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I would replace the rear spring bushings and the engine and transmission mounts.They both can change the driveline angle. I would also check the transmission tail shaft housing ( on the seal mounting service ) angle and the rear axle pinion yoke/flange with a angle finder/gauge. You want them just opposite of each other. If one is +4 degrees you want the other to be -4 degrees.
An engine misfire will feel nothing like a driveline vibe. You will feel it up front, not towards the rear of the vehicle.
I don't mean to sound condescending but this isn't true at all. For nearly 10 years I owned two Aamco Transmission Centers and a driveline shop. Virtually every week we got a car or truck sent to us from a general repair garage that miss-diagnosed a missfire as a transmission/torque converter or driveline vibration.
Missfires are common on Ford vans from the plugwires breaking down due to the high underhood temperatures.
Well, well,,, Learned a good bit today. The drive shaft shop used a vibration analyzer and said it was the left rear wheel. That is the same side I put a new ford axle in I bought off of Ebay.
I stood at the back of the lift and you could see the same slight wobble in the tire that I saw when I first bought the van. There also appears to be a slight up and down in this one, I don’t remember seeing it last year when I checked that wheel.
I know when they rotated and balanced the tires yesterday that they moved the one what was on the left rear because I had a pen mark on it....
Twice now when they balanced the tires I told them to look for any runout on the tires or wheels.
There was one I thought might have a little wobble in it and had them to mount the tire on a wheel from my 85 E150 so I don’ believe it is in the wheels.
When we installed the new gears, bearings, and axle shaft, we didn’t bother to check the runout never thinking that a new axle would be bent or out of spec. Well I guess I will be checking the run out this weekend.
My manual shows 3 different run out tests for the axle. I do not have the adapter to do the drum pilot radial runout though. I guess I cold remove the studs and check it though.
I guess the chances of buying a NEW OEM Ford axle shaft on ebay that is bent or out of spec might make it a bit easier to accept that two axles could be damaged...
Any other thoughts what could cause this?
Another question might be about Ebay sellers. The seller said 14 day returns. So the14 days was up back around Jan10th.
He also said NEW . Here is a message from him:Yes this is a new axle with the box from ford,
Thanks for asking
HE also replied when I ask about the condition: Hi Anna, The part is new but we have to describe it as others because we do not have UPC number that ebay requires with new items,
Thanks for asking
I also have the receipt from the shop that I worked with to install it, the receipt where I had the tires balanced, and the drive shaft shop receipt all within the past couple of weeks to verify instillation time.. Will be interesting to see what happens..
The axle shaft looked new except for some very slight surface rust on some areas you would expect to see on a part that had been on a shelf for years. One of the studs was not pressed in quite all the way which led me to believe that if it had been installed the stud would have been pulled all the way in to the flange.
Interesting though is the Ebay add says Seller ID Koskowski Automotive, LLC. Welcome to the Koskowski Automotive, LLC. ebay store. We specialize in OEM, USED auto parts for Ford, Chevy, GMC, Jeep, and Dodge Pickup trucks, vans, and SUV's.
I don't mean to sound condescending but this isn't true at all. For nearly 10 years I owned two Aamco Transmission Centers and a driveline shop. Virtually every week we got a car or truck sent to us from a general repair garage that miss-diagnosed a missfire as a transmission/torque converter or driveline vibration.
Missfires are common on Ford vans from the plugwires breaking down due to the high underhood temperatures.
To someone as experienced as I am (45 years driving all kinds of vehicles from economy cars to 80,000+ lb trucks), the difference is plain as day. You're mostly dealing with people who couldn't tell the difference between day and night. A plug wire miss is nothing like a driveline vibe.
Well the guy at the drive shaft shop said he hardly ever sees them go bad.
I will be going back to the shop where we rebuilt the differential and do some swapping wheels and brake drums around as well as checking the run out on the axle.
We have been thinking about what could cause the wobble in the wheel and the only thing I can come up with is either a bad brake drum or the new axle shaft is bad.
Had this problem before the differential rebuild and new axle shaft. That is part of the reason we did all the work.
If the axle tube was bent the axle shaft should still run true unless it was bent enough to physically see it. .
I could see some wobble if the spider gears were worn at the carrier but all that is new.
We checked the run out on the new carrier and it was fine.
Read is the brake drum is badly bent or extremely rusty it could cause the surfaces not to fit flat but there is only minimul surface rust on the drum and no signs of ever being pried off...
I did a little more research on the Ebay sellers store and he runs a salvage yard so even though the axle shaft looked new, I guess it could have been a take out... We will see..
