I am in the same boat. Truck is so new that I don't want to be without it. I may have them look at it at my first oil change. If any of you find out what the dealers official word is on this, please post here so we can all know.

Thanks guys

 

I haven't had any vibration, and I'm not sure if wobble describes the one thing I have experienced. There is one single stretch of highway in the very righthand land here, that grabs the tires and throws the truck around a bit. It's a little disconcerting, but not quite frightening. There are ruts in the pavement where they've been working the road. My coworker who has the same truck experiences the same things on that stretch of road.

 

When I first test drove a 04' lariat screw I noticed it had a slight steering wheel shake at around 65-70 mph. My 04' fx4 screw arrived in Oct. and it had the same thing at 70mph. I don't notice it now with 3000 miles gone by. However on rough roads it seems to have a front suspension shake, its like the rebound rate of the front springs can't keep up with the small irregularities of the road or the front shocks cannot dampen quick enough? It seems to be in the front? I think its more noticeable at slower speeds 15-40 mph.

 

Interesting. Those of you who are experiencing this, where was your truck manufactured? Mine came from Kansas.

 

My truck came from the Kansas City MO assembly plant. Idale32 does your truck have a slight shaking feeling on small bumps?

 

No shaking on mine. I can still feel bumps through the suspension & steering assembly, but it's the nicest feeling I've ever felt in a vehicle. But then again, I'm not used to having such a new vehicle. We've had quite a bit of snow here the past few weeks, and all the ruts, holes, bumps, etc, up & down the ski hill have been delt with very nicely.

 

I have a 2004 XLT 5.4 SuperCab with 4600 miles.
Not long after I got the truck I noticed several vibrations. I'm experiencing a drive train vibration between 45 & 65 mph. The whole truck vibrates at those speeds, it’s very low and fast vibration . After 65 mph the vibration stops and then the steering wheel vibrates after 65 & faster. The dealer has balanced the tires but I still have both problems. He is talking about reindexing the drive shaft and is now talking to Ford. This started last November. What a pain.

 

I had a similar vibration too, but it was when I was starting of and making a left turn. The dealer checked it out, and added some special additive modifier (probably just topped off the gear oil). They said to drive it normally for 5000 miles, if it doesn't go away come back. After 500 miles it went away and hasn't come back.

 

The Goodyear AT/S tires are sensitive early on to vibration, wobble, etc. most especially depending on road surfaces. But, at least in my mind, these are some of the best light-truck tires ever made. Proper balancing is critical - a little break-in wearing also matters. I have never seen tires this aggressive wear so well - 40,000 miles is normal with plenty of tread still left. And through-out that 40,000 miles - these tires are seriously tough in mud, snow, rocks, whatever. A good compromise truck tire in my mind that will ride very well on the highway, but they might also very well be the source of the vibration, poor riding qualities early on in the new trucks. These tires come from Goodyear with a rather huge amount of tread (check the depth with a gauge) - they are heavy and stiff - need to be broken in a bit.

 

Finally....
I'm not the only one that notices the box shakes badly on certain roads. I've got a 2004 F-1250 Super Crew Lariat with the BFG 18" AT's. The tires have a nice ride, but poor load specs for weight. If you're going to use a truck, you need to have an LT tire!
I was upgrading the tires to the Toyo Open Coutry for better weight capacity for towing a trailer when I noticed the problem getting worse. I've been back to rebalance twice and the vibrations are less, however, I do believe that the darn frame is so stiff, you really notice the road vibrations more once you go to a more rigid tire. I have to say this is very frustrating and I'm still trying to document whether it's actually a tire or just something I have to live with. I had Les Schwab check the "load variance (sidewall stiffness) and apparently one of the tires is a little higher than the others, but still within tolerences. I bet these new trucks require a perfect tire in order to have the best ride. Otherwise, I have to settle for a wimpy 4 ply stock tire and that is just asking for trouble if you're towing. Especially in hot weather going long distances. I'm glad to see there is actually a thread going in regards to this issue, and I'll be glad to post my findings over the next week to let others know what I find. Oh...and one more thing. The tire size I selected is the 285/60/R18 which is about .6 inches smaller in diamter. I've went with a taller tire before on my 02 Super Crew and hate loosing torque becuase of increasing the gear ratio. I've got 3:73 gears and this tire seems to be just right for looks, handling, traction, and load capacity while keeping the odometer within 1 MPH of accuracy.

Hope this helps and I'll talk to you guys more later!

John

 

Looks like I had a tire that had too much force variance and needed replacing. Les Schwab was awesome in helping determine the problem and quickly resolving the issue. Those guys are great! Since replacing the tire, I do not have the same extreme vibration, however, I do still notice the box vibrates slightly between 58-62 mph. Not constant, but enough to notice if your the driver. At slower and higher speeds, there is no vibration.
Since the tires are much stiffer than the OEM tires, I'm chalking the slight vibration to the road conditions and tire type. I'm pleased this extreme vibration is gone. I also think not having busings between the bed and the frame, is a bad idea. The new F-150 is mounted directly to the frame, thus resulting in more bed vibrations then I've experienced in my other trucks. I'd still rather have a small vibration with better piece of mind knowing I have a heavier and better tire.

Thanks all.

John

 

Just to update you on my Vibration....

I have decided that it has to be my trailer. I pulled it again this weekend and around 70 I could feel a vibration. I am going to have the tires balanced on the trailer and see if that helps. I will update.....

BD

 

i test drove a new 150 yesterday and it had a shudder in the steering wheel and i could feel it through the seat. to me it did not feel like a tire issue but more of a driveline issue. more specifically i thought it was something in the transmission that is out of balance...........

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. I originally thought this to be a balancing problem so I took the truck in and sure enough 3 tires were a combined 4 ounces off. This however did not solve the problem so I took it to another dealer and they said that it was the way the muffler shop installed my after market exhaust system (flowmaster), the muffler shop disagreed and said that they've heard of this problem from numerous people. I then dropped my air pressure to 32 psi, this didn't work either. I can drive down the street and it always feels like I'm going over a million little bumps (not like a heavy duty suspension hits bumps where you feel a quick jolt and that's it). I've tried moving over to repostion myself in the driving lane and the vibration remains consistent no matter what part of the lane I'm in. Please let me know if anyone figures this out.

 

My vibration problem has been solved, I also had this problem with a vibration @ 45-60 mph. The dealership did all the checks, balance the tires, take the tires off of other trucks on the lot, performed a road load test, sent the drive shaft off and had it checked for balance, that was ok. A Ford Rep. came to the dealership and taken for a ride and he had the dealership perform some test with vibration sensors attached to the truck and they found that the vibration was in the rear diff.. Come to find out that the rear diff. was improperly set to the wrong specs from the factory and also there were six other trucks on the lot that were checked and out of those six they found two more of them to have the same problem. My 2004 F-150 XLT Scab had 2698 miles on it with 3:55 gears, LSlip. It was in the shop a total of 14 days, 10 days straight. The dealership has been really good about this, I've been a mechanic for 25 years now and I understand these things can happen, I deal with the samething everyday in heavy equipment. My problem has been fixed and the truck drives and rides better than any car I've been in. I traded a 92 Ford F-250 4x4 and a 98 Ford Expedition Eddie B. 4x4 for this truck and it was worth every bit of it. Now I can't wait for the accesseries that I've got planed for this truck, Right now theres not much available for the 2004's yet. Hope that all you 2004 F-150 owners with these Vib. problems get them fixed, good luck.