Vibration (front end)?

I have a 2001 Ford f-150 super crew Triton 8, with 53,000 mi.. The truck has been great, but, last month I put 4 new tires ( General Ameri track owl 255/70/16 , Original tires were General 235/70/16) within minutes of leaving the tire store I started feeling a vibration @ 30-50 mph, It was the worst between 40-45. I thought it might need alignment so 3 days later had the front end aligned, it did not correct the problem. I took the car to The Ford dealer, they said the tires were not balanced properly and re balanced them. I still had same problem, I took it back to ford 2 days later and they forced balanced the tires and checked the rims for "out of round" I still had the problem, Ford said the tires are bad. I went back to tire dealer, he tested the tires and said "Ya maybe they could have a "bump" in them", he took the tires back gave me full credit and I bought new Uniroyal Larado AWP OWL 255/70/16 All season radials and re balanced them. Guess what same problem. Back to the ford dealer, they check it over again and they do a " measured road force variation, radial and lateral runout and rebalance all 4 tires" they conclude that the left upper control arm, the idler arm, both lower ball joints are bad and need to be replaced, so I do it. I pick the truck up 2 days later, it seems a little better but still vibrates at 40-45 mph, within a day the vibration is the same as before, I take it back and they run more diagnostics, and balance the drive shaft, and tell me that the vibration is within normal range for my year and model truck, translation, they don’t know what is wrong and cant figure it out, the said it might be the rear end but they want $500. to do the diagnostic. Sorry for being so winded, any help or suggestions appreciated. Thanks, Twine

I'm surprised the alignmnent shop didn't notice that the front end parts were bad..

Since it's only 3 years old, shouldn't it still be covered by the Ford warranty? That should cover the parts, testing, etc.

Since it appears that the Ford dealer cannot find the problem, nor solve it, you might want to check with your state to see if it has a "Lemon Law." It may be applicable to your case.

I'm having a similar problem with my '93 F-150. It vibrates at 35 to 45 mph then smooths out again. I'm suspecting it's the driveshaft. I plan to get it balanced to see if it solves the problem. I had all four wheels re-balanced and it made a slight difference.

I'm surprised the alignmnent shop didn't notice that the front end parts were bad..


To tell you the truth, Im not sure that the ball joints were bad, Thanks for the reply.
Twine

Since it's only 3 years old, shouldn't it still be covered by the Ford warranty? That should cover the parts, testing, etc.

Since it appears that the Ford dealer cannot find the problem, nor solve it, you might want to check with your state to see if it has a "Lemon Law." It may be applicable to your case.

I'm having a similar problem with my '93 F-150. It vibrates at 35 to 45 mph then smooths out again. I'm suspecting it's the driveshaft. I plan to get it balanced to see if it solves the problem. I had all four wheels re-balanced and it made a slight difference.


Thanks for the reply, the original warrantee was only 36,000. I now have 53,000, I do have a third party extended warrantee (AAA) so they paid for the ball joints less $50.00 (my deductiable). The did balance my drive saft but it did not help. Guess i will keep fighting with Ford, but they can just say sorry cant fix since it is not under there warrantee anymore.

Twine

To tell you the truth, Im not sure that the ball joints were bad, Thanks for the reply.
Twine
It wouldn't surprise me if they weren't just trying to pacify you because they didn't want to like idiots by not finding out what was really wrong! :2cents:

it's possible that the trans. was damaged when it was first jacked up. take a look at the tail shaft housing as well as the trans mounts.

ervinj

It wouldn't surprise me if they weren't just trying to pacify you because they didn't want to like idiots by not finding out what was really wrong! :2cents:


Thank's for the responce, It wouldn't surprise me either. Thankfully I had an extended warrantee or I would have been out $800.00, and still have the problem
Twine

it's possible that the trans. was damaged when it was first jacked up. take a look at the tail shaft housing as well as the trans mounts.

ervinj

ervinj, Thanks that is definitely worth looking at I appreciate the advice, someone has also suggested that the change in tire size could cause a problem, wouldn't think larger tires would do that, looking for opnions on the tire size

Thanks, Twine

a lot of things to consider when talking tire size, Is M.P.G. a factor? also when changing more than one size warrantees could be effected check on it.

ervinj

We have the same vibration in the front on our 99 F-150 we purchased last month. It's been back at the dealer for over a week now. They can't get it to do it enough to figure out what it might be. The vibration starts at about 50-60mph, and it doesn't do it all the time. I read on another forum that some people have a problem with the parking brake sticking, and ours does. We have to manually pull up on the pedal even after releasing it with the handle to get the light to go off. After learning this was the solution to some people's vibration problem, I called the dealer and told them to check it out. We'll see. Just thought I'd throw that out there hoping it might help someone else.
Jen

Sounds like a lemon to me. Can't think of anything they haven't already checked. And the E brake thing shouldn't make it vibrate unless something is warped really i would think.