I have a 2001 Ford Excursion with the V10, 116K mile, and 4x4. It is a very solid rust free from California example of an Excursion. I have a terrible vibration from speeds 65+. I have put 10k miles on the truck since owning it and its had this vibration for pretty much the entire time that has got worse over time. I put brand new BF Goodrich KO2 on it originally and thought they were the problem after replacing and checking everything else. I just recently sold the KO2 and put a new set of factory size Michelin standard load tires on the truck but the vibration is still there.

I have checked every joint I can think of, put new shocks ( they were needed), new steering stabilizer, and new sway bar links. Alignment has been checked, u joints, tie rods, steering components, no bent wheels (aluminum factory), no bad body mounts or engine mounts. Checked both driveshafts to make sure there wasn't any weights missing. The vehicle runs and shifts great and doesn't even leak a drop of fluid. The only thing I notice on my super thorough walk thru was a leak coming from the axel tube seal but it doesn't leave any fluid on the ground. I can just see its wet and has been leaking for some time at some point.

ANY HELP? This is driving me insane. I expect a rougher ride to come from a 20 year old 3/4 monster of an SUV but from 65+ its really bad.

Thanks everyone!

 

Is it lifted?

 

It is not lifted or have a leveling kit

 

Find a local driveshaft shop (most major cities have a couple, Inland truck parts in a big chain) and see about getting the rear driveshaft balanced. Should cost to much since they're not actually doing any work on the shaft itself.
.
.
.

 

I agree with the driveshaft service whether you think it needs it or not.

Dumb enough, I had a vibration and went to rotate the tires. Found my rear brakes were shot. New rotors and pads later, rotation included, vibration pretty much gone.

If nothing else, Centrimatics balancers work wonders. Had them on my dually, smoothest riding vehicle I ever had. May get them for my Ex.

 

I run centramatics on everything I own that they make them for (including the EX). Love them things.

I live in TX and the speed limit in parts of Texas is 80 mph. I like to run the speed limit with 35 inch mud tires on the EX and the centramatics make it a nice ride when doing so.

 

I have been chasing down a vibration on my 05 X for a long time. come to find out its a few different things in combination. 1, driveshaft wasnt balanced properly by the first shop. CV kit was needed, ujoints, and the pinion was dry. rebalanced and properly done, reduced a bunch of vibration. however, i have an axel shop taking a look at the rear. the axels dont seem to be perfectly straight. I am told since they are floating axels, it should be ok with a slight bend, but i am having them do new axels, and checking the dif, pinion bearing, hanger bearings, and refreshing the rear hub bearings and seals. when spinning up the rear on stands, you can see the wheels (brand new) are moving around a bit. like they are out of round. this could be the axel or something else. but that will be the next step, is to have them for force balanced and shaved to be perfectly round.

you may want to look into the same. This vibration has been driving me absolutely nuts for the past year and a half and i have fixed everything!! except for rear axel. make sure the shop you are taking it to for the driveshaft is doing it properly. and your CV is good. the first shop i went to, half assed it, and made it seem like it was solid, but it wasnt.

just my 2 cents.

 

these centramatics are pretty cool. i didnt even know those existed. I use balance beads. basically the exact same thing but instead of in a hub you mount, the beads go inside the tire. but the purpose is the same, as long as you do the calculation to get the correct amount of beads needed. big difference is, and i dont know if you have tried the beads, but waaaay cheaper. those centramatics are really expensive. you can get beads for like 15 bucks. just a thought, in case you were not aware of the beads themselves. curious if you have tried them and or why you went with centramatics over beads if that is the case.

anyway, just thought i would share.

 

Yeah, I'm familiar with the beads and I've used them before. The internal tire beads are cheaper for sure but they have a few disadvantages that the externally mounted balancers like centramatics don't have.

The internal beads are one-time use, some are abrasive enough to remove the wheel coating under the tire (not a huge deal on aluminum wheels, but steel wheels when then start to rust under the tire), if you have a TPMS sensors they generally don't play nice with them, but the big one for me is internal beads that get installed through the valve stem core will also come back out of the valve stem when you air your tires down for off-roading. I like to take the Excursion down the beach on occasion (you can drive on certain beaches in TX) and it really helps the big girl to not get stuck if I air the tires down to like 8-10 psi when doing it.

The only downside to the externally mounted balancers (like the centramatics, but there are other name brands out there too that are pretty much the same thing), is the initial cost. The ones that are on my Excursion now I took off my last 8 lug truck before selling it (the centramatics are drilled for both popular 8 lug patterns, so they went from an 8x6.5 pattern dodge, to the 8x170 pattern Excursion no problem).
.
.
.

 

Interesting. yeah, i didnt do the ones that insert through the valve stem. and i think i went with ceramic, or maybe it was the glass ones. i agree, some disadvantages when going with beads inside the tire too. but that cost is pretty substantial. saving 500 dollars is worth beads for me. however, i am curious if there is much of a difference between using exact bead weight vs centramatics pre defined hub. I havent dont much research on them, but do they weight match your wheel and tire for the correct balance? or is it just one size fits all sort of thing?
Thanks for the response. i am very curious about these. its certainly a cleaner setup vs beads in a tire, and easier to install im sure. mine we had to take the tire off and put the beads in, then mount the tire again.

 

They are not custom weight matched. The internal beads weighing thing is just to ensure you get enough weight to actually affect/ correct the balance. The externally mounted ones like centramatics have plenty of beads/ weight in them, there really isn't a downside to having to much weight in the beads, the calculation for the internal beads is to make sure you have enough to counter the imbalance present.

Don't know where you got the idea they cost $500 from, while they have gone up a little, they're now $219 for a set of four (see link below). And while $219 is still more expensive than a single use set in internal beads, I've had the set of centramatics that are now on the Excursion for 8-10 years or so, they've been on two trucks behind at least five different sets of tires. I like them so much, all three of my eight lug trucks have a set, and if they made some that would fit my wife's SUV, it'd have a set too.

https://www.centramatic.com/wheel-ba...Number=300-318
.
.
.

 

Ahh, yes, i read the site wrong. when i was looking them up. i thought it was for a set of 2 at 219.00 thats my mistake. but i appreciate you pointing that out. having these is definitely nice being able to move them from vehicle to vehicle if you are keeping the same. its certainly cleaner then a tire full of beads. i think since i have beads in my already i will probably stick with that for now.

I have heard though that to much weight can have adverse balance effects. although there is definitely debate over that. i personally have no idea. i just do what im told lol.

thanks again for the responses though.