nubbins_

Greetings good chaps,

So I've been having some erratic vibration problems with my 2018 on the freeway. It used to be on and off at about 59mph-65mph, any lower like on a local two-lane highway it would be smooth, and any higher on the freeway it would go away. Basically low-frequency shaking and jerking through the steering column, floor and seat at that speed, nothing too violent but definitely easily noticeable and annoying. I ended up taking it to the dealer to get it fixed along with a laundry list of other things; they checked wheel balance and replaced the rear right tire with a new one. It seemed to get a bit better. Jerking actually is a better descriptor due to the inconsistent nature of it.

For the past few months, I rode around with ~150lb of sand strapped in the front of the bed, which I removed earlier this week. Upon going to an empty truck again, it rides significantly better, but the vibration is coming back on the highway. It's baffling as the shaking isn't predictable enough to be consistently reproducible, yet too frequent to be sporadic, if that makes sense. It has no relation to the bumps in the road, which I am well acquainted with as I've been driving the same commute with my last two trucks. Bumps or no bumps in the road, foot in the throttle or coasting, it doesn't matter.

At this point, I'm not sure whether the dealer would be able to find anything due to the irregular nature of the issue. Could it be something other than the tires? My truck sat on the lot for 8 months before I bought it, but if it had flat spot problems on the tires, wouldn't the problem be more consistent, severe and noticeable?

Both of my last trucks also had the Fortitude HT as stock tires, and while I had no illusions about their wet performance, I found them to ride quite smooth, even on the exact same commute. This is the first time I've run into this issue. Logically, I would think that getting new tires would solve the problem, but what I don't want to do is prematurely drop a bunch of money on Wildpeaks and find that the vibration wasn't actually due to the tires.

caperJ

I have had those tires and were smooth I find that the rims tend to collect mud and crap on the inner rim and if a little off in air pressure cause this. Make sure to take high pressure hose to the inner of the rim and ensure correct pressures as this has plagued in the past.

idrive

iTrader: (3)

^^^ Excellent suggestion

SwatDawg15

This. Mud and dirt tends to collect on the inner rim. Drove me crazy until I figured it out.

nubbins_

Thanks for the suggestions guys. [Un]fortunately, the rims are pretty clean both inside and out; the truck only has just shy of 1500 miles on the clock. As for tire pressures, the last dealer visit they were all topped up to about 35 psi. I was running at about 30 psi prior to that visit and it didn't seem to make much of a difference, but I might drop the rears down to roughly 33 to see if it helps.

My next dealer visit is coming up soon, as I need to have them take a look at the vibration again, address the obnoxiously creaking brake pedal, a popping sound in the door when opening/closing, as well as the infamous 5.0 rattle that has finally surfaced.

marinatruck

nubbins_

Well, I haven't ruled it out completely. One tire was replaced because I suppose it was just terribly out of shape, but I need to go read the work order again to see what else they did. The tire is indeed new but not much seems to have changed.

nubbins_

Well, I ended up bringing it in for a second visit. The creaking brake pedal was fixed and the rattle TSB was applied, but nothing was done about the vibration because it's most prominent and easily noticeable at 90-100 kph. We just got snowed on heavily and the speed limit in the immediate area around the dealership tops out at 90 kph highway. The advisor is resistant to the idea of taking it just a little further over the tunnel to where the speed limit is 100 kph, despite the fact that's where I spend the majority of my 30km commute feeling the shuddering through the steering wheel and seat.

I went for a road test the first day with the lead tech, who was a pleasant fellow and although it wasn't possible to test highway speeds, he instantly noticed the steering wheel being off at about the 1 o'clock position as soon as we switched spots and started driving again. He described it to the advisor and suggested it might be worth a look in the meantime.

By the time I picked it up today, the advisor had somebody else on the job and the "front end mechanic" was visibly displeased with the fact that I disagreed with his findings. Turns out, according to him when I asked, the "lead tech is the lead tech" and he's the "front end expert". Spent the entire drive giving me a pointless lecture about electric power steering assist, which doesn't help me at all considering it's 100% biased clockwise (towards 1 o'clock) all the time, regardless of which direction the road is crowned in. The work order has an entire paragraph about how Lane Keeping Assist is responsible for it and how customers should be made aware of it (I was "made aware of it").............my truck doesn't have goddamn Lane Keeping Assist.

There was one thing he said that did make some sense - driveshaft balance could be part of the picture as well. It's just illogical that it's got something to do with the tires, considering one of them got replaced and all of them came back positive on the road force balance results. I was advised to wait another few thousand kilometres until my tire rotation; I'll be damned if I put up with this problem for that long.

At this point, I'm debating whether I should go ahead with getting the tires. They may or may not solve the problem, and the dealer may or may not be accommodating enough to diagnose the issue further with Wildpeaks on.

Wicked ace

I don't if it applies to you but a few of us here have this going on:https://www.f150forum.com/f118/2016-...7589-a-429311/
Read through and see if it's what you are feeling.

gregsf150stx

I think i might have this issue. does it "creak" when you let off the brake? If so, what was done to remedy it.

What is the "rattle" you got fixed with a TSB?