I am have a problem with a vibration in the truck at 45 to 55 mph with it being most noticable at 52 to 54 mph.You can feel it in the steering wheel,in the floor thru your feet, and some times the whole truck has a vibration. Truck has been into the dealer 3 times for this problem. They changed the drive shaft at least 3 times , tried different tires, and tried a number of other fixes. A Ford Tech looked at the truck and now their excuse is that the vibration is a "characteristic of the vehicle" and cannot be removed.
I have taken this problem to the Ford Dispute Settlement Board and they had gotten some paperwork from Ford that said the vibration was normal and that it does not affect the performance of the vehicle.So they did not help me out at all and all Ford says is that there is not a fix at this time But believe me this is not normal at all.It also seems the bigger the load the worse the vibration is and it also gets worse when towing our camper that weighs about 4000 lbs.Anybody got any suggestions??
I NEED HELP OR THIS WILL BE MY LAST FORD!!!!

 

I hear ya loud a clear. I have a vibe in my '01 SC that I've diagnosed myself, but Ford won't change the necessary parts. I'm seriously considering a GMC or Toyota next time.

Now, tell me more about your vibe. Is it only present while the truck is moving, or can you put the trans in gear and increase engine rpm while sitting still and feel it? You mentioned that a load makes it worse, ie. tongue weight. This sounds like driveline angularity problems. Have the dealers bothered to measure joint angles? Each component has a natural frequency. The reason you feel a vibration is because something else is vibrating at the same frequency. When these frequencies line up, it's called a harmonic vibration. When making designs, these natural frequencies are supposed to be taken into account. Harmonic vibration is NOT a normal characteristic of a machine if the design is correct. There are ways to dampen or isolate certain components. If all trucks vibrated like yours, I would accept the excuse that it's normal, but I guarantee that not all Screws vibrate. Mine didn't.

My vibration is caused by a restricted Y-pipe. I can disconnect the support at the rear of the trans and the vibe is gone. Ford won't let the dealer replace the pipe, instead, they put 2 mass dampers on the pipe. This helped some, but it's not gone. My last truck had the same powertrain and it didn't vibrate.

 

The only thing I can add about the vibration is that if I got the cruise set at 53 and take the truck out of Overdrive the vibration stays the same. It does not get any worse when the RPM'S of the engine increases.

 

I recently had the same problem when i installed a belltech stackle kit that lowered the rear end 2 inches.
The problem is an alighment problem with the drive shaft.
The driveshaft angle should not exceed 2 degrees have it checked.

 

I have almost the same vibe,except at a lower speed and chiefly from the back.....various tires,balancing,alignment,driveshaft...still the same thing. ford engineer gave me the same story......waiting to hear back from ford.....If it is normal,why dont all of them do it?

 

I'm not sure if Ford has changed the design but I a recurring problem with my 97 F150 4wd truck. At least back in 97 there was a problem with some sort of wheel centering o-ring that was caused a problem every time I had my tires (wheels) rotated. I was told that this o-ring needed to be replaced each time the wheel came off as it would deform causing the rotating assembly to be out of balance. I should add that I'm very technically savy but did not 'ever' actually see this ring they were discussing and never had the occasion to pull a wheel off myself.

 

yellowcreek
I have the same problem in an 02 Supercrew 4x4.
I just traded in an identical 2001 with 21,000 miles and never had the problem. Truck was perfect, never returned for any complaints. Dealer is just starting to work on truck. So far has ckecked tires and drivetrain. No help. Have you resolved your problem.

Vehicle is terrile to drive.

 

Hello fellow f-150 Screw drivers. I too, had the vibration problem and seaching out other chat locations discovered a tsb on the subject. I took my truck now with 28,000 miles to the dealership, showed them the tsb and now am sporting a new 115mm 5" alum. driveshaft, because the one on my truck was a 41/2" 114mm shaft which was wrong for the vehicle. I had been told for 28,000 miles it was what I was going to have to live with. "THERE IS A TRUCK GOD".
With the new shaft I have "NO" vibrations at all.... . This is a great feeling. Mine vibrated at 45, 71 and 75 miles per hour, now I have to look down to see how fast I'm doing.

Hope this helps you with the same problem...don't let them tell you its just the vehicle design.

01SCSCREWOWNER

 

I had a vibe in my 1st S'crew, found out it had a cracked balance ring on the drive shaft, at least thats what they told me at Ford and after replacing it, never had another problem with the shakes. We traded for a second S'crew and it has a vibe at 3800- 4000 rpm's. Still having it checked out.

 

I had the same vibrations in my 2001 F150/7700. The dealer took 5 shots at it and did not fix it. I forced the issue and met a Ford engineer at the dealership to demonstrait the problem. From the beginning I was convinced it was a pinion angle problem but the dealer would not consider it. They changed tires twice, put in a torque converter and then put in a complete transmission and I found out they put a drive shaft in it during PDI. None of this worked. I kept the pressure on and Ford bought it back. I got a 2002, same model to replace it and it is fine - no vibrations. My advice, force the issue. Make them fix it or replace it. And one tool I used was the threat of bad press. I made it very clear I would inform as many people as I could of the facts regarding my problem. This made the difference. Don't give up.

 

I agree about putting the pressure on Ford if they can not take care of the problem. It took me about 6 months of getting lots of excuses about the vibration being a "characteristic of the vehicle" before they finally agreed to replace the truck. I took one of the owners of the dealership for a ride and then only took a couple of weeks and they offered a good deal to replace my truck with a 4x4. Ford kicked in $4000 to make up for the depreciation, plus my $500 radiator rebate. It cost me about $1000 plus the difference between the cost of 4x2 to 4x4, plus tax on the difference. Now somebody else has my old 2001 vibrating 4x2 and I have a new 2002 4x4 that so far is a GREAT TRUCK. So don't let them tell you that they do not have a problem with vibrations on any other trucks.

 

Dave Powell
I had this problem, and went through sets of new tires, switched rims, ran truck on jack stands, rotated drive shaft, did the hose clamp balance trick, still had the problem. The cause was a pinnon yoke on the rear end that had to much run out. It was replaced and checked for run out limits problem solved. Hope this might help. Dave

 

I have a vibration in my '01 screw 4x2, but only while idling in gear. It happens intermittently. The engineer told me this was a natural characteristic of the truck. It was the OBDII emission rich/lein control. They could not recalibrate my vehicle because then it would not meet emission standards. Right now, I am in the process of writing a letter to the CEO of Ford.

 

This story is a carbon copy of the problems I'm having with my 2001 F-150 4x4 SC. I have the same vibration in the seat,steering wheel,and pedal. Had it at the dealer 4 times still no results. They have changed tire's, drive shaft, ball joints, tie rod ends. I'm going to go public with the media if I don't get any results soon. Dealers seem to react better once they know they there going to get some media attention. One of my biggest complains is they say the truck is wore out, it has 48000 km or 30000 miles?

Richard Arp
Calgary Alberta Canada