Have a vibration in steering wheel and accelerator. Feels like it is coming from the powertrain. Sounds crazy, but after driving for half hour or so hands on steering wheel and foot on accelerator become sort of numb and achy.
Just traded in 01 Crew, and never had the problem. New 02 is almost identical, except for offroad pkg.

 

Same problem, Ford balanced, replaced, rotated and aligned tires to no avail. Checked driveshaft runout etc. Basically was told to live with it. I'm getting rid of it ASAP, love the truck, hate vibrations.

 

Just curious - What is the opinion of the dealership employees ?

 

Hey all

I have the same vibration- was told by one dealer to live with it. Went to another dealer they added a "damper" under the rear bumper. Its still not perfect, but is much more tolerable. This part they added looks like a large metal rod with flat plates and it bolts under the rear bumper between the frame rails. I cant find where I put the Ford work order ( its in a safe place- ha), but I will try to find it and post the part number.

Judd

 

Strange. That dampener that they mounted under the back is usually there to cure freeway bounce.

In the past, unusual vibrations as you guys have described have come from various places. One, as I recall, was from the exhaust system. Thought they cured that one by adding weights (dampeners) along the exhaust.

I'd call the 800 number and complain about the vibration. It's not something that you should live with. The dealer is full of swill. They should be on the phone with the engineers in an effort to find what's causing the vibration 'cause if you've got it, others will too.

 

Dennis

Thanks for the info. I did tell the dealer I was not happy on the freeway. If they now the damper is for freeway bounce, why isnt it on all trucks from the factory. It cant possibly be that much $$ to produce- certainly less than the ilwill produced by the many owners upset about the vibration.
On another note, I did call the Ford 800 number when I first was told to pound sand from the other dealer. The nice lady at the 800 number actually called me back about 5 times to get more info and to tell me Ford Engineers were aware of the issue and are working on the fix. A few months later was when I took it to the other dealer and basically told them I dont want the truck back until it doesnt vibrate. That was when they put in the damper. I assumed it was the fix from the engineers. Maybe I should dig up that number and call them again to see if that was the actual fix, or just a band aid repair to make me go away.

Dennis, you seem like you've heard of the damper thing before. Do you work for the factory or a dealer and can you shed some light on this for us??
Thanks
Judd

 

Sure would like the name of the dealer who installed the "damper"

 

I can't remember when, but around '99 freeway bounce became an issue. My '99 would be fine unless I had about 40 lbs in the bed towards the back. Loaded that way, the truck would bounce and bounce and jiggle and shudder whenever I went over a bridge joint or joint in the road when I was doing 55+ mph. Never had that problem with my '97 and not all trucks had the bounce.

I lived with it until I read about Ford being able to add the dampener to stop the bounce. Read it here on F150online, of course! The only disadvantage to having the dampener installed is the sucker weighs something like 75 lbs!

 

Look for another thread that says "Buzzing Gas Pedal" and look at the last posting. It relates to the cable from the block to the pedal. Apparently it is attached to the block and is contorted enough to transfer the vibrations to the pedal. The Post-er said they (the dealer) just released the cable and the vibrations went away. We have an '01 built in Nov '00 that has this issue and it is driving the wife crazy. Don't have the steering vibration (Yet! ).

 

I read somewhere on the lightning forum that exhaust and driveshaft issues caused vibrations on F150s and Ford went with a split driveshaft(2 piece) on the 2002 Supercharged Harley Davidson to "smooth out the drivetrain" according to Ford and the 2002 F150 book from the dealer.

Shane