I'm in Los Angeles and would like to know if any body has had a dealer that fixed their steering shimy?
I have a 2004 Lariat supercab 6-03 build date with rear lowering shackles, hard bed cover, 20 inch tires with a (yes) second set of tires. Did countless balances (yes road force too) and a fresh alignment. (My alignment guy even tighened the cross member bolts which were loose.!)
Still, at 60-70 mph, shakey shakey goes my steering wheel. Rough roads set it off. Like the 118 & 170 fwy. -Smooth roads it mellows out.
The tires & rims look okay/straigth to all the mechanics.
The steering wheel shake seems to be getting more violent.
No other vibrations or whines. (I already had the rear end clutch pack replaced.)
This is making me crazy. I really like the truck. Our 7th Ford product! ... Will this be the last?
WHO CAN FIX THIS? Little help? Advice?
Let's unite and get an L.A. dealer to put a few brain cells on this problem!
E-mail me

p.s.
Bonus problems:
Wind noise is worsening from windshield area.
Adhesive snot/grease smear keeps coming back on my driver's window.
Cruise control light was out. -Fixed
Rear of truck bounces real good on the 118 fwy. -So did my 2000 f-150.
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FafSid,
a TSB was isued for the "Steering wheel nibble", I to have the same problem, Fords fix is to change the steering gear. this a production date isue. after replacing the steering gear the problem went away for about 1500 miles and came back worse then before, my truck is at the dealer now for the 6th time for this and vibration problems.

 

GRRRRRRRRR. I'm getting frustrated. Do you have a copy of the steering TSB fix? I'd like to show my dealer. Why does the problem come back? Is the steering rack getting trashed from some other problem/bad design? Are you in Los Angeles? If so, which dealer?

Here's something I saw posted ... Some trucks have brake problems where either the parking brake doesn't release completely or a rotor(s) is warped. This makes the ABS mis-read causing a pulse in the brakes which you feel in the wheel. (!) Kinda a long shot. But, is this even posssible?

 

Fatsid,
I had it with me yesterday, It's on my desk at home, I send you the TSB number on Monday, No I'm not in the L.A. area, I'm in the Baltimore Maryland area, my truck is still in the shop 6 th time, I would suggest that you check into your states Lemon law,
Maryland law said for steering related problems you only need 1 attempt to fix the problem, even if you dont want to press the issue, I would send a request to Ford (address on the ford site) to replace your truck under the lemon law!! this will get the attention of the Ford Tech department.

 

Fatsid,
I just called my dealer and got the TSB number, it 3-20-8
Hope this will help

 

Thanks. I appreciate it.
I wonder if my aftermarket rims/tires would void any recourse I would have regarding steering & suspension issues?

 

Fatsid,
If you still have the stock tire's and wheels you should put them on the truck and see if the problem is the same, if so take it to the shop with the old wheel package on the truck. I know this sounds like a pain in the you know what, but I guess it will get you around any warranty isue with the aftermarket tire and wheel's

 

like a dummy i sold my stock wheels and not i an stuck.

 

Fatsid,
Update on my truck, I have had the general tires replaced on my truck under the warranty two times, each time the frount two tires would not road force ballance. the reck was replaced when the second set of tires were installed, the steering wheel vibration stoped for about 1500 miles then came back, the tires were replaced with BF Goodrich long trail's, the vibration was still thair, back into the shop last Thursday and found the frount tires would not road force ballance again, with all of this said The service manager and I can tell you that it is not the tires screwing up, but the truck is screwing up the tires, he still has the truck and has called for the tech rep to look at the truck and in his view is the truck is not safe to drive untill the true problem can be solved,
Thank god for a dealed with some back bone to stand up and say enough is enough. I will post again when I get more info

 

I'm not directly disputing what you understand (or may have been told) but with what I know about road force balancing, I just don't see how this can be accurate.

Click here http://128.242.141.111/ and watch the animation.

And here http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/ba...159T/4159t.pdf for a pdf file.

And http://128.242.141.111/pub/technical/index.cfm for technical discussions.

A well-trained tire tech can establish (and hopefully corrects) the three variables;

1. non-eccentricity (of the rim and/or the tire), that is, out-of-round,

2. radial run-out of the rim (aka, wobble),

3. a dynamic imbalance of the combination of the rim and the tire with respect to tire / rim positioning.

To properly perform a RFB, the shop must be willing to un-seat the tire from the rim, and rotate the tire to a more near-perfect balance condition. That's why a RFB costs much more than a normal spin balance.... there is simply more labor involved.

Finally, the tire-tech must have adequate training, and the machine must be regularly serviced (calibrated) by a Hunter tech.

Oh yeah, what is the measurement you are being quoted, in lbs-force. I'm told that FMC requires something under 25 lbs per rim/tire combination, while some tire shops say that anything under 30 lbs is satisfactory. But then, as stated above lbs-force is not the entire story.

 

Here's another site that will be of interest,

http://www.vibratesoftware.com/

in particular the section labled 1997-2004 Help File

armed with this, and the information above, you should be able to speak intelligibly with your Service Manager, and mentally reject any of his / her BS.

 

Thank's for the post, Each of the tires were ballanced using the method you have described when installed on the truck, the problem we have is that after 1500 miles for the general tires and 800 miles for the BF Goodrich tires the best we can get is over 30 lbs after adjusting the tire to the rim.

 

that's extremely interesting....

so what was the lbs-force when newly mounted? less than 30 lbs per tire/rim combo I presume.

and if so, is the constant vibration changing the characteristics of the tire, maybe setting up a harmonic softening of the sidewall at the same points around the circumference of the tire?

an inquiring mind wants to know!

 

Interesting stuff. Thanks all!

p.s.
I switched my front tires (l-r, r-l) and the wheel shake is much less. My alignment guy thought I might have a steel belt that's settled off.
Let's see how long this helps.
Apparently folks, we're dealing with a combo platter of shakes, shimmys and vibrations that feed on each other. (!) Voodoo!

p.s.s.
Is it possible that struts can be bad with out leaking? I wonder if they aren't adjusting anymore. It almost seems like the more I drive, the less they control the wheel bounce. Fluid foaming? Bad inner seal? Hmmmm

 

The new tire's mounted and ballanced new, (General's) RF = 0, LF = 6, The BF Goodrich were RF = 2, and LF = 0, The stering wheel vibration was the same before and afterthe BF Goodrich tires were installed but got worse after a few days, I not taking the tech word on the numbers, I was present when this was done each time. Still no word from the ford tech service department, not even a return call to my service manager.