Another vibration saga

[Viator092]

Been reading the vibrations threads here. For the life of me I can't figure out how to solve my vibration issues. Soon after I took delivery of my '19 Lariat 4WD I swapped out tires and wheels and added an RC 3 inch level. Started getting a vibe at 65-75 mph. Was it doing it in the 150 miles beforehand? Not sure. Probably would have noticed. The shop that did the mod work placed hub centric rings and rebalanced the tires. No luck. Swapped tires. Twice. No luck. Multiple balances. No luck. Odd thing is the vibrations will happen for awhile then it would go away. Kinda like the tires/wheels get into a weird harmonic situation.

Swap out the RC 3 inch level for the Ford Performance Lift. Keeps happening. Ford tech says that's what you get with a lift. I call BS. So I buy another wheel and swap it around the four corners to see if I can eliminate one wheel as bad. Nope. After reading up on this issue on the forum I shim the carrier bearing. Works...for awhile. I think. I swapped the tires and wheels off a Tacoma for a test drive. Works but I can't verify it would have lasted (It was a rental so I had to get the wheels back on.)

So I go back to thinking it's a drive shaft issue and run the NVH app to narrow down the vibe. I'm thinking, go into this, the drive shaft will indeed be the issue. Nope....says tires. WTH? Multiple balances. Wheels supposedly checked out.

I don't get it. Can it be tires/wheels that give an intermittent vibe? Sometimes it vibes...sometimes not. If I did change out the wheels (the Raptor wheels look good) could I in fact sort the out? Getting to the point of selling and getting a Ram 1500 diesel. Help a brother out?

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[Mr.Scary]

you say you have had the tires balanced. have you had them road force balanced? that will tell if you have a bad tire or rim.

 

[Glocker]

Grease the slip joint on the driveshaft maybe? I seem to recall this is a source of some NVH.

 

[Fawnbuster]

Been reading the vibrations threads here. For the life of me I can't figure out how to solve my vibration issues. Soon after I took delivery of my '19 Lariat 4WD I swapped out tires and wheels and added an RC 3 inch level. Started getting a vibe at 65-75 mph. Was it doing it in the 150 miles beforehand? Not sure. Probably would have noticed. The shop that did the mod work placed hub centric rings and rebalanced the tires. No luck. Swapped tires. Twice. No luck. Multiple balances. No luck. Odd thing is the vibrations will happen for awhile then it would go away. Kinda like the tires/wheels get into a weird harmonic situation.

Swap out the RC 3 inch level for the Ford Performance Lift. Keeps happening. Ford tech says that's what you get with a lift. I call BS. So I buy another wheel and swap it around the four corners to see if I can eliminate one wheel as bad. Nope. After reading up on this issue on the forum I shim the carrier bearing. Works...for awhile. I think. I swapped the tires and wheels off a Tacoma for a test drive. Works but I can't verify it would have lasted (It was a rental so I had to get the wheels back on.)

So I go back to thinking it's a drive shaft issue and run the NVH app to narrow down the vibe. I'm thinking, go into this, the drive shaft will indeed be the issue. Nope....says tires. WTH? Multiple balances. Wheels supposedly checked out.

I don't get it. Can it be tires/wheels that give an intermittent vibe? Sometimes it vibes...sometimes not. If I did change out the wheels (the Raptor wheels look good) could I in fact sort the out? Getting to the point of selling and getting a Ram 1500 diesel. Help a brother out?

I put in hubcentric rings and a bag of beads in each tire plus the normal balance. Vibration is gone except on some roads

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Been reading the vibrations threads here. For the life of me I can't figure out how to solve my vibration issues. Soon after I took delivery of my '19 Lariat 4WD I swapped out tires and wheels and added an RC 3 inch level. Started getting a vibe at 65-75 mph. Was it doing it in the 150 miles beforehand? Not sure. Probably would have noticed. The shop that did the mod work placed hub centric rings and rebalanced the tires. No luck. Swapped tires. Twice. No luck. Multiple balances. No luck. Odd thing is the vibrations will happen for awhile then it would go away. Kinda like the tires/wheels get into a weird harmonic situation.

Swap out the RC 3 inch level for the Ford Performance Lift. Keeps happening. Ford tech says that's what you get with a lift. I call BS. So I buy another wheel and swap it around the four corners to see if I can eliminate one wheel as bad. Nope. After reading up on this issue on the forum I shim the carrier bearing. Works...for awhile. I think. I swapped the tires and wheels off a Tacoma for a test drive. Works but I can't verify it would have lasted (It was a rental so I had to get the wheels back on.)

So I go back to thinking it's a drive shaft issue and run the NVH app to narrow down the vibe. I'm thinking, go into this, the drive shaft will indeed be the issue. Nope....says tires. WTH? Multiple balances. Wheels supposedly checked out.

I don't get it. Can it be tires/wheels that give an intermittent vibe? Sometimes it vibes...sometimes not. If I did change out the wheels (the Raptor wheels look good) could I in fact sort the out? Getting to the point of selling and getting a Ram 1500 diesel. Help a brother out?

