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Vibration at highway speeds, worse on decel...


GodAmRanger

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As the title says, I've had this whirring, howling, vibration when I hit highway speeds, >50mph.. I've had the truck at 3 different techs; 2 of them felt the vibration, but neither of the 2 had any ideas of what it might be. They checked rear driveshaft u-joints, wheel/tire balance, alignment, front wheel bearings/hubs, and said the rear axle bearings seemed tight.. Truck is a 2004 Ranger 4x4 ext Cab.. Rear axle code is: 97 (Open 4.10 w/ 10" drums).

I've replaced: front UCAs, stabilizer bar links/bushings, front shocks, one of the front wheel bearing/hubs, front driveshaft..


Bearing tolerances of both front/rear axles seem fine to me.. I haven't been able to check pinion angle, and what I do know is that my leaf spring bushings are a little beaten, and I do have signs of s small leak around the output seal of the t-case..

Vibration feels like it's coming from the middle/rear of the truck. I can feel it in the pedals, but it doesn't feel like a warped rotor/drum. The truck does it in neutral, and the vibration gets worse going downhill, when coasting or off the throttle..


Any ideas?
 


GodAmRanger

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No one, eh?? Well, I picked up another 8.8 2 days ago.. It's got the Trac-Loc in it, which is a lot nicer to have than the open diff.. I'm hoping to swap that out in the next week or so, just waiting on some Explorer leafs and new shackles, and I'll be swapping away!!
 

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Have you checked the rear axle fluid? If it's all black/gray and metallic, then no doubt it's something in the axle.

A vibration on deceleration or coast can be a bad or loose pinion bearing.
 

GodAmRanger

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Thanks for the response!!! I had been leaning towards a pinion bearing, since the shops said that the u-joints seemed fine, even after they pulled the drive shafts out of the truck.. I have been working so damn much that I haven't had time to even check the fluid quality, but I know there's fluid in there.. I just ordered a girdle that I was going to put on the newer 8.8, but I think when I pull the old axle, I'm going to have it rebuilt with another limited slip..

The only things I'm waiting on are the new leafs and shackles, and a weekend off to do the swap.. If work stays this busy, I may have to drop the truck off somewhere to have a shop do the swap for me since I can't go without my truck since I commute 75 miles each way to work..
 

dla

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As the title says, I've had this whirring, howling, vibration when I hit highway speeds, >50mph.. I've had the truck at 3 different techs; 2 of them felt the vibration, but neither of the 2 had any ideas of what it might be. They checked rear driveshaft u-joints, wheel/tire balance, alignment, front wheel bearings/hubs, and said the rear axle bearings seemed tight.. Truck is a 2004 Ranger 4x4 ext Cab.. Rear axle code is: 97 (Open 4.10 w/ 10" drums).

I've replaced: front UCAs, stabilizer bar links/bushings, front shocks, one of the front wheel bearing/hubs, front driveshaft..


Bearing tolerances of both front/rear axles seem fine to me.. I haven't been able to check pinion angle, and what I do know is that my leaf spring bushings are a little beaten, and I do have signs of s small leak around the output seal of the t-case..

Vibration feels like it's coming from the middle/rear of the truck. I can feel it in the pedals, but it doesn't feel like a warped rotor/drum. The truck does it in neutral, and the vibration gets worse going downhill, when coasting or off the throttle..


Any ideas?
Two things:

First, the howling when decelerating is likely due to your ring & pinion backlash. Either your gears have a million miles on them without fluid or somebody installed them without setting the backlash. As the carrier bearings wear, the backlash increases, and howling begins.

Second, the vibration is coming from your drive line. If you did a home lift job then it is possible that the two ujoints are out of phase enough to vibrate. Or it could be that your driveline is bent. Or you could just have a bad ujoint.

So two different issues.

Oh and by the way, a bad tire will cause weird vibration.
 

96firephoenix

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I also got some vibe from the aftermarket replacement shackle mounts that I put on ... they are just enough oversized to let the leaf springs shake on decel.

Adding a swaybar helped a little bit, but it's still an issue.
 

GodAmRanger

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Two things:

First, the howling when decelerating is likely due to your ring & pinion backlash. Either your gears have a million miles on them without fluid or somebody installed them without setting the backlash. As the carrier bearings wear, the backlash increases, and howling begins.

