Vibration at take off

Porpoise Hork

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So I found something rather interesting and maybe a cheap and simple solution to the vibration problem many if not all of the NA spec Rangers have. Perhaps @P. A. Schilke or someone else more familiar with driveline geometry can chime in on this.

While looking to see what suspension options (ie struts) are available in the AU market for the Ranger I came across this little gem.

Centre Bearing Spacer Kit (Ranger PX/BT-50 Gen2)
TSS001.jpg


The Ranger/BT50 centre bearing spacers are applied to the u shaped cage that holds the centre bearing into position, and effectively lowers the cage, and centre bearing, down to take the angle out of the pinion. The kit is supplied complete with 12 x 3.9mm spacer washers, to suit for the spacing requirement identified (from 3.9mm to 23.7mm), depending upon your lift. All lift kits quoted for Ford Ranger/Mazda BT50 should include a Centre Bearing Spacer Kit, because driveline vibration can be experienced even with the smallest lifts.
Once I saw that last sentence I immediately started to wonder if the cause of the vibration is due to Ford US inadvertently altering the suspension configuration / ride height as a result of parts manufacturing locations. My reason for suspecting this is because we already know that they have been adding shims to the rear leaf springs to sort out an issue with ride/frame height from left to right side. I looked at mine and sure enough the rear has shims installed on both sides adding about .5-.75" height to the rear suspension.

With that I went and tried to find the vehicle dimension specs for the AU version and compare them to the NA. When taking into account converting metric to imperial the US spec, nothing seems to match up exactly but they do get fairly close. However the numbers on a sheet wouldn't necessarily match the production if they have not been updated to include the rear leaf spring shims.

There are several variants of this kit available on different sites for the different models and generations, so obviously it's something they have been dealing with for quite some time over there. So it may possibly be something that can be installed to resolve the issues on the NA trucks.
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P. A. Schilke

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So I found something rather interesting and maybe a cheap and simple solution to the vibration problem many if not all of the NA spec Rangers have. Perhaps @P. A. Schilke or someone else more familiar with driveline geometry can chime in on this.

While looking to see what suspension options (ie struts) are available in the AU market for the Ranger I came across this little gem.

Centre Bearing Spacer Kit (Ranger PX/BT-50 Gen2)
TSS001.jpg




Once I saw that last sentence I immediately started to wonder if the cause of the vibration is due to Ford US inadvertently altering the suspension configuration / ride height as a result of parts manufacturing locations. My reason for suspecting this is because we already know that they have been adding shims to the rear leaf springs to sort out an issue with ride/frame height from left to right side. I looked at mine and sure enough the rear has shims installed on both sides adding about .5-.75" height to the rear suspension.

With that I went and tried to find the vehicle dimension specs for the AU version and compare them to the NA. When taking into account converting metric to imperial the US spec, nothing seems to match up exactly but they do get fairly close. However the numbers on a sheet wouldn't necessarily match the production if they have not been updated to include the rear leaf spring shims.

There are several variants of this kit available on different sites for the different models and generations, so obviously it's something they have been dealing with for quite some time over there. So it may possibly be something that can be installed to resolve the issues on the NA trucks.
Hi PH,

Yeah...something like this might be able to fine tune the driveline. I bit of work, shim, drive and evaluate, Shim again and repeat This is most effective for rear lift and not really for leveling. I would like a pix of how these AU parts are installed If only shimming the cradle, there is some preload on the rubber donut which might not be what you want to do. If I had the problem on my unit, I would make up flat spacer plates that drop the center bearing down but retains the preload on the dount. Simple flat steel rectangles with two holes punched in the plate. 1/8" steel thickness Not sure of width of the strap but somewhere around 1½ to 2"... Try one plate and if you make it worse...quit If it helps try two plates and so on.. No science here, just use your calibrated Assometer.

When I was in NVH we occasionally tried shims etc. Worst was when you felt the vibration in the floor pan...inserted a shim and then it moved to the steering wheel...Arrrrrg! Tells you that your effectiveness is to reduce the excitation force somehow other than shimming. NVH was one of the most challenging areas of Vehicle Development.

