Drivetrain Tech General discussion of drivetrain for the Ford Ranger.

Brutal vibration under highway acceleration

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
  #1  
Old 03-16-2011
immortal_vision's Avatar
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: C
Posts: 612
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Brutal vibration under highway acceleration

In the city its not too bad... but ont he highway doing betweem 80 and 100 km/hr and over that ever, when i give the truck gas the whole front end seems to vibrate liek hell, and i can feel it madly in the steering wheel.

not sure if this is suspension or drivetrain related... but seeing as how its only on the highway when i accelerate i was say its almost trans related?

just started doing it recently, i know its not the vibration of my tires ive had mud tires almost the entire life of the truck so i know the feel lol
 
  #2  
Old 03-16-2011
MothMan999's Avatar
Member
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 858
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Might be a stupid question but do you have any mud or snow or anything caked in the wheels? I had a bunch of frozen in my wheels and it was an ungodly vibration.
 
  #3  
Old 03-16-2011
FULLSCALE's Avatar
Level III Supporter
iTrader: (12)
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Clinton, Ontario
Posts: 8,184
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
Another obvious one, but did you check and make sure everything is tight? driveshaft?
 
  #4  
Old 03-16-2011
08rangerdan's Avatar
Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: London/Cambridge Ontario
Posts: 323
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Probably a u joint, check the d shaft. higher rpm and driveshaft slop/corrosion will cause that vibration. Get under the truck with the p brake on and vehicle in neutral, check and see if you can slap the u joints from side to side with a good dead blow hit from each cup, checking for small amounts of side play. then check the torsioned slop by physically twisting the shaft back and forth by hand. You may likely only see the first issue and it may be hard to detect because its probably just a single cup that got corrosion in it. If you still can't determine slop pull off the rear axle flange first (usually the most corrosion exposed joint on the truck
) check for a rough spot or where it doesn't pivot freely
 

Last edited by 08rangerdan; 03-16-2011 at 06:02 AM.
  #5  
Old 03-16-2011
RazorsEDGE's Avatar
There's no lifeguard in the gene pool
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 7,684
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 2 Posts
Also since its in the front, check the rotors.
 
  #6  
Old 03-16-2011
winks's Avatar
Member
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Jackson, New Jersey
Posts: 4,872
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I had the same thing happen at highway speeds and it turned out that my hub assemblies were bad; I also got it when my tie rods went bad - though that was more constant. Jack the truck up to see if there's any play in your tire. If there's movement from side to side, there's an issue with the hub assembly, if there's movement from top to bottom, there's an issue with your ball joints.
 
  #7  
Old 03-16-2011
j99ranger4x4's Avatar
Member
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Delaware, OH
Posts: 1,381
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Side to side is also tie rods. Is your trans slipping?
 
  #8  
Old 03-16-2011
winks's Avatar
Member
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Jackson, New Jersey
Posts: 4,872
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Oh yeah... that too, thanks Jacob.
 
  #9  
Old 03-16-2011
04RangerDave's Avatar
JDM> RANGER
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: RI
Posts: 5,031
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
mines in the dealer for the same thing. front right hub and tie rods. check your fan for play in it also
 
  #10  
Old 03-16-2011
99offroadrngr's Avatar
TOYOTA
iTrader: (37)
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 11,713
Received 9 Likes on 8 Posts
is it like this?


those were my outer tie rods that were shot. after i got it aligned the truck was were it was supposed to be and since there was a ton of play in the rods it went where it wanted haha
 
  #11  
Old 03-16-2011
immortal_vision's Avatar
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: C
Posts: 612
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Its not quite that bad... thats looks even worse than mine but more or less the same vibration
 
  #12  
Old 03-16-2011
fourliter dan's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Lebanon, OR
Posts: 2,229
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Have you checked to see if you lost some wheel weights.... If it's progressive it could be that.
 
  #13  
Old 03-16-2011
ranger4.0's Avatar
Member
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: cambridge, ontario
Posts: 3,922
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
you just installed the new under drive pulley set right? i dont think the new crank pulley has a balancer on it does it? if not that could be part of the problem... although that would be more rpm related. however at a constant speed then putting a load on the engine could cause a vibration through an unbalanced crank
 
  #14  
Old 03-17-2011
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Ottawa, ON
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I had the same thing today at the higher highway speeds, I had just replaced the hub rotor assembly for my 2wd and had put in new bearings. It vibrated at the 80-100 mark. Came home, retorqued the bearing nut to specs AGAIN and it seems to have went away.
 
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Nick95
4.0L OHV & SOHC V6 Tech
4
04-29-2012 05:12 PM
Mahtymaht
Drivetrain Tech
15
04-23-2012 07:14 PM
Ranger928
Drivetrain Tech
7
05-23-2009 09:14 PM
trenchdigger
4.0L OHV & SOHC V6 Tech
7
04-26-2007 03:47 PM



Quick Reply: Brutal vibration under highway acceleration



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:08 PM.