Vibration!!

[Michaelolson88]

Hello all,

Have a first time problem on my 99’ ford ranger xlt 4x4 4.0. Today out of nowhere my truck started to shake violently at high way speeds and continued to do so until I pulled over. It felt as though I was running over turtles or like I had a flat tire so I pulled over and looked around and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Got back on the freeway and seemed fine until about a mile down the road and did it again at about 60mph and didn’t stop shaking until I stopped. I got back on the freeway and didn’t go over 50 and the vibration didn’t occur again. Any thoughts on this? I definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep driving unless I had pulled over and made sure not to go back over 50. All help would be greatly appreciated. The only newish thing recently was had my tires rotated about 2 months ago

 

[rusty ol ranger]

First thing i would check is lugnut torque.

Tires are heavy, a violent shaking like that is usually caused by a loose tire.

Usually.

I wouldnt drive it untill you figure it out

 

[Michaelolson88]

First thing i would check is lugnut torque.

Tires are heavy, a violent shaking like that is usually caused by a loose tire.

Usually.

I wouldnt drive it untill you figure it out

Just checked the lugnut torque and everything seems to be fine.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Just checked the lugnut torque and everything seems to be fine.

Jack it up and stick a prybar under the each tire and check to see if anything wiggles.

 

[sgtsandman]

Look for thrown wheel weights too. Not common but it happens.

 

[Michaelolson88]

Look for thrown wheel weights too. Not common but it happens.

Just looked at my wheels and noticed I only had wheel weights on three of the tires. Would this cause the truck to shake that much?

 

[sgtsandman]

Just looked at my wheels and noticed I only had wheel weights on three of the tires. Would this cause the truck to shake that much?

Check the back side of the rim and inside the rim for stick on weights. If the tire in question doesn't have any on the back or the inside, then there's your problem. And yes, it can cause the truck to shake that much.

 

[Michaelolson88]

Had my wheels balanced and an alignment done. No avail as it is still vibrating but now at lower speeds. It will stop when I stop and then start up again around 35mph. Could it be a hub assembly or cv axle?

 

[dvdswan]

you have what sounds like a "death wobble on a straight axle". I would check all the steering parts for wear/looseness, then check suspension for the same.

Death wobble occurs when the caster angle less than the ideal approx. 6-8 degrees positive caster (so closer to vertical or neutral caster).

Since your Ranger is IFS, I would seriously look at loose/bent align bolts on the UCAs. Did you see the alignment sheet? It got worse after the alignment right.

Other thoughts could be broken belts in the tires. Balancing should have spotted this. Half shaft joints worn out/ broken.

Did the steering wheel shake or your seat shake?

 

[Uncle Gump]

Well if you had wheels balanced... I would hope they made sure wheel runout was within limits. Also that you didn't have a tire that separated.

If they did an alignment... one would think they checked the front end over before doing an alignment.

If it fells like it's in the front... rotate the fronts to the rear. Test drive it. If it's now on the rear... you have a bad tire or wheel. If it still persists on the front... look over the front end. Your truck also has unit bearings. But like any wheel bearing failure... they typically growl pretty good. You can check for looseness by just jacking it up under the lower control arm and getting weight off the tire. This is a good time to also check ball joints and control arm bushings.

Easier yet is the have someone in the truck while another is looking over all the front. With the weight on the tires... start it up... and turn the wheels from lock to lock. Maybe rock the steering wheel too. If there is something loose... the person looking at things from the bottom will see it.

Dies this truck have a lift or big wide tires?

 

[Manscout]

I did have a tire that was out of round that caused this on me once. It was balanced 3 times before they finally figured it out. If you know where it is coming from, swap another tire to that location or the spare. See if it continues. That will at least help narrow down to steering/suspension or wheel/tire.

 

[Michaelolson88]

Steering wheel didn’t shake aside from the whole cab shaking but it didn’t feel like it was coming up the steering column.

I wouldn’t necessarily say it got worse after the alignment.i drove it to work in the morning and didn’t go over 55 and seemed fine. On the way home it started happening after about 10 miles when I moved into another lane on the freeway going roughly 60. After stopping the vibration started again at about 35mph. And wouldn’t let me get over that without shaking.

I don’t have a lift or large tires. I’m not finding any loose bolts or torn seals or bad bushings. I have some play in the cv axle horizontally. I think my next step would be to rotate my tires.

 

[Michaelolson88]

After my visual inspection I got back in the truck and got on the freeway. Drive about three miles over 60 and nothing happened, got off an exit and back on the free way and after about a mile it started back up after hitting small bumb. The vibration continued as I slowed down even while driving around 15mph and it only stopped once I stopped. It was fine again until I hit another small bump going about 35. I was able to listen to it with my head out the window and it is definitely coming from the front. Has a type of grinding noise.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Did you inspect the unit bearings and front end as suggested?

 

[Michaelolson88]

Yes I did.