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

Porpoise Hork

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Hi PH,

Yeah...something like this might be able to fine tune the driveline. I bit of work, shim, drive and evaluate, Shim again and repeat This is most effective for rear lift and not really for leveling. I would like a pix of how these AU parts are installed If only shimming the cradle, there is some preload on the rubber donut which might not be what you want to do. If I had the problem on my unit, I would make up flat spacer plates that drop the center bearing down but retains the preload on the dount. Simple flat steel rectangles with two holes punched in the plate. 1/8" steel thickness Not sure of width of the strap but somewhere around 1½ to 2"... Try one plate and if you make it worse...quit If it helps try two plates and so on.. No science here, just use your calibrated Assometer.

When I was in NVH we occasionally tried shims etc. Worst was when you felt the vibration in the floor pan...inserted a shim and then it moved to the steering wheel...Arrrrrg! Tells you that your effectiveness is to reduce the excitation force somehow other than shimming. NVH was one of the most challenging areas of Vehicle Development.

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

Hi Phil,


The only reason I posted this up as a possible solution is that Ford has been adding rear leaf spring shims to resolve an issue with the rear frame height not being level. With these shims added in it would effectively be like adding a very minor suspension lift to the rear end. If they have not accounted for that drive-shaft angle change, then it could very well be cause of the issue.

Here's a pic of the kit installed.

WHITE-WILDTRACK-6-1000.jpg


This transmission spacer kit (centre bearing spacer kit) helps reduce driveline vibration that is common on Ford Ranger and BT50 models. With the kit installed, this Ranger did not have any driveline vibration, but results can vary from vehicle to vehicle. Sometimes rear axle/spring wedges are required additionally.




Here is a pic of mine for example of the rear leafs with the shims added.

20200520_001711_resized.jpg


My attempts to locate a 100% stock AU rear axle have not been successful, however this one does appear to be minimally modified with only the shocks being different.

Ford-Ranger-PX-Dual-Cab-Grey-72653-5.jpg



What's I find very interesting is that Ford used entirely different mounting methods for the rear springs and there also possibly seems to be a larger mounting bushing on the NA configuration. Another possible difference is Ford may be using a completely different rear end as well. So if all that is true but used the same drive-shaft configuration... Well..
 

P. A. Schilke

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Hi Phil,


The only reason I posted this up as a possible solution is that Ford has been adding rear leaf spring shims to resolve an issue with the rear frame height not being level. With these shims added in it would effectively be like adding a very minor suspension lift to the rear end. If they have not accounted for that drive-shaft angle change, then it could very well be cause of the issue.

Here's a pic of the kit installed.

WHITE-WILDTRACK-6-1000.jpg






Here is a pic of mine for example of the rear leafs with the shims added.

20200520_001711_resized.jpg


My attempts to locate a 100% stock AU rear axle have not been successful, however this one does appear to be minimally modified with only the shocks being different.

Ford-Ranger-PX-Dual-Cab-Grey-72653-5.jpg



What's I find very interesting is that Ford used entirely different mounting methods for the rear springs and there also possibly seems to be a larger mounting bushing on the NA configuration. Another possible difference is Ford may be using a completely different rear end as well. So if all that is true but used the same drive-shaft configuration... Well..

Hi PH,

Yep, I understand the shimming as show with the dichromate spacers. I did not understand the AU kit with the huge black hollow hex heads. Little round spaces, but not the hollow black pieces. Anyway. Using a shim kit may produce satisfactory results, but it is a bit trial and error. Maybe shim one shim and drive around for a day or two...shim again and repeat. May take a few days. If first shims make it worse...the no need to go further.

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

Porpoise Hork

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Looking at it more closely, it appears that the NA version is using a different carrier bearing than the AU version. The AU center bearing mount has a pair of threaded studs permanently mounted to the cross member and the bearing is secured with only nuts and a washer. Searching for Ranger PX vibration after lift returned multiple results from overseas where this is a common issue on lifted Rangers and the spacer kit is the recommended solution.

The NA mount likely has threaded holes formed into the cross member for the two larger bolts to secure the bearing.

CBearing.JPG





But after looking at the AU kit in detail, it does give me an idea on what could be used to accomplish the same results and test to see if it fixes the vibration. I'll report back on this in a few days once I get the parts to test it.
 


