I agree! You would think it would be great from the factory for towing...unfortunately I have a vibration. When I am not towing...I never even think about it because they did a great job with pinion angle to do away with my vibration and shuddering unloaded.

You and me both my friend. I was walking in to tell the service manager that I could get the bags and the wireless air for about $680 on eBay (since they were originally only going to pay $600 towards fixing the issue)...when he told me that they decided to pay for the whole thing. I sort of looked around and thought I was being punked...LOL

I thanked the service manager for doing that and all he has done to help me resolve or "bandaid" the issue. Hey the Ford engineer recommended the air bags!

 

Certainly don't mean to come off like an ***, but I, for one, hope this doesn't solve a thing. Because if it does that would indicate a design flaw that would affect probably a million trucks on the road. I think, and HOPE, that something is broken or not setup right.

Of course you're getting really taken care of with a slick air bag setup. And for that I'm jealous!

 

I have to agree with you Tom...the only thing I would take away from this if it does work is that it has a lot to do with the pinion angle. I still have not ruled out drive shaft balancing fully from my thoughts. It seems driveline related for sure. I will let you all know today...it was installed yesterday and I will show some pics etc. I also have to test it out towing the boat.

 

I am copying and pasting this from my upgrade thread:


Since Ford suggested getting air bags and since they already pretty much eliminated my non towing vibration and shudder with pinion angle. They agreed to pay for everything and allowed me to choose the kit that I wanted. Seeing how I have a Platinum, in my mind I wanted the best Air Lift had to offer...not to mention this newest system was the ONLY system of theirs that would allow a 5th wheel hitch or gooseneck in the bed of the truck. (previous versions take up the same space needed for installation of the hitches)

I had the air bags put on yesterday...they look awesome and work really well it seems from my initial testing. (in my driveway) The system is built REALLY well and looks to be of great quality. I got the LoadLifter 5000 Ultimate as well as the WirelessAir system. I wanted the ability to remotely adjust and monitor the pressures without the pressure gauge mounted somewhere int he truck. (I wanted something clean looking)

Here are some pictures of the setup!

This is the drivers side bag...you can see how it is mounted and how well it is built.



A close up of the airbag



The WirelessAir controller displaying the minimum pressure setting (position one in memory and 5 psi)



This one I addd to show that it has the internal jounce bumper inside the airbag. (a really good addition in my opinion in case of sudden deflation under load!)



The heavy duty compressor in the WirelessAir kit which was mounted behind the rear bumper tucked up under really nicely.



A look at the bag from the top



Kind of hard to see but this is the manual inflation tube behind each of the rear tires in case the remote will not connect or has any issues with signal.



Just from messing with it yesterday I am going back to the shop to have them change the way the compressor gets it's power. For some reason the installer set it up to have power when the lights are on (from the wiring harness I guess) which makes no sense to me. The system needs to be able to work to automatically keep pressure at the setting in case of a small leak from any of the fittings or lines. (I don't know if they did a leak test before delivering it back to the dealer...but my guess is no)

So there you have it...I will be testing it out this afternoon and report back with the results and any further comments on the system!

 

Well I went back to the truck shop and they corrected the power supply....turns out I did not have the fuses installed for towing yet so they could not put the power on one of the keyed wires.

So....I towed the boat...and I guess Tom got his wish...it really didn't make too much of a difference. I thought it made some difference with 30 psi in the bags...but nothing significant.

I also let my buddy drive the truck and also the guy that installed the air bags. Both of them said they really couldn't feel anything "wrong" with the truck. The guy that installed the bags did say he felt some movement under his seat (what I am referring to as vibration) but it wasn't significant.

Sigh...I know I am not crazy and I feel it. It is not there when i am not towing and it is there when I am. I drive this truck everyday and know how it drives. Wondering what to do from here.

 

Sorry to hear that Rob. Did they ever replace your driveshaft?

 

No they didn't...I was thinking about talking to a driveline specialist next. They swapped it with one from another new truck on the lot and it made it worse so they swapped them back. (yes that's right another truck had a driveshaft that was worse!)

 

Man, you are a man on a mission. Keep fighting the good fight! Sorry the bags didn't do the trick. If one of the drive shafts made it worse, maybe another would make it better?

 

You bet I am! At this point I will pay to have someone check the balance of the driveshaft. I really want to know at this point.

 

awww man I was hoping that would help it out. I guess the fight rages on. Good luck bud.

 

Well I stopped in to se the service manager about 1/2 an hour ago and dreaded telling him that the airbags didn't work. I felt bad because they spent the money for the bags and it did not "cover up" the problem. To my surprise the service manager at first said well he had exhausted all his options...and then after talking to him for another 20 min. he said he never backs down from a challenge.

Now he is looking more into the transmission or anything else he could find as possibly being the problem. I did mention to him that other people have used the Raptor transmission mount to help resolve some of their vibration issues.

Ok now I want to ask you guys if you had ever experienced THIS issue with your truck.

I was trying to pick up my sisters boat to take it for a test drive so I could rule out the possibility that it is my trailer and the airbags really did work to keep the driveline angle straighter. Unfortunately I could not wedge it out of it's spot in her driveway between the car that was parked next to it and a conveniently placed light pole. My sister is away on vacation and the car keys are not at the house. So...I was jockeying back and forth turning the steering wheel back and forth trying to get the right angle to get the boat out when all of a sudden I had NO STEERING....I basically had to muscle the steering back and forth!! The truck wasn't at much of an angle but it was MUCH worse than any manual steering I had ever experienced. I did tell the service manager about it and he asked if I had seen a wrench show up on the dash...I told him I didn't see anything (not that I was looking) I was really frustrated with trying to get the boat out and the steering not wanting to work correctly.

I basically put the boat back in the driveway where it was unhooked it and pulled out and the steering was fine! He mentioned that in some vehicles in the past (not the F150) that they heard of loose connectors for the electric assist motor from the factory that would cause the exact thing I was describing. I told him that I hoped this issue didn't show up one day on the freeway!! Now I get to keep an eye on that too. If a wrench did show up it should have stored a code.

Ok well that is about it for this stage of the report....I am really hoping that I did not buy a problem child of a F150.

 

You got a heck of a dealer, no way my dealer would bend over backwards like that have for you..I had the dreaded vibration in my F150 at 45-50mph and still, have it in my F250. (Going to dealer also)..I personally think it is in the driveshaft,,I think it is out of balance or slightly warped,, The only way to observe is latch a GoPro under the truck and record how the driveshaft is spinning at the exact speed you run when vibration occurs and see if the shaft is spinning sound or looks like it is wobbling or out of spec..JMHO!!

 

That sucks! I feel for you Bro!

 

I seen this somewhere and did a Google search. I am not sure what Ford F150 forum that it was from. Here's a quote from the You tube comment section under the video.


Yes! It was a soft durometer center bearing designed for an IRS suspension setup. We fixed the issue with a DSS 1 piece carbon fiber shaft that can handle the critical speed issues and is 10 pounds lighter!

 

Yes the service manager is going above and beyond what I expected. (especially after reading my first post) We have gained a rapport with each other and were laughing about some things in the end. I am really thankful he is willing to try and resolve it fir me! I sure would love to own a GoPro...however the wife will only let me get so many toys at one time

Thank you dude!

That's pretty interesting....however I am sure he will not pay for a carbon fiber driveshaft..lol