In the past 2 days I have developed a severe deceleration vibration. It almost feels as if I have mud tires with every other lug cut out. It also has a rotational squeak/chirp that I have not figured out.

The vibration becomes obvious below 45 mph and between 30 and 20 it is obnoxious. I'm talking rattle the sunglasses in the overhead console obnoxious.

The truck is a 2002 F250 4x4 with 240k on it. The truck has a 4.5" lift (hangers/blocks), 35x12.5x17 Toyo MTs that have no odd wear pattern whatsoever.

In the last 6 months I have replaced the tires, transmission, tie rods and about a year ago I had the drive shaft balanced and new u-joints/carrier bearing installed.

My plan of attack is to go home put the rear up on jack stands and watch the driveshaft. I will then pull the drive shaft and check u-joints/carrier bearing. If they seem okay I will drive it around in front wheel drive and see if the vibration is still there. If it is still there I will swap wheels tires. If it is still there I'm going to start hoping it is not the rear end. Now I just need to do all this before it gets dark tonight.

Any thoughts/ideas/experience? Thanks.

Kyle

 

Well, I might as well update this.

I went home last night and got to work on the truck. Only having 45 minutes of daylight limited me. I got the truck up on jackstands and put it in gear looking for obvious signs of vibration. Saw nothing obvious. I did find where the squeek/chirp was coming from. It seems one of my center caps is loose on my wheels and causes it to chirp on rotation.

I pulled the driveshaft and dropped the truck back on the ground. Driveshaft u-joints and carrier bearing all seem nice and tight (less than a year old). There is a slight bit of slop in the pinion...less than an 1/8th of an inch, but it clunks a little when moved back and forth. I get the front hubs locked in and get ready to pull out of the driveway in front wheel drive and no go. No 4wd light, no nothing. The hubs are locked as the driveshaft wouldn't freely spin. So, now there is something else I need to diagnose.

Anyway, I was a little beyond frustrated at this point and decided to put the driveshaft back in. That was about the time it started raining. Take a deep breath....take another deep breath....keep taking deep breaths until this feeling passes....

So this morning I sit here continuing to take deep breaths and hoping someone might have some ideas. I can now feel the vibration on acceleration as well. It only seems to be pronounced when below 50 mph and it's worst at speeds below 30. Tonight I will try to swap out tires and see if that does anything. Maybe I'll go have the tires balanced today at lunch.

 

Maybe this is just a log for my own benefit, but...

Had the tires re-balanced yesterday...no change.

Decided to run a Buzz Test this morning after the truck sat all night (read something about bad injectors causing vibrations) and it passed fine. CCT passed fine. I decided I would go ahead and run all KOEO and KOER tests just to check things. Came up with 19 DTCs!!!! Oh Lord.

P1415 Engine Oil Temperature Sensor out of range
P0476 Exhaust Pressure Control Valve Range/Performance
P1536 Parking Brake Switch Circuit
P0220 Throttle / Pedal Position Sensor / Switch Circuit B
P1780 Transmission Control Switch (O/D Cancel) Circuit Out of Self Test Range
P0571 Cruise Control / Brake Switch A Circuit
P0703 Torque Converter / Brake Switch B Circuit
P0565 Cruise Control On Signal
P0566 Cruise Control Off Signal
P0567 Cruise Control Resume Signal
P0568 Cruise Control Set Signal
P0569 Cruise Control Coast Signal
P1867 Transfer Case Contact Plate General Circuit Failure
P1728 Transfer Case unable to transition between 2H and 4H
P1729 Transfer Case unable to transition between 4H and 4L
B1352 Ignition Key-In Circuit Failure
P0500 Vehicle Speed Sensor A
B1203 Fuel Sender Circuit Short to Battery
P1211 ICP Higher/Lower than desired (engine running)

I need a little help sorting through these.

 

I've moved your thread to the 1999 - 2003 7.3L Powerstroke Diesel forum. Maybe it'll get some response here.

