I have an '05 FX4 with only 35K KM's on it.

Ive been battling an intermittent vibration. Some days its real bad and other days i can hardly notice that a vibration exists. So far I have changed the following;

Tie Rod ends
Tires (Mickey Thompson 315/65/17)
and last week i put on Bilstein 5100's all around.

I thought i was getting closer to solving the vibration for good, but since Ive put on the Blistering 5100's the vibration is worse then before. i actually was very keen to get the Bilstein's installed as I was lookign forward to a smoother ride!

Anyhow, the vibration is back and it is driving me nuts.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on where I might focus my attention?

Thanks,

Mark

 

what is the vibration like? is it a "cicular" type vibration, meaning it comes around every so often intermittantly in what seems like a constant circle? or is it at odd times? what about at different speeds?

Just a thought but have you checked the driveline? What about roadforce balancing the tires? It could be possible one of the tires is out of round or something.. I doubt it, but I have seen it before. any squeeks, squeels or noises associated? What about grinding associated with this vibration?

 

Hey FX4Life, i think i know what you are getting at.

"is it a "cicular" type vibration, meaning it comes around every so often intermittantly in what seems like a constant circle?"

Yes. It really does feel like a tire is out of balance. Problem is that at times i can hardly notice that the vibration is even there. Usually I can feel it through the steering wheel, but I can also feel it in the seat of my pants. I can be driving along thinking all is well and all of a sudden the vibration starts. Then it might go away. BUT it might stay. I dont know what happens, but the vibration can come and go, be light or heavy all on the same trip. It really is frustrating the hell out of me!

No squeeks, squeels or noises associated with the vibration that I can tell of.

Ive addressed the problem on the site before and pretty much everyone figured it was the tires. So I changed tires. I still kind of felt the vibration but it was a lot better.

Then I took off the leveling kit and put on the Bilsteins because my upper control arm was hitting the spring. I figured that this MUST be the end. And as it turned out, the vibration got worse.

So its not the tires and new shocks made it worse?!?!?!??? Im stumped!!!

Im not a mechanic, im only some what mechanically inclined but it seems to me like it has to be a shaft that is either bent or a joint at the end of a shaft that has to much play and floats too much and gets off balance. But i dont know what components would fit that description.

I only feel the vibration when I'm over 90 km/hr as I get on the highway. I typically drive at 110-120 km/hr and that is when I feel the vibration the most. Driving around the neighborhood at under 80 km/hr the vibration is not noticeable.

It has so far cost me a lot of money to change tires, shocks and tie rod ends. i could really use a useful lead as I cant keep changing parts hoping that i change the right one and the vibration stops.

So, any ideas!??

 

What kind of wheels do you have? More than likely you have a warped wheel. I would get a vibration in mine around 50mph but just figured it was the tires or something. Turned out it was a warped wheel. That's my best guess speaking from experience...

 

Had a similar problem recently. And everyone said tires, even a dealership, changed tires and still there. Took it to a second better dealership and they determined it was my steering rack and had it replaced under my third party warranty. Now its nice and smooth. But i also had a real bad drift. i think the defineing symtom in my case was when the truck was not running but the key was on so you could work the steering wheel back and forth just a hair you could hear a slight popping noise coming from the driver front and when i crawled under to look i had my wife work the wheel and i could feel the pop in the rack.

 

Hey Guys,

Yes it could have been a warped wheel, but I have had them checked thorugh out this whole process and nothign is wrong with them.

Hey xj, great suggestion, however I changed that abotu 2 months ago and have recnelty checked it and all seems normal.

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/20...ghlight=nimble

Welcome to the club.

 

Hey impact9,

Thanks for the lead. Welcome to the club ...umm, thanks?? ;-)

Lots to read, but im not getting what a 'nibble' is. Is that a part or is that the word they are using to describe the vibration?

 

it's the steering wheel shaking back and forth seems to get worse the closer you are to the 60mph range. I don't get it all the time and it seems to be worse on hotter days.

 

DXB- UAE heh? What do they have there for service shops? Military or otherwise (yourself) How long will you be there? I had the "steering wheel nibble" and some vibration in the front when I got the truck (after I had put 18' "meat" on in place of the original 17". Don't remember the size right now, but I know they're 9.75" wide. I finally had them "road force balanced" and it took care of the problem. That's the reason I asked what they had for modern equipment there, didn't know if they'd have that equipment or not. It takes someone who really knows what they're doing to do it right, even if they have the equipment. It's not like a regular balance.

 

Hey code58,

Not in the military, civilian life for me over here. Ive asked about road force balancing over here but no one seems to know what the hell it is. They say they know, but then I watch as they put the wheel/tire on a normal balancing machine. I keep looking and I keep asking but I doubt I'll be able to get my tires road force balanced over here.

BTW - what is a code 58?? Figured it must stand for something! ;-)

Impact9 - sounds to me like I have the exact same thing that you have. Long story short - is there a solution?? Truck never did it when it was new, so what happened??

 

could b the road, note when it start, stops, some roads look smooth but will cause major vibration to make u think wtf!? if its at the same point on the road then its the road

 

When I had the new wheels and tires installed (about 200 mi. on the truck), they obviously balanced them. I got the tires and wheels at America's Tire and they have always done a really good job on balancing. I still had some vibration and some nibble (not real bad, would go away SOME when the tires warmed up). I had them RFB and problem solved. RFB, if done right, requires the tire be broken down from the rim and tire and rim matched and then RFB. I don't think they ever had this kind of a problem here before the rigid frames. If it NEEDS RFB, you're never going to get it with a regular balance. It addresses a completely different issue. RFB comes from Europe, but I'm not surprised they wouldn't have it in UAE. Google RFB, if you haven't already studied it, it's interesting.

Search and Rescue

As an aside, DXB- I had an expensive set of Yokohama's on my wife's Camry. They balanced them 4 times in 20k mi. and I said get those things off and throw 'em away. They looked almost like new, but were impossible to balance, and they really tried. They had a cyclical vibration, like you're talking about. Something about the way the tire was engineered, was just BOGUS.