TSB 20-2277 2019-2020 Ranger - Shudder/Vibration When Accelerating From A Stop

[20lariat4x4]

What kind of shims did you use ?

The master tech at my local dealership had a huge stack of Ford Transit center bearing shims from a recall for that vehicle. He gave me some for free. Turns out the bolt hole spacing is the exact same for our Ranger’s center bearing, but they did require taking a grinder to cut off the corners of the edge closest to the center bearing bracket to clear it.

Might ask a tech at your local dealer, bet they have some laying around if they’ve done the Transit repairs. Otherwise I don’t see why the slightly thicker stainless fender washers wouldn’t work just fine.

-Cameron

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[CompDude]

Bad news and good news.

Bad: Ford denied the buyback. To hell with them.

Good: I experimented with more center bearing drop and found completely smooth perfection at 18mm. Uphill, downhill, flat, hard acceleration, soft acceleration, up to 95mph- all smooth.

I noticed the more shims I added, the more the takeoff vibration improved and the slight vibration/shimmy at speed moved to higher and higher ranges of speed.

-At 10mm of shim, I had the vibration at take off and while lightly accelerating from ~65-75mph.

-At 13mm, vibe at takeoff and accelerating from ~75-85.

-At 15mm, vibe at takeoff almost gone and very slight at ~80+

-At 18mm, smooth up to highest tested speed of 95.

I spent the rest of the day installing a new 4x4 selector knob with Terrain Management to add to my non-FX4, activated it and a few other things in Forscan, and actually enjoyed the truck for the first damn time. Glad it’s fixed, wish Ford did it. End of story.

FYI- I also had the TSB done (correctly) with the 0.5 degree shims to correct my pinion angle from ~6.5 to 6.0 before I messed with the center bearing at all. It might have helped the vibration very slightly, hard to tell.

Hope this helps guide all of you to a smoother ride.

-Cameron

Interesting... My pinion is at 6.2 after the TSB I added 3/4 of an inch of shims and I have a silky smooth take off and ride up to 75-85 have not tested it any faster.

Made mine from 1/4 flat stock.

I may try to adjust the pinion to 5.2 latter but dad always said if its not broke don't fix it..

 

[navsnipe]

The master tech at my local dealership had a huge stack of Ford Transit center bearing shims from a recall for that vehicle. He gave me some for free. Turns out the bolt hole spacing is the exact same for our Ranger’s center bearing, but they did require taking a grinder to cut off the corners of the edge closest to the center bearing bracket to clear it.

Might ask a tech at your local dealer, bet they have some laying around if they’ve done the Transit repairs. Otherwise I don’t see why the slightly thicker stainless fender washers wouldn’t work just fine.

-Cameron

Any chance you could post a picture of the shims they gave you?

 

[20lariat4x4]

Any chance you could post a picture of the shims they gave you?

I used all the shims he gave me on my center bearing. They look just like the angled shims from the TSB, but with two holes for the bolts. Black, same exact LxW, I think. I’ll see if I can read the part number on them or get one from the tech.

-Cameron

 

[Milkmaster]

Interesting... My pinion is at 6.2 after the TSB I added 3/4 of an inch of shims and I have a silky smooth take off and ride up to 75-85 have not tested it any faster.

Made mine from 1/4 flat stock.

I may try to adjust the pinion to 5.2 latter but dad always said if its not broke don't fix it..

I have nothing to lose trying your solution! You must have installed longer bolts in the center bearing no? Can you share the metric size and length of those new bolts? Otherwise I have to get one of the bolts out and match it at the hardware store.

Also share the hole size and width spacing for your 3/4" shims? Were they one piece or two across and beneath the bearing? I can get them made ahead of time! Thanks for your help and comments.

 

[CompDude]

I have nothing to lose trying your solution! You must have installed longer bolts in the center bearing no? Can you share the metric size and length of those new bolts? Otherwise I have to get one of the bolts out and match it at the hardware store.

Also share the hole size and width spacing for your 3/4" shims? Were they one piece or two across and beneath the bearing? I can get them made ahead of time! Thanks for your help and comments.

Here was my process..

3/4 of an inch may or may not be correct for your truck here is how I came to that conclusion on my truck.

I installed the following harbor freight shims little by little until reaching 3/4 an Inch where the vibration at take off was gone

Anyone using this process please be aware don't use the test shims on a long term basis as they are not designed for this purpose.

