My wife's 2000 AWD Mountaineer had a vibration in the front end (right side it felt like). The vibration started at about 60 mph and tapered off a little over 70 mph. I checked everything on the front end and the right wheel bearing had a good bit of play in it. I removed the hub and you could feel that the bearing was bad so I replaced it with a new hub and installed some new shocks as long as I was at it since her's were getting to be in bad shape. I test drove the vehicle after installing the new hub and the vibration is considerably worse, it seems as if all the play in the wheel bearing may have been damping the effects of the vibration and now with eveything tight the vibration is worse. I also rotated the tires at the same time I did the work, I'm going to rotate them back tomorrow to see if that has any effect on the problem. Any ideas what could be causing this vibration? Thanks.

 

how about ball joints? put a jack under the A frame, not the truck frame. Jack the tire up 2 inches off the ground. put a 2 x 4 about 4 feet long, one edge under the tire and pry it up and down. look for movememnt in the ball joint and tie rod ends.

 

I thought it would have been ball joints or tie rods too but I checked them and they are all tight, no play at all. Maybe it's a tire balance problem.

 

Tire balance is the first thing I'd check for a vibration that is related to speed. Take it to a reliable shop and have the tires checked for balance. You might also want to make sure that wheels are not bent, tires are not out of round.

Good luck,
George

 

FWIW, had situation like yours, followed all the routine diagnosis and repairs, removed wheel weights and installed beads (improved immensely) but still had shake intermittently.

Chased this condition for a yr, finally a tread separation condition showed up. Replaced tire set, lo and behold shake is history.