I'll have to try the drum brakes... Mine has recently gotten a bad vibration between 60-72, and around 80-85. Goes away above 85 tho. Also my e-brake has to be SLAMMED in if im on more than 15-20 degrees of slope to keep it from rolling... I shouldn't have to put it in that hard...

 

I have a vibration about the sane speed but it seems to be when it shifts from 3rd to OD. I was told it may be the torque converter

 

I have the same problem. The lower ball joint was bad on the front passenger side so I had that replaced. I asked about the drivers side and they said it seemed fine. They also didn't do an alignment because they said everything seemed tight and was still in place. Should I go get an alignment somewhere just in case they were wrong about everything "seeming" tight?

I did notice that when I got under the truck it looks like they added an extra cushion to the stabilizer bar on the passenger side and replaced a tie rod end. There seems to be a lot more threads showing on the passenger side tie rod than the drivers side. Could that be an issue?

 

I thought I had my vibs solved on my 4.0 xlt auto 2wd. But several miles on the interstate today still had the same vibs. I've done tires, front brakes, rotors, bearings, all shocks, checked u joints. I jacked up the rear of the truck and ran it up to 80 mph. It seemed smooth. I might have to try the rear drums and shoes just to throw some more freaking money at this truck.

 

I swapped rear drums side to side with no effect. I'm totally stumped.

 

If that don't hit the nail on the head, Vibration and shaking that will drive me crazy...........
Been wondering why I never saw many Ford Rangers on the freeway, till I picked up this, lil Problem Child, that I found for sale. Soon to find out why it was for sale. Vibration and shaking and after a visit to the Ford shop for some recall work, they found a bolt half out on the drive shaft/transfer case and a bolt missing in the trans mount. They say they check everything else and found nothing wrong. Still vibration and shaking. I have replaced the front disks and rotors, all wheels balanced.
I have noticed that on long sweeping 65mph curves that the vibration will go away than start up again then slowly go away then slowly return. This seems to me to compound what the problem in Problem Child might be.
Have not listed all the parts that have been replaced and all the work, but it has added 3 grand to the price I paid for it, and still not solving the problem.
Will watch this area of the forum very closely for anything I might have missed.

 

this tread is old but ill suggest check ball joints. and check the road force on your tires

 

Ball joints, and all other replaceable parts, have been replaced. Going to replace the auto lock hubs with manual hubs, which is the last possible thing which could be a problem that I haven't replaced.
This thread needs to be ran often, sounds like most of the Rangers have this problem.
Just maybe someone has found, or will find, the answer and share it......

 

mine shakes i frankly don't care anymore

 

Ok, I have a 2 wheel drive Ranger, stock, no lift or suspension mods at all, new ujoints and carrier bearing.I also have a vibration at highway speeds and a klunk on takeoff. I layed under the rear of the truck and ask the wife to takeoff fast so I could watch the rearend and try to locate the klunk. the klunk is the rearend winding upon take off. It sure looks like under power the ujoint would be in a slight bind with that much angle and could cause vibration. All the spring bushings look fine for a 20 yearold truck, no slack, the ubolts are tight to the leaf spring so I'm at a loss to explain it. Maybe we need wedges to preload the rearend down more.
https://www.ranger-forums.com/archiv...hp/t-6901.html

pinion angle under load picture


if it's this way while driving down the road it also has to affect fuel mileage

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 04RangerDave

mine shakes i frankly don't care anymore

For safety sake, I needed to find the problem for my truck.
I mounted a back-up camera in different places, at different times under the truck, and found that the auto hubs were locking up at different times above 58mph. On curves mainly, figure that out. That was causing the worst steering wheel vibration. Could see this happen with the camera mounted on the underside near the front axle.
The other problem was that one of the tires, that came with the truck, was out of round.
Both problems were fixed with a new set of better brand tires and a set of WARN manual locking hubs. No more vibration at all.
That fixed mine, hope everyone else that has a problem with vibration in their truck find a solution to their problem.
Sketer

 

it cuts your gas mileage

I'm glad you fixed yours.

 

Hi Guys:
I have just developed a vibration too. But mine comes in around the 40mph range and goes away just afterwards. Tire are ballanced, U joints look OK with no up or down movement, All brakes are brand new, and the rubber bushing in the middle of the driveshaft looks solid too. It does have a very small amount of movement and I can turn it but it is very stiff.
What I have done so far is inspect above items and also lifted the truck up off the ground to check for all above issues. What I have noticed is that I can turn the wheels , yes normally one will go one way and the same on the other side, normal for an open diff, It is a two wheel drive truck also I must add. Now the strange thing is, I can also turn the hweels not easily mind you and the driveshaft doesn't tuen...? It isn't easy and doesn't do it all the time, it sort of needs to find it's happy spot. Now from what I have known in the past, if the drive shaft turns, ay least one wheel should turn and visa versa. If you turn one wheel while holding the oposite wheel it should turn the driveshaft ....correct?
This has all happened after I towed a second Ranger home for my daughter to fix as her first car.
I have owned this truck for a year and started driving it about 6 months ago after all of the work was done to it. I was told by the previous owner that he had switched out the rear-eand because his son had driven it and spun the diff gears. I know it's a new to the truck diff as it has the jumk yard markings on it for what gearing it has inside. It started out having 4:10's but the previous owner had more of a highway gear installed.
Like I said before, this all started this morning on a normal day's ride to take my daughter to school.
I also have either a rear main seal leaking or a front tranny seal leaking, but the fluid levels are always checked and kept up until I get chance to pull the tranny to fix either or. Neither have been run low or should I say below the low markings on the dip sticks for each.

