guys i need your help. My truck has an annoying vibration above 30 mph. So far i have replaced all u-joints,front wheelbearings, front brake calipers, pads, lines, and also have newer rear brakes, new master cylinder and power brake booste, and recent new radius arm bushings installed. All of this money trying to get rid of that awful shake, but to no avail. i am almost out of ideas of what to do, and would like to fix this problem with minimal expenditures as i have already pumped about 300 dollars in it trying to fix it. The only things that are left untouched in the front end are shocks (i know need replaced) tie rods ( i know at least one end is bad) and i beam end bushings.

any ideas or thoughts would be very much appreciated as i am at a total loss of what to look at to fix this next. I know it is not in my transmission as i can place it in neutral at 35 or so and the vibration is still there. I think i am pretty sure it is in the front end.

any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Balljoints?

 

sorry about that.... i forgot to say my truck is a '78 f-100 2wd with a 302 mated to a c-6 transmission. It also has a dana 44 2:73 limited slip rearend.

right now.... im thinking that it could possibly be the shocks that are the culprit, and/or a warped rim/ bad tire..... the tire shop i took it to pretty much refused to check the tires and wheels, so i guess i need to find a new shop that is willing to check them for me. THe roads down here are pretty rough and i think that could be the reason things wear out and go bad so often. I have already warped one rim on this road so it is very possible that i could have warped another.

 

If you have a three piece driveshaft did you get it balanced?

raise each tire and spin it by hand to check for out of round or wobble.

 

If you have any loose steering components, the slightest wobble will be magnified by the loose joint as it hits the end of the slack. It will also wear out faster once it gets loose. Fix the tie-rod end(s) and the shocks first. Then get the wheels balanced, or at least rotate them front to back, and see if the vibration changes. The I-beam pivots won't have an effect on vibration as they're under load supporting the vehicle but could slightly affect steering stability.
Just my 2¢
Greg

 

It might be as simple as getting your tires balanced. Maybe, just maybe you lost a counterbalance weight off of one or more of your rims? You did say that the roads are bad where you live.

Or maybe you hit a pothole just right and put a knot on the inside of one or more of your tires. I can't remember the technical term for when that happens, but it happened on one of our cars so we had to buy a new set of front tires.

You mentioned that you replaced the front calipers, pads, and lines. So are you telling us that the truck shakes when you are just rolling down the road? or only when you apply the brakes? or both?

One other thing to look into is how true your front rotors are. You did not mention if you replaced them or not. A simple resurfacing will greatly reduce shaking during braking.


Oh ya, if you've got a buddy that can drive your truck and you follow in another vehicle, maybe you can spot what the problem is visually. Find a wide road and have him drive your truck close to the range that you start to feel vibrations. Then drive the second vehicle on all sides and front and back of the truck, while the truck is moving. Maybe you'll spot the wheel that is out of round or loose lugnuts, or you see something vibrating that shouldn't be.

 

thanks for your input so far..... i havent had time to mess with the truck much because of hay...... this is the first dry week we have had here since the hay has been ready..... so we have that as our first priority..... it will be at least thursday till i can get enough time to do some more thorough checking and/or repairing. i planned on replacing the shocks....... and then findin me a new tire shop to check the wheels and tires real good for me....... after that if it dont stop..... then i will be pretty much out of ideas.....

bear with me ...... i might be in this for the long haul...... and might just get everything replaced on my truck in the mean time....lol

 

Ahhhh, Those old stamped steel wheels from the 70's. never can get em balanced. I suffered with same prob in my 77 f150 400. A new set of wires smoothed the motor out, but the drivetrain had some balance issues.
The wheels may be bent? Had them balanced lately?
whiskey did a number on my rims

 

well...... i got my shake taken care of.... turns out i had one warped rim, two tires with too much weight...... and the big one was when i put the u-joints in.....one of the clips didnt seat right....... and it flew out and allowed the driveshaft to move.... so 300 dollars later..... problem turned out to be a 50 cent u-joint cap retainer........ thanks for all the ideas and help.