I have been chasing a vibration that occurs around 60-70 MPH. Had all the tires re-balanced and checked the rest of the suspension and narrowed it down to the rear driveshaft.

Took the X to the driveshaft shop and he checked all the joints and suggested that I grease the slip joint as it still was original as delivered.

I took his advise, here's what I did.

Removed the rear bolts and dropped the rear of the shaft. Cut off the factory boot clamps. Marked the shaft so it could go back in the EXACT way it came out and removed the rear of the shaft with the boot intact.

While the rear of the shaft was out I checked the joints and found them to be perfect.

There was no real grease to speak of left, just the factory ford blue. Filled it and the splines with moly grease and re-installed the shaft and boot. Clamped the boot with nylon ties (per his suggestion).

No vibration any longer.

Thought I would post this up as a quick tip.

 

Very interesting Ive been chasing a vibration at similar speeds for a while now gonna have to look at this. Thanks

 

Great advice!

 

Cool. Low effort, zero dollars; the best kind of fix. Thanks!

 

Was the moly grease his suggestion also?

 

I wonder if this is where my vibration is while decelerating from 110...

 

Nope, that vibration is in your head

 

It must be, we all know my X is MINT, MINT, MINT!!!

 

Replace those nylon ties. I did the same to mine...road heat/whatever caused one to break, the entire rubber boot is gone now.

The metal straps are metal because they last longer...eventually the zip ties or nylon ones fail. Now I have to buy a new boot and the metal clamps and the tool to tighten the clamps.

Saved a few pennies at the time, now I'll be out the part plus the tool and straps when I could have just been out the tool and strap costs.

 

Great tip! Although in my experience on other vehicles, not greasing the slip joint can cause a clunk, I never knew it could cause a vibration too. Might be the cause of my mysterious 75 mph vibration. Gonna try it soon.

 

It certainly worked for me. Hope this helps someone.

 

Does anyone know if moly grease is the best stuff to use for this application?
I've also got some synthetic waterproof high temp grease that I would have guessed would be good also.

 

In the tech folder it says to use wheel bearing grease...

 

Also, just FYI, there's a pictorial "how-to" for greasing the slip joint in the tech folder. There's also a link to a thread created by Christina on chasing down a vibration in an Ex.

Stewart

 

To clarify, I used a high temperature moly wheel bearing grease.

Even so, there was little to no grease in the joint, so anything at that point would have been better than nothing.