I'm on a fixed income and need to try and figure this out rather than just willi nilli changing all of the driveline components. Something that I would normally do as I like new fresh parts. That way knowing exactly what I have at all times.


So....can anyone please suggest anything to help my problem go away?????

Yes I have read all threads on vibrations etc relating to a seat or driveline vibration.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

 

Hi guys, It cost me a good sized blister but I figured it out accidentally really. I was just going to get my mail and was rolling the truck down the driveway when I could notice a slight tugging feeling from the rear. It turns out that when I checked my tranny fluid yesterday I used the emergency brake which I rarely do, it must have held the brake on slightly, just enough to make that pulling feeling but once the drim and shoe got hot enough it turned into a vibration. So for those who haven't tried this have a go and see if your brakes are not grabbing ever so slightly. Easy way to tell is after a drive, just carefully reach around and touch the drum, becareful it will blister you like it did me before I could get my hand away. So this afternoon, I'm in after the brakes to find out why. They are all new, so maybe something has come undone or jammed? An easy and inexpensive I hope fix, some sand paper on the drum and shoe and bob's your uncle, away I go again. I was also on my way to buy all new U joints, what a waste that would have been and I still wouldn't have been solving the problem.
Good luck guys....it's usually the simple things as they say that cause the most problems.

 

Same problem with my 07'. its real anoying and at times scary. i took out the front driveshaft and it seems to have gone but i havent driven long enough to know. i am going on a 350km run today so i will update. it seems my transfer-case side of my front driveshaft has a little play so i could see that vibrating at speeds. def something to try.

 

I have a 91 so it's a 2 piece shaft, I took the assembly out and had a driveshaft shop check it out, 2 ujoints and a balancing eliminated all shaking. Now I can use my door mirrors, they were shaking too bad to be much use before. 100 dollars well spent

 

I have now figured it out i think. have narrowed it down to the front driveshaft. the cv side (ball and socket) seem slightly loose. so it would shimmy at speeds. goin for a new shaft of a rebuild and should be good to go.

 

Hey guys, it's been 2 years almost or more since I started this thread. I was wondering if anyone has any more issues in this department?

I had the issue solved with road force balancing the tires. I had changed all brakes, rotors, shoes, pads, drums, universal joints, all fluids in drivetrain, and shocks. I even had the drive shaft spin balanced (100% in spec).

The road force balancing did the trick. Now i had a new set of tires installed on the truck and the shake is back. I did not have these RF balnced though. They balanced out in their eyes "great". Too bad the shimmy and shake is there at highway speeds.

The bad part is now, my transmission died. I'm starting to think maybe it was a bearing in the transmission. I've yet to get the truck to a shop to run the code error. I have to wait until Monday :(.

I'll let you guys know if there are any changes in this situation (if I do put a new tranny in or fix it).

Anyone else have this problem and a A/T die out around 100k miles?

-Nick

 

i think most years of rangers have this prob. guys check your drive shafts, some r straight through n some r 2 pieces. What I found with 2000 ranger was my shaking , the drive shaft was not even with the tranny, its a simple cheap fix. Just shim the center with a metal plate to even it up, be sure to mark where it was first, if u can't then take it to someone who can. Fixed mine right up! $75.00 fix, parts & machine shop.

 

Could you give more detail with this ? I have a very bad shake at 40-45mph and then 60+ a steady vibration ever since I've had the truck, I've had the rear right axle replaced because it was bent and that stopped the vibration for the longest time then it came back, funny thing is tho it doesn't happen every time I go through these speeds but it happens most of the time, and when it happens if I stay in the 40-45mph speed it doesn't go away but as soon as i hit 46 it stops or as soon as i hit 39 stops. No one seems to know the fix to this issue and ford place i bought it from says rangers ride that they are the worst riding midsize, I've rode in other rangers they don't shake any

 

I just got a 1997 Extend cab 2WD and it has a vibration issue between 42mph and 55mph. I replaced the carrier bearing, and had the driveshaft balanced. I had the wheels balanced and that lessened the problem a little but it is still there. Last night I took all the wheels off my car (which are perfectly balanced) and put them on the truck. The car drives perfectly smooth at all speeds. After this experience the truck still had the vibration. One thing I noticed is that the emergency brake was mentioned and the rear brakes possibly being the problem. I know that the last owner NEVER used the e brake but I do. When I was changing the wheels I noticed that the left rear drum had a LOT of weights on it. I am going to try taking the drum off and looking at the shoes underneath to see if the e brake is releasing and sand the shoes a little. I don't know but this may help.

 

it could that the emergency brake cables are seized solid and not allowing the shoes to return to the resting position , constant contact of the shoes to the drum will heat up the drum and cause the rear axle bearings to overheat and cause temporary warping of the axle shaft

 

PEOPLE CHECK YOUR DRIVE SHAFT, I. SEARCHED FOR 6 MONTHS AND SLIP JOINT WAS BAD,THEY COULD NOT. BALANCE IT

 

Yes, I had the driveshaft balanced.

 

there was 1 forum member , that eventually discovered that the rear axle ring gear carrier was cracked

it would expand and run out of round when under load , might try that as well