Now it makes me curious to check my rack and find out if it's actually got this green dot on the bar code or not. If this has to be replace...i'd like to know. Quintin...do you know what i'm talking about here? Build date...09/2003