You can check to see if this is your problem by re-indexing the driveshaft. This means unbolting the driveshaft from the differential, turning it 180 deg., bolting it back up and road testing for a change in vibration. If you don't feel any change it most likely is not the driveshaft. That way you avoid any unnecessary costs.

In addition, rear end vibration is usually felt more in the floor, but can manifest itself in steering wheel oscillation as well.

 

It is my personnel opinion that tire construction causes nibble. For those of you that have experienced it, when you hit a pothole at speed does your wheel shimmy a bit before straightening out? I feel that the tires are so crappy that even a good balancing puts them at the edge of unbalance and any defect or wear causes it to reappear. After all it is only a slight annoying "shimmy", not something that yanks the wheel out of your hand. Could be they are perfect when taken off the balance machine and screw up when you hit the driveway apron at the dealer or 2k later after tread wear. JMHO

 

True, it is possible that cheap tires could result in a nibble, but after reading hundreds of posts with complaints from people with the nibble problem, running many different tire brands and trying different methods to rectify the problem, I can't agree that tires are the source of the problem, although they can contribute to the problem in varying degrees. For example, a person with a Steering Wheel Nibble (SWN) gets all his wheels road forced balanced (RFB) and the "problem" goes away. A few thousand miles down the road the SWN comes back and maybe this time it's because the calipers are sticking a little, he does another RFB which does not help, next he crawls under the truck and index's the driveshaft, it does not help. He then replaces the tires with quality tires and it does not help. A few thousand dollars later he is wondering if he should trade it in. The contributing factor in this case is the sticking caliper this time, next time it might very well be a tire imbalance. I do agree that components on the front end are the most likely contributors to the SWN issue.

 

From my knot hole, limited as it is, I have found that our Ford F150's are not the only vehicles that have ever had this problem. It is considered to be an inherent problem with every vehicle, and the vibration is reduced through engineering design to a point which is hopefully unnoticeable to the occupants. It seems that all vehicles can exhibit some form of vibration which is not always a steering wheel nibble, but can be squeaks, rattles and other things. From what I have been able to gather it is a vibration in the 10-15 Hz range which can cause the SWN to occur. There are many things on the vehicle that can cause the vibration that can cause the SWN, finding out where it's coming from is the problem. I believe that the F150 3V is built to good (kind of) with their super stiff frame and body. A lesser vehicle would be able to dissipate the vibration through the chassis, but our trucks leave the path of least resistance to the steering wheel and thus the SWN.

 

got a road forace balance...didn't do ****

so my ball joints and road force didn't fix the nibble and the steering stabilizers aren't helping

 

It's something to do with the steering rack. Those who have had it replaced have had luck with getting rid of the nibble.

 

after running at 50 PSI for a while I can say it has definitely helps alot. That's just my truck though.

I can see where all vehicle have a viberation to some degree and our unlimited combinations of tires, shocks, tire pressure, lifts, wear and tear on joints, weight differences, and thickness of paint, can all have an effect on this.

 

i changed my pads yesterday and turned the rotors and it helped DRASTICALLY. I had the shimmy and it was getting worse, and this was while driving, not just braking. somethign worth checking

 

I had my tires road force balanced and it took it away for the most part. I went from about 1/2 nibble from side to side to just a very small vibration. the steering whell does not move but you can still feel it. My rotors are warped and I am wondering if that is the issue. I am going to replace them and the pads and see waht happens. Is it even worth turning the stock rotors? I have heard it is not. In past experience with ford rotors I have them turned and they warp again in the first 1,000-1,500 miles

 

Before you waste money on rotors read this.

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp...rakedisk.shtml

 

Thanks for the link. That is some good reading.

 

Yes, I agree, that is a good article. I thought I needed to have by brakes turned as my steering wheel nibble had gotten worse and was now vibrating under braking. I called up Bear and talked to them about this. They asked if I did any hard braking, which I had not done. They suggested that I take the vehicle out and do a couple of hard braking, disk seasoning type of stops, which I did. The pulsating braking went away, however the nibble is still there, although not as bad.

What I have found, at least with my driving habits, is that I have been going real easy on the brakes which is a result of driving in a gas saving manor. That has caused a build up on the disk surface which caused disk "warped" like symptoms. Hitting the brakes hard a couple of times was necessary to clean them up, use the proper procedure to do this.

 

I know this thread is somewhat 'dead' however my nibble is not.

Has there been any progress on this issue? Any solutions?

 

+1
I have noticed that mine does not shake when the roads are wet. ???

 

Well, there is much information on the web, but I will give you a short version of what I have discovered. All vehicles have a natural tendency to develop a vibration at around 65 MPH. Our trucks, I believe, have the steering wheel nibble due to not being able to allow that vibration to to be absorbed by the stiff frame. The only thing you can do to get rid of it is to make sure everything is perfect. Start with the wheels and have them road force balanced, but you need to work with the shop and spend some money and time by making sure the tires are mounted on the rims with the least amount of run-out and have them balanced as low as possible. Hope that helps.