First of all hello to everyone as im new here and now for the problem.It's a 95 4wd with an automatic,coming home the other day running around 40-50 i started to get a small vibration then a severe vibration that was felt in the steering wheel and actually the whole truck.As i would speed up it kinda cleared out but the instant i let off the gas the vibration came back.The universals seemed fine with no play but could this still be my problem? any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Pull the driveshaft and have it balanced. Call around, it shouldn't cost much. While your at it, replace the U-joints. It's a cheap start....

Visually check your pinion angle, inspect wheels for warping or potential balance weight that has fallen off.

Ain't chasing vibrations grand!

Good Luck!

Mike

 

Allow me to be the first to say, Welcome to FTE! Have chasing your vibrations, I'm currently chasing my THIRD vibration since I bought my truck about a year ago... It's soooo frustrating.

 

I just got another one. Feels like its a missfire. =\

 

I spent over $1500 and 1 year (off and on) hunting a bad vibration on my E250 8 bolt van.

It eventually came down to these two items:

1) TIRES - Even though I replaced all four of them, and had them balanced by three different shops, including by myself at my own friends garage, the vibrations didn't stop.
Even one of the first mechanics balanced the wheel on their old "on-car-balancer" and it didn't catch the imbalance I spoke of. It led me to believe u-joints, transmission tailshaft bushing, driveshaft, axle etc were the cause... hence the $1400... basically wasted on parts I changed myself...
until I took it to one of the few Ford Dealers that have the fancy $10,000 HUNTER Douglas wheel loading balancing thingy. It was the best $130 I ever spent. They found two of the NEW four wheels where over the wheel force spec of 35 lbs, one was 55 lbs and the other 60 lbs. They reindexed the steel rim to the tire and rebalanced accordingly. The force was reduced to under 15 lbs each on these crappy new wheels. I cannot stress how AMAZED I am at this machine.

I can't beleive the dealer fixed my problem, while three other shops could even come close. Even my own careful measurements of lateral and radial runout were essentially within reason. I expected the dealer to rape me!

2) In addition, I felt a really faint "rumble" at higher speeds which proved to be driveline related... Jacking up the rear end, placing the shaft 180 out of rotation, and playing around with a c clamp on the driveshaft (balancing) fixed this subtle vibration too.

Finally, after 1 year my van is smooth. I'm so happy.

 

Yea, whenever you check driveline parts, Make sure you jack up the rear end so its in a free play state.

That tire ballance thing is crazy.

I'm always happy with the job at Discount they do for me. I think one of my weights fell off again though. I have a vibration at 60-70. I gotta pull the front hubs and check them. They might be the culprits again. *sigh* I'm getting really good at removing them.

 

I chased vibration at 45-50 mph. Ujoints; rear wheel bearings, brake drums, fan clutch, rebuilt trans. It finally went away when motor mounts were replaced. Driver's side worse and was hidden by heat shroud. 95 F150 RWD 302/4R70W