Two times in the past two months or so, when driving my 2006 F150 (4 by 4), it develops a vibration in the front end. When i come to a complete stop and then resume driving the vibration is gone. It has only occurred at highway speed.

It happens in 2WD. All four tires are new and they were balanced. The vibration occurs when not braking (ie it is not warped rotors). And there is no snow inside the rims (not yet anyway).

Any suggestions??

Thanks
John G.

 

Usually this is a issue with a tire/tires like being out of balance or a defect in a tire. But it could be a worn fron end component like ball joints or idler arm.

 

If it's like a death wobble thing that is so bad you have to slow to a stop, idler arm is my guess. Tires being out of balance can contribute but won't be the root cause. My day job is this sort of thing. konacarshop.com

 

I am guessing something in the front end linkage or wheel bearings maybe. It could be wheel weights have fallen off, but I guess it would depend on how bad the vibration is.

 

A good possibility is that one or both of your calipers are sticking a bit and causing the front rotors to overheat. This was happening on my 04. They had a TSB for those as it was a problem fou7nd with many vehicles. In your case it may just be dirty slides.

 

John G.,

I am in a similar situation as you.

1. My vibration/shimmy/jittery ride began after install of new BFG Long Trail T/A Tour tires.
2. A alignment and Road Force Balance was accomplished the following week which increased the issue and the vibe/shimmy began at 35mph vs. the 55 mph prior to alignment/balance.
3. I Replaced the front pads and rotors, cleaned/lubed slide pins - 35 mph vibe/shimmy went away but I still had it at 55 mph.
4. The wheels/tires were balanced 2 additional times which increased the issue.
5. BFG agreed to replace tires under warranty which did ZERO to alleviate the problem.
6. I Replaced the rear shocks - no help.
7. Front-end and suspension inspected by dealer and myself - found NO visual defects.
8. RF Balanced 2nd set of BFG tires at a independent tire dealer - found one wheel with a flat spot on inner lip - ordered OEM wheel online for half the cost of Ford dealer - RF Balance increased the issue.
9. I have an appointment on the 11th to install a softer tire and install new front shocks (struts) and new wheel.

If the new tires & shocks do not fix my issue I am trading the STX for a new car. I will drive the '02 Stang GT and Gen. 1 Lightning and the wife will get the new car.

Best of luck...

 

thanks for replys.

Couple additional comments/responses.

Vibration is felt through steering wheel.

It is not a death rattle. It is manageable. I slow down to 55 or so and exit. After coming to a stop and then moving again it is gone.

I put 15 K miles on truck per year, driving it every day on the highway, and it has only done this 2 times in past 2 months. So most of the time it is not doing this. If it was a tire balance problem, wouldn't it do it all the time?

New tires are Goodyear Wranglers.

I will check brake slides when i rotate my tires & change oil this weekend.

Keep the ideas coming.

John G

 

For the most part that's true. A tire that is slightly out of balance but not enough to cause the steering wheel to shake can cause a weak part in the front end to oscillate under the right conditions. Such has hitting a bump at a certain speed. Usually around 45 mph or above.

Above I said Idler arm. I was wrong. For some reason I thought your truck was a 96 and not an 06. 06 doesn't have an Idler arm. It's rack and pinion. Which really makes this a weird problem. The first couple of years of F150's that came with rack and pinions were prone to having this very problem you're describing but as far as I know Ford redesigned the rack in 03.

I'd have the front end checked to see if any of the inner or outer tierods are loose. If you can't find any loose parts, I'd talk to the local Ford dealer and see if there's any TSB's for this issue. I checked the Pro version of AllData and didn't see any. But that doesn't mean there aren't any.

 

Did you ever figure out what caused the problem? Im curious to know because my truck did the same thing

My problem happened after the dealership replaced the IWE actuators

I had a mechanic look at it and he couldnt determine anything wrong with the truck except the u-joint was bad, so he replaced that for me

im having another dealership look at it this week to see if it was the suspension or not

i have a 2005 f150 stx 4x4

 

Interesting to read folks have similar issues. I have a 2015 f150 with 24,000 miles on it. It has been to Ted Britt Ford in Chantilly VA 3 times and they cannot fix the problem. The front end shimmies and shudders between 45 and 55 MPH consistently. I have reached out to Ford as well and it falls on deaf ears. They attempted to rotate the tires and re-balance the wheels. They performed a front end alignment (all at a cost to me even though it is still under warranty) and now it shimmies and shudders just as bad. They said it must be a broken belt in a tire so I not only put new tires on it but I also replaced all 4 rims with O.E.M. Ford rims and the problem is still just as bad. I am going to try again with Ford and perhaps try another dealership but I don't have much hope at this point. Any advice on the new model F150 shuddering would be appreciated!

 

Is it 2wd or 4wd?

 

4wd, 5.0 engine. problem started at around 15k miles.

 

Time to get Ford engineering involved.

When did it start, at what miles?