I have a 96 f150 4x4 with manual locking hubs. The other day I noticed a small vibration in the front end at low speed and it becomes more noticeable at highway speed. So wanting to see what the problem was I put her up in the air and started to check things out. Everything seems to be tight (ball joints, tie rods, u-joints etc) and there is no play in the bearings. I did notice however that with the hub unlocked if I spin the front right tire I can feel the vibration in the front axel shaft. This kinda has me stumped cause everything seems to be in good working order I still have this vibration. I would really appreciate any suggestion as I am moving eight hundred miles away in a couple of weeks and the truck has to come too preferably in one piece and not on a tow truck!!

Thanks
Dave

 

check the rivets of your crossmember, and the frame spot behind and alongside your steering box. have someone turn the wheels back and forth while you look underneath and look for movement at the crossmember and the steering box.

 

also have you changed anything recently, new tires, brakes ?

 

I'll check the crossmember today and I put new brake pads on a couple of weeks ago.

 

The ujoints good?

 

U joints are good all of them have been changed within the last year.

 

Did you get a chance to check the cross member and the frame by your steering box ?

 

Try switching the front tires, its possible that the tire is failing and throwing it off balance, it happened to my dads ram.

 

Snow finally let up hear checked the cross members they're solid. I noticed a small clunk noise today every once in a while when I hit the brakes. I took the wheel off, after another round of checking and a lot of scratching my head I noticed that the calliper has a bit of up and down movement. I'm guessing that something must be worn in there. I'm gonna pick up a calliper and new slider bolts later on in the week when I go into town hopefully that fixes the problem. If that don't work I'll switch the tire's over and if that doesn't do it then I'll drive it until something breaks then I'll know what the problem is..lol

 

Sometimes the piston in the caliper can stick which could cause the vibration. lol @ drive it till it breaks