A friend of mine went though a similar problem with his Ford flatbed. After a lot of parts swaping It ultimately was the tires even though they were like new. Sometimes tires will spin balance but will spin eccentric. Maybe try jacking up each corner and spin the tire with a fixed object close to it, such as a block of wood close to them see they spin true.
I've had this problem since I bought the van. I noticed the wobble with the original tires that were on the van when I bought it. I replaced those tires shortly after because they were dry rotted. Had the same problem on the same (left rear) with the new set of tires. Had those tires re-balanced and even swapped a rim from my 85 van and still had the problem. Now i have Michelin tires and the same left rear wobble.
had the tires balanced and rotated a couple of weeks ago and had a mark on the left rear wheel. That wheel is now on the right rear side and visually runs straight. Still the left rear wheel has a visual wobble in it up on the rack. It also appeared to have a little up and down in it now. Before rebuilding the differential and replacing the axle shaft I only remember seeing a little side to side wobble.
Dad came to me with a noise in his 4wd. Only happened at certain speeds/loads. Vibration in the floor, growly bearing sound, almost like a front muffler collapsing.
Fearing the worst, we crawled all over and under the vehicle, trying to find the failing component.
Turned out to be his LED lightbar on the front. One of the mounting screws had backed out, and the subsequent vibrations and noise went into the bull bar, through the chassis, and up into the cab.
Nipped the screw back up, and she's as good as gold.
No accessories, well raised roof conversion van with plywood floor and carpet. I have wondered if some of the vibration could be because the spring shackle bushings are 30 years old. They may be hardened... But then the poly urethane replacement bushings are hard too..
Well I have never sat in the back of the van because I am always the one driving. Sitting i the drivers seat I hear the vibration more then feeling it though it can be felt slightly.
My neighbor sat in the back seat and said it is defiantly coming from the left rear. he moved to the center and front of the van and again said it is the left rear.
The drive shaft shop used a vibration analyzer. I should have, but didn't watch the watch the analyzer screen. I watched the tech use the sensor on the transmission tail shaft, differential housing at the pinion flange, the right side axle tube right at the wheel bearing, and finally the left axle tube at the bearing. he said it is defiantly the left side and that everything was quiet.
I had the tires road force balanced and rotated the day before the drive shaft shop used the vibration analyzer.
The same drive shaft shop had removed the drive shaft and balanced it a few weeks before.
The drive shaft shop didn't charge me for the vibration check.. I tipped him $20 though..
The brake drum is the only part that has not been changed. I just remembered the drive shaft shop said it looked like the drum itself was not rotating evenly.
Maybe I am just used to the van but I had a transmission shop to test drive the van and that guy said he could feel a slight pulsing in the brake peddle. I have recently felt a slight surging, I guess you would call it, in the whole van when coming to a stop at slow speeds and just figured it was a warped rotor. I guess it could be a rear brake drum if the new axle is bent.
Ok an update here for the sake of diagnosing the problem. I still have several things to do following you guys suggestions though..
We checked the runout on the axle and wheels, not the tires, and everything seemed to be within specs. I had automatically assumed the left axle shaft was bad before we did the differential rebuild so I did not check it very closely when we removed it. The other day I went back and inspected it and it defiantly had a bad bearing surface on it.
But back to the new info. So i was adding up the gas mileage with the new gears and was getting 13 in the city which was an improvement over the 10MGP i had been getting. Then it hit me,,,, the speed odometer is off...
I had to go on a 120 mile trip yesterday and started paying attention to the vibration and using my gps to verify speed. The speed odometer is off by 5mph at 70.
So I am actually going 65mph when the speed odometer is reading 70mph. At lower speeds it varies accordingly.
Before changing the gears from 3.55 to 3.73s the vibration would start at about 60mph and continue on till about 70 or so. Now that is about 5mph off, the vibration starts around 55 on the speed odometer. If I am thinking about this correctly then it would eliminate the rear axle, tires, wheels, and alignment completely.
The vibration is more prominent when in OD but is still there at the same speeds and frequency when in drive. When shifting to neutral the vibration is less audible but still there at the same speeds and frequency . Somewhat hard to describe but I can hear it more then feel it from the front seat no matter what. BUT this should eliminate the engine.
So that, at least to me, would only leave transmission, drive shaft, or drive shaft angle. The drive shaft has been balanced but not checked for actual run-out on the van.
Now I may be just imagining this but here is another possible symptom. I live about 2 to 2.5 miles from the interstate. I have often noticed that the vibration doesn't seem to be as prominent for the first 3 to 5 miles on the interstate. That is why I have often wondered if it could be transmission related as the transmission would not be up to its average running temperature.
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