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

[Big Blue]

Hi Lee,

U joints are 2nd order or two pulses per revolution of a shaft.... What you say is pretty much spot on...the Ranger appears quite sensitive to driveline shudder. My Ranger is silky smooth...like your's is too.

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

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the correction and comment. I should have remembered the second order thing. Vibration analysis wasn't a strength of mine, we had experts for that.

I'm just the son of a journeyman machinist who built subs and worked in shipyards during WWII. learned a lot from him. Only have a 2 year degree but 45 years of experience. So, I did pick up a few things along the way.

I really enjoy all your stories from your time at Ford and racing. You add a wealth of knowledge to the forum and your opinions are well respected.

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[navsnipe]

I borrowed a digital angle gauge and followed the TSB. My result was 4.9°. That results in a 0.35° shim based on the calculation. Looks like the smallest shim in the kit is a 0.5° which would adjust the pinion angle to 5.4°.

On another note I filled up with 93 octane rather than 87. I found and increased smoothness in the engine not that it was harsh to begin with.

 

[ChiefQM]

I got under the truck again with a better camera today and took photos of the leaf spring arrangements. The right side appears to have a flat, not tapered, shim at the bottom of the two leaf spring stack. The left side has two shims on the bottom of the stack, one is the same apparent thickness as the two leaf springs and the other is smaller (a little bigger than half of the wider shim). And there is a silver colored spacer between the two leaf springs, looks to be 1/16" or 1/8".

 

[ChiefQM]

Interestingly, I found a spy report on the suspensions of the Ranger on news.pickuptrucks.com from 2018 when the Ranger was being tested in Colorado.
It shows a different arrangement, with 3 leaf springs and a shim on each side.

 

[porktyme]

I have the Tuned by Ford Performance 2.0 kit M-18000-R, stock 17" wheels, and the angle came in at 5.4°

 

[navsnipe]

I have the Tuned by Ford Performance 2.0 kit M-18000-R, stock 17" wheels, and the angle came in at 5.4°

Do you have any vibration? I would hope at 5.4° you wouldn't.

 

[Ogden Dan]

Has anyone gotten this TSB done that hasn't been given a line of crap?
My truck is going in Monday for a minor cosmetic fix and to have them check the vibration that seems to meet the language of the TSB. I hope I have a better experience. I hope i don't regret leaving Audi after 14 years because I wanted a truck again.

The dealer servicing my truck ordered the shim kit per the TSB and scheduled the work without any argument. However, I did have the vibration issue on record as I had complained a few months ago (after looking at the truck they responded that 'it is operating as designed')

While making the appointment, I did have to throw in a smart ass comment or two at them indicating "I guess Ford didn't agree with you that the truck is 'operating as designed' otherwise they would not have wasted time developing the TSB". I was pretty amped up ready for a battle but they scheduled it without any hesitation.

I'll report back the results soon.

Dan

 

[porktyme]

No vibration with 5.4 degree.

For the folks looking for a neat digital level it's on sale: https://bit.ly/3kxVYMY

Project update: with 1" Eibach blocks installed the angle is 5.9 degrees.

 

[Ronbo]

Doesn’t it make sense to call the shudder a Ford Tremor?
You’re welcome. Just saved some of you about $4500. ?

 

[commbubba19]

i installed a 1/8" spacer to drop the carrier bearing. I noticed no change. Based on bolt length, I don't want to go any longer as there are not enough threads.

My shudder occurs at 13mph. It is slight and goes away the more i drive. sometimes being completely gone which if was an 'angle' issue should always be present. I'm curious if it gets worse when the weather gets cold.

I ordered a digital angle reader so i can get numbers.

 

[navsnipe]

i installed a 1/8" spacer to drop the carrier bearing. I noticed no change. Based on bolt length, I don't want to go any longer as there are not enough threads.

My shudder occurs at 13mph. It is slight and goes away the more i drive. sometimes being completely gone which if was an 'angle' issue should always be present. I'm curious if it gets worse when the weather gets cold.

I ordered a digital angle reader so i can get numbers.

My shudder is only on take off and low speed stop and go. Once I'm above 35mph I really don't notice the vibration. My suspension is FX4 which is a bit stiff but I only have about 450 miles on it. There is some road vibes but it is a truck and I felt some of the same things on the roads I travel regularly in my previous vehicle, a 2016 Audi A4 Allroad wagon.

Phil Schilke, @P. A. Schilke , is the resident NVH expert here. He can shed more light and explanation on the shudder and how, when, why it occurs.

 

[commbubba19]

Measured my angles as follows.
Carrier bearing is at 8.3* down
drive shaft is at 10.1*
pinion is at 8.3* up

this is with the 1/8” spacer on the carrier bearing.

since the carrier and pinion cancel out I could only imagine angling he pinion up more would cause more vibrations. Not less.

also, if I removed the cb spacer the angles would match either way. The key is that the cb and pinion are the same. If those readings were different from each other that would explain a vibration.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

i installed a 1/8" spacer to drop the carrier bearing. I noticed no change. Based on bolt length, I don't want to go any longer as there are not enough threads.

My shudder occurs at 13mph. It is slight and goes away the more i drive. sometimes being completely gone which if was an 'angle' issue should always be present. I'm curious if it gets worse when the weather gets cold.

I ordered a digital angle reader so i can get numbers.

The reduction in vibration was subtle when it was shimmed to 1/8" and initially went away when I took it to 1/4". But since then and 1200 or so miles driven it has returned but is very minor and like yours the vibration is intermittent. Some days it's there some days it's not. The only time it's 100% gone is when I have loaded about 600 lbs or more in the back of the bed close to the tailgate. This lowers the height of the bed (as measured at the top center of the rear fender well) by about 5/8 - 1.0". Similar experience with having close to 1,000 pounds in the bed (the most I have hauled), and absolutely no vibration at all for the entire time I had these heavy loads back there. I'll have to get a digital angle meter and take some before/after measurements when it's loaded down and back to stock to see what difference if any there is in the driveshaft angles.

 

[ChiefQM]

anyone have luck using their phone app to check angles?
i really dont feel like buying a tool to use it once

I added a clinometer app to my phone and confirmed my readings, the digital readout indicated -6.2 degrees on the Angle A. Subtracting that from 5.25 degrees leaves me with -0.95 (-1.0) degrees of shim. I understand the shims are angled; to correct a negative reading, would the shim be inserted under the front of the leaf spring pack, or the rear? I am sure I will have to be providing information to the dealer, at least to the service advisor. Still don't know where they got their reading of 5.4 degrees.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I added a clinometer app to my phone and confirmed my readings, the digital readout indicated -6.2 degrees on the Angle A. Subtracting that from 5.25 degrees leaves me with -0.95 (-1.0) degrees of shim. I understand the shims are angled; to correct a negative reading, would the shim be inserted under the front of the leaf spring pack, or the rear? I am sure I will have to be providing information to the dealer, at least to the service advisor. Still don't know where they got their reading of 5.4 degrees.

To decrease the angle I believe the shims would need to be installed with the thicker side pointed to the rear of the truck. This would physically rotate the pinion up by one degree.

There reason for the discrepancy may be if one or other of the devices have been calibrated or not. One or the other may be out of calibration or not properly zeroed out before hand and could lead to this difference. The only way to be certain of the angle is to get a digital angle meter and retest it. Phone apps are ok but there's too many variables that could prevent them from being 100% accurate. Just make sure to have at least 1/2 a tank of gas in it when you do. Then remeasure it and take pictures of all the readings to show them. Another possibility is the tech just can't math or most likely just put down a value that places the truck within spec because they didn't want to take the time to correctly measure it.

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