Second, the vibration is coming from your drive line. If you did a home lift job then it is possible that the two ujoints are out of phase enough to vibrate. Or it could be that your driveline is bent. Or you could just have a bad ujoint.

So two different issues.

Oh and by the way, a bad tire will cause weird vibration.

Definitely thinking the more I read this that the pinion bearings may be a major contributor. I've got my shackles in, just waiting on the leafs. I should be picking them up today, so essentially:

- Different 8.8
- New shocks
- New shackles
- Newer leafs
- new hardware
- new rear diff. girdle
- new 31" tires w/ new wheels, all road-force balanced

If that doesn't solve my vibration, then I have NO idea what else it might be!!
I'm going to have the u joints swapped, regardless since it is cheap and easy to do with the axle already out of the truck..

Nothing like throwing money at problems!!!! Just gives me an excuse to upgrade stuff..

Thanks for the help guys!!!
 

GodAmRanger

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I brought the truck into a different tech that works in a bldg right next to where I work, and while he was inspecting it, we both noticed that the left rear leaf spring is broke, and incorrectly aligned, which prompts me to believe that all of the vibration I'm feeling is just poor pinion angle, probably attributed to broken/worn suspension parts.. The leaf springs that I ended up getting were junk, so I'm glad I didn't spend much on them.. Going to look at another set today, and then hopefully sometime next week the new rear axle will go in!!


I cranked the torsion bars to 2", once the truck settled, it gave me about 1.5" over stock, and so I put the 31's on, and started noticing a little rumble up front.. Part of me is thinking it's the tires, since it didn't do it that bad with the other tires I had, but I did have a little bit of a moan/rumble coming from the front left..


Also, the 2 Moog tie-rod ends that I put on; BOTH of their boots have torn, and it's been less than 2 months.. I haven't taken the truck off-road yet, however with this past winter being as bad as it was, I've coined the term "urban off-roading" because of the severity of the potholes around here!!
 

dla

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I brought the truck into a different tech that works in a bldg right next to where I work, and while he was inspecting it, we both noticed that the left rear leaf spring is broke, and incorrectly aligned, which prompts me to believe that all of the vibration I'm feeling is just poor pinion angle, probably attributed to broken/worn suspension parts.. The leaf springs that I ended up getting were junk, so I'm glad I didn't spend much on them.. Going to look at another set today, and then hopefully sometime next week the new rear axle will go in!!


I cranked the torsion bars to 2", once the truck settled, it gave me about 1.5" over stock, and so I put the 31's on, and started noticing a little rumble up front.. Part of me is thinking it's the tires, since it didn't do it that bad with the other tires I had, but I did have a little bit of a moan/rumble coming from the front left..


Also, the 2 Moog tie-rod ends that I put on; BOTH of their boots have torn, and it's been less than 2 months.. I haven't taken the truck off-road yet, however with this past winter being as bad as it was, I've coined the term "urban off-roading" because of the severity of the potholes around here!!
I got burned by Moog once, and now I have a hard time viewing them as anything but CCC*















*Cheap China Crap
 

GodAmRanger

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I'm almost thinking you may be right, well, at least so far with their boots and bushings haven't really held up all that well.. I STILL don't have the new axle in, but it's allegedly going in tomorrow, but I won't get it back until Wednesday of next week, since I'm going to be outta town.


I ended up buying new straight brake lines and bent up one of the sides.. It doesn't look tooooo bad, but not perfect.. I don't really care, as I doubt I was getting the old lines off of the old wheel cylinders.. I didn't really care though, as I bought new wheel cylinders, a new rear line, new metal lines and new drum hardware. I wire-wheeled the rear axle and used this stuff called "Corroseal" to see if I can get rid of some of the corrosion. I'm hoping to paint it tonight, and get it in the truck with minimal damage..


Also, in my pursuit of trying to determine the new rumble, came to the realization that when you buy tires/wheels from somewhere online, it's probably best to check the air pressure before putting them on the vehicle. All 4 tires were at or over 75lbs!!!! WTF?!? Thankfully, I only drove on them for a day or 2 before I couldn't take the bumpsteer anymore.. Plus, people were saying that with cranked torsion bars, the ride stiffened up a little, but this was spine-cracking!!! I've had racing suspensions in a couple of my former vehicles, and this was by far, WORSE!!! I dropped them down to 40lbs, and they ride great.. BFG says they should be at 35lbs, so I think I'm a little better than I was, 35lbs later!!


Standby for update after the install!!!!
 

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