Shaking at 60+ miles per hour
 

Ok I have a 1999 Ford Expedition EB 5.4 2WD. The truck has 132K and is shaking and driving me nuts. First I replaced the tires. Then the Idler Arm. Then to it to Grapevine Ford and they replaced the upper and lower ball joints which all told has now set me back for tires, idler arm, and ball joints $2100.00 and I am still shaking. Not as bad but still shaking non the less. What in the world could it be? I have never owned a car that shaked like this and I have owned upwards of 50 cars. I am taking it back to Grapevine to see what we can come up with anyone have any other idea's.

shaking
 

Check your front wheel bearings, check all of your u-joints while in neutral so you can turn your drive shaft a little. Check front bearing in your rear differential. Last but not least check for a bent wheel.
Hope this helps

Shaking
 

The wheel bearings could be the culprit I replaced them at 77K the truck has 132K now. Could be. The nut was not tight when I check them. Loose on the right side. tightend but still shakes. Could that have caused a problem I can't see ?

shaking
 

Did you check the u-joints on the drive shaft and any connections between them.
Doug

Shaking
 

Thanks for the Reply. I assume the dealer looked at that. I took the car back to Ford today and I was told the Tires were bad. I took the Expedition to Discount Tires on the advisement of my local Ford Service Dept. and Discount replaced all four tires with new Yokohoma Tires Geolanders. The shaking has lessened but still like a persistant cough is still there. U-Joints, Shocks, and Wheel Bearings, and rotors. That is about all that is left. Everyone has been very cooperative tying to find this problem. As I keep going I will have a new truck soon. The shaking is now much less pronounced but still there. You can feel it go side to side kinda like a chopping motion Back to Ford in the morning we go.

shaking
 

I wouldn't assume the dealer would look at anything, but tell you a lot of thing that could be wrong. You said you replaced the tires in an earlier post and then said you just replaced them at discount. Unless the tires are old and separating, your tires would not be the problem. You could have one tire bad but not all of them if they we're just replaced. Your bearings are not at the top of the list. Like I said, check the u-joints, if you have 2 drive shafts check where they connect. There are rubber grommets, rubber housing around that and it can tear apart. Also check for a broken motor mount. Also did they check for a bent rim. Find a good trustworthy garage to take your truck to, not the dealer. If you can't find someone then you should get under the truck and check this stuff out that I mentioned. You've got to find the right person that know's what there doing or your just flushing money down the toilet. Always start with the cheapest fix first, not the most expensive thing first. ( the list) Bent wheel, u-joints, motor mount to start with.
Hope this helps, Doug

Were the tires load force balanced ? Not uncommon for a tire to balance out fine during a "high speed" balance but when put under load go slightly out of balance which can transmit to major vibration at higher speeds.


Matt

Is the dealer going to give you the money back for mis-diagnosing and not fixing the problem? Swapping out parts until hopefully something works right is not how you fix a problem.

Can you tell where the vibration is coming from? Up front, rear, steering wheel? The tires should be road force balanced for sure and make sure they do it correctly-show you the numbers-any tire with more than 15lbs it should be replaced.

Once the tires are ruled out-check for bent rim, etc-the road force test will show a bent rim-then you need to locate the source of the vibration. Most competent dealers have vibration testing devices that have sensors they place at various locations on the car. This will locate the area and frequency of vibration. Then they can narrow down the culprit. Bent driveshaft, etc. Again, just replacing parts is not the proper way to fix something and shouldn't be tolerated.