Through this process I did have to buy a couple longer flange head 10mm Grade 10.9 bolts and washers to match the factory bolts as I added more shims. I purchased several different lengths as I tested if I remember correctly my final bolts were 50mm in length.

So knowing 3/4 of an inch was good for my truck I purchased the following flat stock from Lowes
Hillman 1/4 x 1-1/2 x 4ft flat stock

I cut the stock in 1 3/4 lengths. Then placed one on the center bearing bracket to create a template.

Transferred the center point to the other shims
Center punched them and drilled the holes on a drill press and installed.
Truck is silky smooth now..

 

[20lariat4x4]

The longer bolts I used were M10 1.5x60. Grade 10.9. You’ll need those and washers for them.

-Cameron

 

[navsnipe]

Here was my process..

3/4 of an inch may or may not be correct for your truck here is how I came to that conclusion on my truck.

I installed the following harbor freight shims little by little until reaching 3/4 an Inch where the vibration at take off was gone

Anyone using this process please be aware don't use the test shims on a long term basis as they are not designed for this purpose.

Through this process I did have to buy a couple longer flange head 10mm Grade 10.9 bolts and washers to match the factory bolts as I added more shims. I purchased several different lengths as I tested if I remember correctly my final bolts were 50mm in length.

So knowing 3/4 of an inch was good for my truck I purchased the following flat stock from Lowes
Hillman 1/4 x 1-1/2 x 4ft flat stock

I cut the stock in 1 3/4 lengths. Then placed one on the center bearing bracket to create a template.

Transferred the center point to the other shims
Center punched them and drilled the holes on a drill press and installed.
Truck is silky smooth now..

How long have you had the 3/4" shims in? When I did this a few months ago some shudder returned and I got some vibes in the steering wheel around 55-60 mph. Used same material and shape shims you fabricated.

 

[CompDude]

How long have you had the 3/4" shims in? When I did this a few months ago some shudder returned and I got some vibes in the steering wheel around 55-60 mph. Used same material and shape shims you fabricated.

Around a month.. If it comes back I will attempt to get the pinion angle to 5.2 or as close as I can get it..

 

[navsnipe]

I used all the shims he gave me on my center bearing. They look just like the angled shims from the TSB, but with two holes for the bolts. Black, same exact LxW, I think. I’ll see if I can read the part number on them or get one from the tech.

-Cameron

Do they look like one of these?

 

[Milkmaster]

Took this video today. I am sure under load things are much different, but unfortunately a highway video is hard to do with just an iphone. Smooth as silk all the way until you reach interstate speeds above 70mph. Then it is the exact same high speed vibration you feel when driving. I did this to confirm it is NOT unbalanced tires.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Took this video today. I am sure under load things are much different, but unfortunately a highway video is hard to do with just an iphone. Smooth as silk all the way until you reach interstate speeds above 70mph. Then it is the exact same high speed vibration you feel when driving. I did this to confirm it is NOT unbalanced tires.

Definitely not start up shudder if you describe it as above 70mph. Helpful to know the frequency of the vibration and your dealer Tech with their NVH equipment should be able to determine. It could be tire ovality which is not balance. Or out of round rim... just guessing until it is possible to pin down the frequency of the vibration and the engine rpm as well as vehicle speed. Also, what does your calibrated assometer indicate where the vibration emanates? Front or rear, Left or right or center?

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retred

 

[Milkmaster]

Definitely not start up shudder if you describe it as above 70mph. Helpful to know the frequency of the vibration and your dealer Tech with their NVH equipment should be able to determine. It could be tire ovality which is not balance. Or out of round rim... just guessing until it is possible to pin down the frequency of the vibration and the engine rpm as well as vehicle speed. Also, what does your calibrated assometer indicate where the vibration emanates? Front or rear, Left or right or center?

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retred

3rd set of tires. The tire shop took special care with me watching to force balance the 3rd set that were hand chosen from 14 tires in stock. I feel pretty confident these tires are great. Biggest riding improvement was dropping the PSI down to 32. That helped overall ride a great deal. Now I am just trying to find the vibration problem. People drive in the upper 70's and lower 80's on the freeways around here. That is exactly where the worst vibration happens with this truck since the day I bought it. 3 sets of tires and that vibration has not changed. SO today I did the test you see in the video. Running at different speeds with my hands on various places to see what I could feel. No rough pavement nor other factors to interfere. I was actually surprised how smooth it ran until about 79-80MPH. My ass feels it in my seat mostly when driving. Feeling of the frame beneath at that speed feels like the problem is more towards the transmission and NOT towards the pinion end of things.