What is the frequency of the vibration that is causing the problem? That may be telling. When you make a bunch of mods and have a vibration if it is in the 10hz range it is wheel/tire if it is in the 30-40hz range it is likely driveline.

best,
Phil

 

[MattS]

I installed a differential drop on my truck after a 3in lift. Took care of a lot of the vibrations.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

The driveshaft vibration is a known issue with these trucks. There are several things found to cause it. The first issue is the driveshaft angle. You can try shimming the center bearing to change the angle of the drive shaft. This has helped some people eliminate the vibration at takeoff and at speed, but may require longer bolts to accommodate the required shim thickness. Second is the pinion angle relative to the driveshaft. Ford has a TSB on this to install wedge shims on the rear spring perches, however they will only do it if the measured angle exceeds the listed amount. Many people who have tried to get it done were told theirs is within spec, or had it done and it made no difference. While others who had it done resolved the issue. The third issue is the driveshaft being peppered with weights causing counter balance issues, that could be caused by the yokes being out of phase and are leading to secondary vibrations (initial start and high speed vibrations). I am not aware of anyone having the shaft rebalanced and/or having a new splined yoke made to bring the shaft into phase.

All of the above possible fixes are hit/miss as they work for some but not others. This issue has also been very common with the Tacoma which has a near identical drivetrain setup as the Ranger and exhibits identical issues when a rear suspension lift is performed. Research of the Ranger shows when it was brought to the US market Ford lifted the rear suspension by 1.75 - 2" and unknowingly introduced the vibration. Instead of having a properly redesigned driveshaft for the new driveline geometry they elected to go with a convoluted TSB fix that may/may not work.

This video explains the issue, what causes it and how to fix it. Yes it's about the Tacoma but as stated before we share very similar drivetrain configurations so it does apply to us as well.




So far to date the only known 100% cure has been to replace the two piece shaft with a one piece shaft eliminating the center bearing assembly, out of phase yoke, and counter balanced shaft that we al have.

 

[Viator092]

What is the frequency of the vibration that is causing the problem? That may be telling. When you make a bunch of mods and have a vibration if it is in the 10hz range it is wheel/tire if it is in the 30-40hz range it is likely driveline.

best,
Phil

I'll check that number today.

 

[APmech]

There is one on here that brought his oem driveshaft assy to a shop and got it re-phased and re-balanced and said it fixed his vibration issues. The only thing is that his truck was lowered.

 

[VegasRanger]

The only thing that truly fixed mine was going to a one piece driveshaft. Stock my truck was perfect. A 2.5 leveling struts and slightly bigger tires was all it took to bring on insane vibration. These truck does not like to be modified at all.

 

[Heli-Boy]

So i had small vibration from new, but only very little. Having been past mechanic I narrowed down to center bearing having flex. After putting a 3 inch lift and bigger tires and factory tune up grade( now more torque) upon start from a stop I have to feather throttle til rotation of driveshaft and not problem. If I hit the throttle hard severe clunking. I believe that the stock centerbearing is very weak. Any idea of an aftermarket centerbearing ? Obe piece driveshaft sounds promising. Thanks for thought and ideas to come

 

[Fawnbuster]

I put in hubcentric rings and a bag of beads in each tire plus the normal balance. Vibration is gone except on some roads

I spoke too soon. Vibration just gave me 5 more mph. At 75+ I feel it in my seat and floor boards so I'm at a local discount tire shop getting the beads out, weights off and trying road force balancing. Running 285 70 17 wildpeaks. P rated. I was told to leave the weights on when you add beads , this shop says no, remove the weights, researched and majority said remove the weights if you add beads. Shaking my head...

Also going up from 35 to 40 psi see if that helps. I know it made a huge difference in my police car loaded with scuba gear plus every day gear. Even if I get a tad bit bumpier ride I'll take it if the vibration goes away or is significantly better...

 

[Fawnbuster]

Much much better, 2 tires had to be rotated 180 degrees on the wheels , 1 per axle. Got rid of the beads and previous weights. 80 mph and no vibration. I will always do a road force balance on my truck from here on out.

 

[Stage3Motorsports]

Been reading the vibrations threads here. For the life of me I can't figure out how to solve my vibration issues. Soon after I took delivery of my '19 Lariat 4WD I swapped out tires and wheels and added an RC 3 inch level. Started getting a vibe at 65-75 mph. Was it doing it in the 150 miles beforehand? Not sure. Probably would have noticed. The shop that did the mod work placed hub centric rings and rebalanced the tires. No luck. Swapped tires. Twice. No luck. Multiple balances. No luck. Odd thing is the vibrations will happen for awhile then it would go away. Kinda like the tires/wheels get into a weird harmonic situation.

Swap out the RC 3 inch level for the Ford Performance Lift. Keeps happening. Ford tech says that's what you get with a lift. I call BS. So I buy another wheel and swap it around the four corners to see if I can eliminate one wheel as bad. Nope. After reading up on this issue on the forum I shim the carrier bearing. Works...for awhile. I think. I swapped the tires and wheels off a Tacoma for a test drive. Works but I can't verify it would have lasted (It was a rental so I had to get the wheels back on.)

So I go back to thinking it's a drive shaft issue and run the NVH app to narrow down the vibe. I'm thinking, go into this, the drive shaft will indeed be the issue. Nope....says tires. WTH? Multiple balances. Wheels supposedly checked out.

I don't get it. Can it be tires/wheels that give an intermittent vibe? Sometimes it vibes...sometimes not. If I did change out the wheels (the Raptor wheels look good) could I in fact sort the out? Getting to the point of selling and getting a Ram 1500 diesel. Help a brother out?

What tires are you running?

 

[VegasRanger]

It's crazy to me how these trucks hate mods. My truck stock rode perfect stock. As soon as I added a leveling kit and tires all hell broke loose. Switching to a one piece driveshaft made a huge difference. Truck rides great now. I get vibes occasionally, but I know it's the tires. Especially now that it's cold, in the mornings I feel vibes and as they warm up it goes away. I'm going to get them rebalanced soon.

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