So today I was driving into work and my truck started to vibrate around 70mph... I slowed down and it was still vibrating a bit, but after a while it stopped.

I finished the drive to work and visually checked the tires, all looked good and still had their balance weights. Also tried rocking the wheels back and forth to see if a tie rod was broken or something but nothing seemed wrong.

Anything else I should check before I try driving home? Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to the club.

I'll assume you didn't hit any curbs or install anything new. Check your tire pressure and your ebrake. Give me a sec i'll post a link to a really long discussion on this issue.

there it is:
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...teering+nimble

yes it's a stupidly long read but there is a lot of good input in that thread.

 

It was driving fine until 1/2 way to work this morning. Didn't install anything new, just washed it yesterday.

Last night had some pretty bad storms with fairly large puddles on the road... I wonder if driving through them has something to do with it?

 

Not sure really, but I had a vibration issue at highway speeds recently. It had been going on for awhile and I had the tires rotated but that didn't help. Then I had them balance the tires and that seems to have cured the problem.

Worth a shot.

 

Was the vibration in the steering wheel or did you feel it in the seat/cab? Makes a big difference trying to locate the source.

 

i had a random vibration last week commuting to work on the highway. it happend when i let off the throttle, it only did it for about 10 seconds, it was around certain rpms. if i let off too much, it quit, if i put down more, it quit. havent had the problem again.

 

If you feel the vibration in the cab, it may be the exhaust, my dad's 97 F-150 would have a vibration in the cab right around 70 mph and up which was related to the exhaust.

 

Hey shaun, I had the same issue for a long time at aoround 55 to 70 mph. Lower ball joints were a little worn after 15,000 miles. Went ahead and replaced them at around 30,000 miles because they only got worse and did a rebalnce of the wheels while I was at it and fixed the problem. Had tried wheel balancing numerous times before joint replacement and didn't seem to cure it. Haven't had the vibration since. Btw way, if you do a joint replacement don't go oem, they're junk.

 

Yea I'm narrowing down the possibilities. I defiantly think it has something to do with my wheels and/or steering components. I have a new set of Ford OEM wheels on the way pretty soon with some new rubber, so hopefully that will cure it.

It only did it on the highway... happened out of nowhere, and continued for a few minutes, then went away.

How much and what company did you go with for ball joints? I'll have a look at them and see if they show any signs of wear, if so... I'll replace them on your suggestion.

Ball joints a hard job? I'm no mechanic but I defiantly have the ability to do "most" of the work on my truck.

 

They aren't if you have the right tools. lucky for me my neighbor is a mechanic with his own shop his garage. He has a set of ball joint removal and compresion tools. Would recommend having them checked before you replace them. See if they have any play in them. If you do end up replacing them, I got a set of moog lower ball joints at RockAuto.com for $37.95 a piece. those are servicable w/ grease fittings where the oem joints are not

 

Thanks for the info mitch. If they are bad, i'll be going with them.


Drove home today (same route, just opposite) going approxmatly the same speed as when it happened this morning, and nothing. Not a shimmy/shake/vibe/ect.

I wonder if its possible water go stuck somewhere from the 2ft puddles left by yesterdays rainstorm I drove through? I dunno.. probably a stupid thought.

I'll defiantly be keeping an eye out for the vibration and I'll let you guys know if it comes back.

 

Anythings possible.Hopefully that's all it was. Our year trucks were notorious for the steering nibble or vibration at 55 mph and up and that's what fixed mine. I wouldn't do anything to yours unless it needs it.

 

a lot of people on here had problems with the Moog ball joints. search before you buy them.

 

That's funny, I hadn't read any issues with the Moog joints. I've had mine for 40,000 miles with no problems at all. I do know they are way better than the pieces of chit the truck rolled off the factory with!!

 

Alright Impact, hate to call you out on this one but..... just spent 45 minutes reading previous posts on ball joints and my question to you is, (since I just happen to come across your thread on the subject) did you have a problem with the Moog ball joints or did you have a problem with the website that you got the Moogs from? I understand that the site you ordered from listed the wrong part #, thereby you got the wrong Moog for your truck which DOES suck, I definitely feel your pain on that. It sucks to be working on your truck in the cold, have everything apart and lying all over the ground just to discover that you've been sold the WRONG part! Hell, I'd be pissed! Anyway my point is, it looks like you had an issue with the website you ordered from, not the part itself since it wasn't meant for your truck anyway and I am sorry you had to go through that. I also saw you mention RockAuto.com (which I recommened to shaun here) lisited the correct part # for the Moogs. So what did you do in the end? Did you order from RockAuto or did you go oem? I didn't see any followup posts on your situation. I did see one other person of the 15 threads or so that I read who didn't care for the Moogs as he said they wore out faster than the oem ones did, but most everyone's posts seemed to be pretty positive on the Moogs. I guess the only other options anyone would have, would be to go with oem balljoints which I wouldn't recommend, mine started to wear out after 15,000 miles and dummy me waited until 64,000 to replace them (stooopid ) or Spicer ball joints which I don't have any experience with, but I understand they are pretty good as well. Hopefully shaun won't have to do anything!