 

Are your front hubs unlocked? Have you tried shifting into neutral and slowing down or manually downshifting to see if that changes anything. Are you applying the brakes when the vibration happens? Does it change if you lightly press the brakes or press on them medium hard? Rear end have fluid in it? Are the new weights still on the drive shaft? Does the new carrier bearing still look good?

 

Well i wish you luck. I had a vibration in my truck and it felt like the same thing you are describing and i did the same thing you are doing. I ended up changing my front wheel bearing because i noticed allittle of play in both wheel bearing and all my vibration went away. I had avibration in the whole truck and not in the steering wheel and my center console would shake so bad i didnt want to drive the truck,, ps i got tinkin front wheel bearing at autozone with a 3 year warranty for 150 each,, hope this helps just something to check

 

subscribing to this one.

 

Subcribing also.

 

is the flange on the driveshaft aligning up straight? I bought my 99 from a guu who swore something was tore up in the front end, same vibrations you described. I pulled the driveshaft to check the u joinrs, but notice the flanged seemed out of whack, replaced it and now she is smoothe as silk.

 

Hubs are unlocked (I have manual Mile Marker hubs with ESOF). I have shifted into neutral while this is happening and there is no change. I have applied the brakes and let off while this is happening...no change. It doesn't "seem" to matter how I am on the brakes. The rear end fluid was fine and is fine now...I had it gone through yesterday. The also checked the entire driveshaft and re-balanced it...the vibration is still there. I did have play in the rear pinion and the ring and pinion were showing wear, so I had it replaced along with the differential and bearings. The vibration is still there.

I'll check the front bearings this weekend. I'm also going to swap to another set of tires I have, but I can't imagine my tires causing this much vibration when they appear perfectly fine.

I really appreciate all the thoughts. This is starting to drive me crazy.

 

I have been having a thought this could be a fueling issue. I have also recently run out of diesel just under 1/4 tank. I decided to go ahead and pull the tank this weekend to see what was up and I would do the hutch/harpoon while I was in there. Well here is what I found.

This was all drained out of the bowl before I started the tank removal. I drained about 10 gallons out total. Those are little rusty bits in there. I'm not sure where this might have come from. I have run a steel transfer tank in the past, but it was filtered at the pump.



Here you can see my pickup screen was broken in 2 spots. Just below the clamp and right at the foot. I picked up a new screen at the dealer to fix this.



Here it is all fixed up.



I put about 150 miles on it this weekend and it seems to be gone. The only thing I can figure is that I was getting air bubbles sucked up on accel and decel.

 

Take apart that white plastic thing that you removed and look inside there to see what those 2 screens look like.

 

Did the check engine light come on at any time during the trouble?

 

Well...
I can say for sure that your fuel issue is not the cause of the vibration - the injectors are always shut off during decel.
And your chasing the vibration on the driveline is what my first thought was.
And you have a lift...
Have you cleared all those codes, then drive it to see what comes back?
.
Another thought I want to mention here is my ZF6 would shudder while climbing a shallow hill at 45 mph. Felt exactly like a driveline vibration, when it really was a failed OD bearing.
Replacing the trans completely eliminated that shudder.
I don't know if it's the case for yours, but that's how it went down with my truck.

 

No check engine light has come on at all.

Dan,

My BTS transmission was installed in late June and has less than 8k miles on it. The driveshaft has new u-joints and carrier bearing and was re-balanced as of last Thursday. The differential, ring and pinion and bearings were all replaced last Thursday as well. I drove away from the drivetrain shop and it shuddered worse than before. I dropped the tank and cleared the fuel bowl out and it hasn't done it again.

I have had the lift for 140k miles now (240k on the truck) and I have never felt vibrations like what was happening last week.

I have cleared the codes, but have not checked them again...been running like a chicken with my head cut off. I probably won't get to check them until after Thanksgiving now.

Are you saying the injectors are completely shut off as soon as your foot is released from the accelerator?

Chris,

I plan on taking apart the mixing chamber (isn't that what it is called?) and taking a look. Again, after thanksgiving.

I'll update you guys as soon as I get back in town.

Thanks again for all your help.