Hi all i'm having a bit of an issue with my 97 ranger 4.0 auto 2wd.
I have an vibration which from a stop up about 10 mph feels like wheel hop not bad but you can definitely feel it it and over 50 mph the whole truck starts to shake again not bad but you know its there. the truck sat last summer it was my dd till a bought a new car and now vw is buying it back ill be driving the ranger in the mean time. I have been trying figure it out for a few months but no luck i have put new tires , front rotors and rear drums , drive shaft support bearing ( 2 pc shaft) new u-joints and a used boneyard shaft with new u-joints as well, checked the tail shaft bushing which had about .008" of play.
pulled the drums Off today and checked the axle bearing for play only .004" of play pulled the diff cover and checked for carrier play as well as pinion play but can't find anything.
i'm at a loss here and looking for other things to check ...
Don't know if its possible that something in the transmission is loose it was rebuilt about 75k miles ago I was going to stop and talk to the trans shop to see what he thought (its a 5r55e )
Thanks

 

Since it's a two piece drive shaft, make sure it's splines are cleaned & re-lubed with the TSB specified ptfe loaded grease & maybe have a read here. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-anything.html
If you've already done that & no joy, have a read here for a question/answer vibration trouble shooting drill down flow chart. http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/vibechart.pdf
& post what you find.
Some thoughts for consideration, let us know how the trouble shoot goes.

 

Thanks pawpaw hmm I had the said jerk / bump since I got the truck, I bought the truck needing a trans and always thought it was coming from the trans when I put in the second drive shaft a month or so ago it went away the slip joint was much tighter then the old one. I have gone through most if that list already. for got to mention its not in the steering wheel but in the seat of your pants . I looked up failing torque converter and it seems like my symptoms match them i'm looking for the stall speed spec to do a stall speed test. I'll stop by the trans shop and see what he says , if I can get away with just a t.c. change or if it should be gone through complete. Before I stopped driving it daily I remember hearing a ping sound of like a rock hitting the bottom of the cab when it would downshift into first maybe the valve body has some junk in it .

 

Feeling a vibration in the seat rather than the steering wheel, suggests the problem is in the rear. Could be wheels, drive line, tires or some combination there-of.
From the sounds you've described, the spline re-lube sounds like it needs to be done & while your down there, have a close look at the universal joints for wear, as they'll "ping" & ring like a rock hitting a drive shaft, if they're also in need of lube, or worn out. Being worn they can also cause vibration.
Seeing as how you've had the drive shaft off & replaced, I hope you marked things up to go back together the same way, so to keep things in balance. If not, you'll need to take it loose & rotate 90deg at a time until you get the smoothest operation, or maybe have the shop rebalance the combo your running now.
More thoughts for pondering, let us know what you find.

 

I've had the drive shaft out 3 times first time I rebuilt it with " precision " I joints in a pinch to get my by and the second time with spicer U-joints and then the new shaft with spicer joints as well none of the 3 time increased or decreased the vibration . I marked the original shaft when rebuilding it . ( which I think is an old wives tail but that's another thread )
The support bearing was also replaced with a spicer brand .
The truck ran smooth before it was parked over the summer the mind boggles !

 

Not having this problem before it sat a while is a good clue.
Have you cleaned & re-lubed the drive shaft splines with the PTFE grease yet? If not, I'd do that & if no joy & the vehicle wasn't up on blocks to take the weight off the tires, I'd began a front to back tire swap, one side at a time. Begin with the side that the seat vibration seems the strongest on.

 

I'll try the drive shaft next .
i had originally suspected the tires as they were expired and thought to have flat spotted I had new tires mounted and balance no change at all .

 

Took the slip joint apart and greased it ... when I took it apart the splines were coated with a blue plastic coating I have seen this before but cant recall what the plastic is called , but I don't remember reading about the splines being coated. There was some grease so I clean it and applied some brake caliper grease.
but the vibration is still there !
I'm not so sure its in the transmission but i'm running out of options , the vibration is at such a low speed it points to something being loose.

 

Shame on you, you didn't use the specified PTFE loaded XG-8 grease!!!!

Lets see, another thought came to mind a while ago & I forgot to post the thought. Do you have the traction lock differential?

 

Do you get the vibration coasting out of gear?
Edit: How about jacking up the rear end of the truck and see if the vibration is present.

 

The grease I used does have ptfe moly and a bunch of other additives . 05351 -- Brake Caliper Synthetic Grease, 2.5 Wt Oz
I do have a limited slip diff...

i haven't tried coasting out of gear because the pump wouldn't be turning to lube the trans ...
yes my next step was to put it on stands and see what happens , as well as putting a gopro camera under it and watching the drive shaft .
I searched before but couldn't find the spec for tail shaft bushing to yoke play any one know ?

 

Ok, CRC 05351
http://www.crcindustries.com/auto/se.../get-pds/05351
Loaded with Graphite, Moly & PTFE in a synthetic base oil, should be fine for the job it seems. Looks to be a good deal more than the standard silicone caliper pin lube.

Since you have the traction lock differential, put clutch shudder on the suspect list. Has the differential lube been changed & if so was 3.0 oz of XL-3 friction modifier added? If the differential lube is up for scheduled maintenance change mileage wise, consider doing it & add the XL-3 & see how it goes.

 

I always use the ford friction modifier , just changed the fluid today . new clutches were put in a few yeas back probably less then 30k miles. But it shouldn't shudder in a straight line and while coasting ....
Just putting this up shouldn't change any thing but I do have 3.08 gears so I do use a bit more power to get going then the norm.
Tried a t.c. test the wheels broke traction before 2500 rpm and stepping on it while moving I can get up to 3200 rpm so the t.c. seems to be working ok.

 

Ok good feedback. Well it looks like its time to consider moving the tires rear to front, one side at a time.
Since you mentioned the tranny has been changed out, I do remember reading Ken00 posting a TSB about the tranny tail housing being modified to fix a vibration problem, but don't remember the years affected. I'll see if I can locate the thread & maybe it'll have the TSB # in it.

 

I bought a new tail shaft bushing ,seal,gasket but never changed it ... might do it just for the heck of it .