First off I'm new here and I look foward talking with fellow Ford truck owners. I traded my 03 F-150 supercab in on a used 08 F-150 Lariat supercrew with 84000 miles on it. There are some things about this truck that are starting to make me wonder if this was a good ideal. First of all the bed on this truck seems to wiggle alot just by hitting small bumps like expansion joints in the highway. I noticed this by looking in the side mirror going down the road. Bigger bumps like railroad tracks don't seem to make it do this. Is this normal for these trucks? Second thing the hood seems to shake more that normal when you pass something like an semi thats coming from the opposite direction, I've stopped a couple of times to make sure the hoods secure good. One thing I noticed is the pastic cover that goes over the radiator that has the belt routing drawing is missing. I'm wandering if this missing part is allowing a big gust on air to blow up under the hood and make it shake like it is.Why would this part be missing unless the truck has been wrecked. When I bought the truck they showed me a car fax but I don't know how accurate these things are, whats got me worried is where it says" last reported mileage is 28543 miles" . What about the other 55457 miles that they don't know about. I don't know maybe I'm parinoid because I got rid of a good truck that never gave me any problems at all. There are a couple of other things that bug me about this truck but hey it's a used truck with 84000 miles on it so it aint gonna be perfect. Does anybody know where I can get that plastic cover part above the radiator?

 

F150's shake all over, every panel on mine shows some vibration.

 

Bed shake is normal.
Can you take a pic of the fan/radiator shroud area of your truck? It would be easier to visually compare.

Also for the hood. Try adjusting the hood bumper stops. When you open the hood there should be two little mushroom looking screws one on each side out by the fenders. If they don't contact the hood when closed then I could understand a little hood shake. Otherwise it should not shake while passing.

 

I have never noticed the bed shake on mine but shortly after buying it I put on a roll up cover and then two swing out toolboxes. I am not sure if that helps or not but I don't have the shake many talk about.

 

Also go over it and see what might need to be done. The factory shocks are pretty crappy so I would suggest changing the rear ones out. They can get worn out quickly if the last owner towed a lot or hauled stuff in the bed on a regular basis.

 

The carfax report will only show reported issues and the mileage of that reported issue. If the last warrant work/wreck/title change/etc was at 28543 miles then that is good. I know my truck had a panel replaced sometime in the first 15,000 miles of is life but it was never reported on the carfax, so I don't think they are completely accurate.

 

You can get around it by taking it to a shady shop or doing it yourself. Dealers or reputable shops will report to carfax.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I'm gonna put some Bilstens on all 4 corners and see if that helps. I wish I could tell ya'll the correct name for the plastic part I'm talking about. The best way to discribe it is it looks like it covers the gap between the radiator, Ac condensor and the radiator support. From pictures I've seen the hood latch also come up through it. I'm thinking the best way is to go to a junk yard and get one off a wrecked truck. Also there's a low knocking type noise after the truck warms up and is idling. I opened the hood but I don't hear there it's just from the inside that I hear this noise. When I give it a few revs it seems to quit.

 

The shop I work for is very Reputable.
However we do not call up Carfax with repair information.
We repair tens of hundreds of vehicles each year.
We're not going to spend the time reporting to them without recompense.


The cover over the radiator helps to direct airflow through the radiator.
A replacement from a parts yard is fine.
The correct stickers for your model truck and engine are available from the dealers parts department.

Check that the hood has all of the spacers that hold the gap space solidly.
There are rubber and other adjustable fittings that when in opposition to the hood latch hold the hood firm.

I'm thinking that the truck has been damaged and the repair was not fully completed.
Things such as the missing cover and the poor hood fit are common to shoddy repairs.

BTW Welcome to FTE!

 

I worked at an autobody shop and I would have to agree with Shorebird. This truck most likely was in an accident and the shop did a half-a$$ job to get it out the door.
Welcome to FTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Bed shake is common on these trucks, but not hood shake. I agree with Shorebird and 79 camoford that it probably had some collision work repaired.

 

My 07 doesn't have a huge plastic piece under the hod, and all the stickers are there. My hood doen't shake nor the bed for that matter.
Check them rubber bumpers and especially the two lower "overslam" bumpers that are supposed to contact the back side of the grille at the lower edge just above the bumper when shut. Without them in contact, hard headwinds will push in on the grille and bow the hood up .... which is aluminum.

I agree with the shop who doesn't send carfax info in, I never look for it anyway and they want to sell info, but not buy it.

 

The reason I think this part is missing is from looking at the Volant web site. The picture for their cold air kit for 04-08 F-150's shows the part I'm talking about. It could be a generic picture but the location of things like coolant tank and such looks like under the hood of my model of truck.

 

Also on the K&N web site step 34 on their installation sheet you can really see it good. It's probably no big deal I only noticed it when looking at cold air kits. I'm gonna take it to a body shop and see if they can adjust the hood.

 

I know what you're talking about, I've seen them in underhood shots .... but then some don't have the same big one. I know mine's "all there", it still has the stickers on it.
Drove it about 150 miles today, after this thread I watched close, no hood shake or bed shake.

Here's 6 bumpers located under my 07's hood, all are in contact when the hood is shut, the lower two are the "overslam bumpers", they also contact the back of the lower grille when shut.