Kinda strange thing today. Mostly smooth making a trip this morning down the freeway to see my mom about 35 miles away. I get in the truck 2 hours later to come home and the vibrations were as bad as they get. Also seems to be a little less when a person is riding in the passenger seat. I don't know if the weight has something to do with it or not. I have tried center bearing shims up to 1/4" with mixed results. I will think they work until the next time I make a trip and find out it is no better than it was before. There are no shims etc in the driveline now before I made the video. I just wanted to see it run and check any major run out I could determine.

The vibrations never have felt like it was a tire problem. It shows up a little sometimes at slower speeds where tires would not be creating a frequency that high. These slow highway speed but higher freq vibrations aren't really bad enough to complain about overall, but they seem to come from and resemble the same worse vibrations at high speeds. That's why I notice them. They are felt when starting off out of the driveway especially if the turning angle is sharp. But it is higher freq than tires at that time.

I am out of ideas for now other than to trade the darn thing. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

3rd set of tires. The tire shop took special care with me watching to force balance the 3rd set that were hand chosen from 14 tires in stock. I feel pretty confident these tires are great. Biggest riding improvement was dropping the PSI down to 32. That helped overall ride a great deal. Now I am just trying to find the vibration problem. People drive in the upper 70's and lower 80's on the freeways around here. That is exactly where the worst vibration happens with this truck since the day I bought it. 3 sets of tires and that vibration has not changed. SO today I did the test you see in the video. Running at different speeds with my hands on various places to see what I could feel. No rough pavement nor other factors to interfere. I was actually surprised how smooth it ran until about 79-80MPH. My ass feels it in my seat mostly when driving. Feeling of the frame beneath at that speed feels like the problem is more towards the transmission and NOT towards the pinion end of things.

Kinda strange thing today. Mostly smooth making a trip this morning down the freeway to see my mom about 35 miles away. I get in the truck 2 hours later to come home and the vibrations were as bad as they get. Also seems to be a little less when a person is riding in the passenger seat. I don't know if the weight has something to do with it or not. I have tried center bearing shims up to 1/4" with mixed results. I will think they work until the next time I make a trip and find out it is no better than it was before. There are no shims etc in the driveline now before I made the video. I just wanted to see it run and check any major run out I could determine.

The vibrations never have felt like it was a tire problem. It shows up a little sometimes at slower speeds where tires would not be creating a frequency that high. These slow highway speed but higher freq vibrations aren't really bad enough to complain about overall, but they seem to come from and resemble the same worse vibrations at high speeds. That's why I notice them. They are felt when starting off out of the driveway especially if the turning angle is sharp. But it is higher freq than tires at that time.

I am out of ideas for now other than to trade the darn thing. Thanks for letting me vent.

Hi MM,

The key element here is an out of round wheel. I would investigate this by rotating the tire/wheels and see if it changes. You are correct....not likely driveshaft related. Again...if 2nd order and not tires...then it is likely wheel related.

I sometimes wish I could have my equipment with me and fly to the vehicle as we would likely zero on the problem quickly....that is why the dealership NVH hardware was created, but is only is good as the tech assigned to operate it is.... See...if the frequency is a multiple of 3.73, then it is driveline as this is the axle ratio but this frequency at 70mph is like a buzz, not a vibration, so I focus on wheel tire. Want to try something different...drop the spare and put it at different positions and see if it changes the vibration or makes it go away. If it does...the where the spare is located means the wheel/tire is suspect and needs further investigation. Again, just a thought, but use the dealer as a first resort until the prove inadequate to assist you.

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[Milkmaster]

even though they took this great care to find some special tires, its clear its just band-aiding the problem still.

I am not sure I understand what you are saying.

They put the wheels themselves on the machine to check for balance and any run out. Then the tires were mounted onto the wheels and balanced. Then they did the road force balancing. All turned out well. How would you find a bad wheel/rim otherwise?

The vibration hasn't changed one bit through 3 sets of tires.

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