VA_05_FX4

I searched, so sorry if I'm beating a dead horse with this question.

We've got an '05 FX4 that has been pretty strong up to this point. It's got about 55k on the clock so far. Recently we've had a vibration issue. A few weeks ago my better half was driving. She said the truck was vibrating but I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. It gradually got worse to the point where I could feel it in the passenger seat...almost felt like driving way too fast over rumble strips, but it was continuous.

I've driven it a few times and was able to duplicate it about three or four times, and it's far worse in the driver's seat. The steering wheel shakes so hard it feels like it's going to break off in your hands. If I look in the driver's mirror it is shaking so bad that the bed looks like it's going to fly off. Once it starts it continues at any speed as you decelerate. If you're going 65 and it starts it'll keep shaking as you decelerate to a dead stop. Once you start moving again it's fine, don't even need to turn the vehicle off.

She took it in but they claim they couldn't duplicate the problem, just a "slight vibration at 55." That's a funny definition of slight. With that said--any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks,

-Jimmy

dan58

My guess would be that you have a bad tire, most likely one of the front ones. I've had this happen before where one of my tire was "separating".Visually the tire looked ok, but as soon as I replaced that one tire, the vibration disappeared. It was really bad through the steering wheel and worse at higher speeds.

Hopefully that's all it is.

tygr1

Sounds like shocks.

clpeller

I was just having the same issue. It turned out to be a crappy iob of balancing the tires. Check out this thread though, there are a lot of good ideas. https://www.f150forum.com/f4/steerin...shaking-54227/

camstng66

As I stated in the thread above, rotate your tires to see if it is a bad tire/tire issue... Front go to the back and back to the front... While the tires are off check for anything that looks, feels or smells different/strange... Too much play, worn weird, etc...

Becca

Definitely check your balance on the wheels.

westtnfx4

also check your 4x4 drive shaft u joints for premature wear....they can cause this .

bloodvette

I agree, I would inspect the drive train. Crawl underneath and grab your driveshaft near the diff and try to aggressively shake it or turn it checking for play, knocking or backlash. could be U-joint- I've seen this act like your describing.

I would think a tire would do it at all speeds and it would be there at all times. A driveshaft u-joint failure would act like your describing.

also get it doing the vibration and flip over to 4high and see if this affects the vibration at all- if so its likely in one of the front driveshafts- ie CV joint. actually, you can rule the front drive shaft ujoints with this because in 2WD the front shafts aren't turning. oh and for hints, try steering left and right on the highway while vibrating. all this info saves the mechanic time and the dreaded "it won't do it when i bring it to the shop".

please report back!

VA_05_FX4

Thanks for all of the responses, much appreciated. I'm going to crawl around today and see what I can find. I'll post back and let you know if I find anything out of the ordinary.