What could be causing my Ranger to feel like it's always riding on a washboard road?

[Hardwareman]

My Ranger is having a really bad problem with the way it drives on the highway and it seems to be getting worse.

Everything's vibrating inside when driving down the highway and it does'nt do it at any particular speed. It's like the suspension is too stiff or something. The steering wheel shakes like a banshee too!

There are some portions of highway however where it feels pretty smooth and does'nt shake like a madman. The balljoints have close to about 500,000 miles on them and have never been changed.The radius arm/ i-beam bushings are the same too. Could this have something to do with it?

I'm going to climb under it later and check balljoints like the manual says and I'm also probably going to go to AutoZone and buy some radius arm bushings and install them tonight. Thanks




Allen

 

[pillen140]

Tie Rods???

 

[Vonrak]

Things i would check,

Tie rods
upper/lower ball joints
hub bearings
bent rim
bad tire/broken bands
sticking e-brake/broken e-brake spring if you run drums on rear.

Vonrak

 

[koda6966]

500,000 miles ?!?!?!?

My entire truck doesn't even have 150,000 on it.

 

[pillen140]

Things i would check,

Tie rods
upper/lower ball joints
hub bearings
bent rim
bad tire/broken bands
sticking e-brake/broken e-brake spring if you run drums on rear.

Vonrak

LIKE HE SAID, the wheel bearings are also a usual on these.

 

[4x4junkie]

Bad shocks should be added to that list as well.

 

[bmxryder]

it sounds like something to do with a tire problem since it only dose it once it gets some speed. maybe your tire weight fell off or some of the above answers. and did you go offroading and then it suddenly happened or something like that?

 

[Hardwareman]

Well it does it at all speeds but it's worse according to the highway/freeway condition. I look over at other Rangers cruising along and their steering wheels are smooth as silk and mine's rattling like a bat out of hell!

On certain areas of the highway/freeway it will roll smoothly but usually it will rattle like hell. It's getting old man. I just bought some radius arm bushings from AutoZone and I'm going to put them in real quick and recheck my alignment.

I'll probably just replace the balljoints this weekend (maybe shocks too if I have enough $$) and have the tire balance checked as well.

Thanks guys.




Allen

 

[Hardwareman]

Well I bought the radius arm bushings but the old ones stilll seem ok to me, nice and rubbery with no play.

I messed with the alignment a little bit but there's still something not right I think. I'll be driving it in the morning to work so I'll post back up to let you know. I still have'nt had a chance to check if there's play in the balljoints or not. Thanks for all the help so far. Later.




Allen

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

My truck has a bad shake on the highway, in the steering wheel, in the seat, all over, just as you describe. It didn't start doing it until i smashed my rear driveshaft on a rock last weekend.

Although unlikely for a street truck, just don't forget about driveshaft balance. Yours to me sounds like a bad tire. Jack it up and see if it's round when it spins. GY Wrangler RS-A's are know for this.

 

[Crunchy]

I have a bad vib/shake over 60 mph.

I know its my wheels off balance. I had my front tires off redoing my bearings a month ago, and I noticed some big globs of grease on the inside of my rims. Stupid me cleaned it off - but I guess my tires were balanced when the grease was present, so now my tires are off balance.

 

[MAKG]

If you suspect bad tires, a trick is to rotate them and see if the shake goes to the rear. Or even changes a bit. If it's a wheel bearing, steering or suspension, it will be exactly the same.

Unbalanced driveshafts shake the whole vehicle, not the steering. Shaky steering alone indicates something attached to the front wheels or axle arms.

I'd suggest lifting the front end and manipulating all the various pivots (with a prybar if needed). Pretty much any looseness anywhere is a problem.

 

[Fast Fords]

check your wheel studs - believe it or not we have had quite a few vehicles come to our dealership with broken studs causing a vibration..just a suggestion to the list above..

 

[exbass94]

Check for sticking brake calipers.

 

[Hardwareman]

Could it be that you had a bad axle and now putting the junkyard one in after the gear install.

Yeah, sorry I have'nt posted here to let everyone know how this problem's been going. I've swapped out the rear axle already (still needs to be geared however) and installed some Rancho-5000 shocks in place of the Pro-Comp ES3000's I had in the rear.

I just took the Ranger in yesterday and had the rear wheels balanced and the alignment redone and I must say...........she's rolling pretty darn smooth right now. When I'm driving down the freeways tomorrow I'll be able to tell better but so far the difference is night and day. Thanks




Allen