Porpoise Hork

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Well. I think I may have found the solution to the vibration issue and confirmed my suspicions in one fell swoop. Keep in mind testing is very limited (less than 30 miles) and I am not suggesting that anyone do this. What I am saying is that I tried it and the initial results are so far, amazing.

Based on the previously mentioned kit I went looking for uniform steel shims that could be used to lower the carrier bearing. After pulling out one of the carrier bearing bolts to see how thick they are I decided on picking up a set of old school alignment shims. These come in thicknesses from 1/64 - 1/8 per shim. The AU kits recommend starting with one shim washer that is 3.9mm and converts to 5/64 and then increasing it until the vibration is gone.

Installation time took about 2 min. total. It honestly took me longer to get my tools out than it did installing the shims.

You will need a similar shim kit, a 15mm socket, 6 inch extension to clear the drive shaft and a ratchet. Wanting to be conservative because the rear suspension is at stock height, I started out with just a pair of 1/8 shims (3.175mm). I backed each carrier bearing bolt out about 4 or 5 turns, lowering the shaft just enough so the shims would slide in-between the mount and bearing. They slid in and fit perfectly around the bolts with a satisfying clink and almost no slop. Tightened the bolts back down and took the truck out for a test drive.

To my amazement the vibration was significantly reduced almost to the point of being very difficult to feel much of any at all. During the test drive I stopped at Home Depot and picked up supplies I needed to build a fence for my chicken run. This added about 500 +/- pounds of weight in the back of the truck lowering it about 1.5" from stock. Driving with the load there was no absolutely no vibration at all when accelerating from a stop. So I took it up on the freeway and nothing. No vibration at 65-75mph either.

I got home unloaded and added an additional a pair of 1/32 shims to the existing 1/8 shims to bring the total adjustment to 5/32 or 3.96mm. Went out for a second test drive and it felt as buttery smooth off the line as it did with the load. There was absolutely no vibration at all. Easy acceleration, hard acceleration, freeway speeds, nothing. It has never been this smooth off the line. It's almost like driving a different truck now. I would put a camera on the underside to film it to confirm the vibration is totally gone if I had one that would work for that.

If anyone should decide to shim their carrier bearing in this manner, I strongly advise caution with going anything more than 5/32. The stock bolts are not that long and would not leave enough threads to properly clear the mount when shimming it any more than 5/32. If you need to add more than 5/32 you will need to look at getting longer bolts. Also the alignment shims also do reduce the contact area between the bearing and the mount. It's probably fine, but I'd feel better getting something better suited for this, like square cut shims with a center drilled hole.

Bottom line is this works for me and as far as I am concerned it pretty much confirms my suspicion that Ford NA added the rear leaf spring shims and possible a taller mount, effectively lifting the rear of the truck by 1.5-2" compared the the AU version altering the geometry of the drive line. They then didn't account for the change in the angle on the drive shafe and as a result introduced a minor vibration during acceleration.
 

P. A. Schilke

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Well. I think I may have found the solution to the vibration issue and confirmed my suspicions in one fell swoop. Keep in mind testing is very limited (less than 30 miles) and I am not suggesting that anyone do this. What I am saying is that I tried it and the initial results are so far, amazing.

Based on the previously mentioned kit I went looking for uniform steel shims that could be used to lower the carrier bearing. After pulling out one of the carrier bearing bolts to see how thick they are I decided on picking up a set of old school alignment shims. These come in thicknesses from 1/64 - 1/8 per shim. The AU kits recommend starting with one shim washer that is 3.9mm and converts to 5/64 and then increasing it until the vibration is gone.

Installation time took about 2 min. total. It honestly took me longer to get my tools out than it did installing the shims.

You will need a similar shim kit, a 15mm socket, 6 inch extension to clear the drive shaft and a ratchet. Wanting to be conservative because the rear suspension is at stock height, I started out with just a pair of 1/8 shims (3.175mm). I backed each carrier bearing bolt out about 4 or 5 turns, lowering the shaft just enough so the shims would slide in-between the mount and bearing. They slid in and fit perfectly around the bolts with a satisfying clink and almost no slop. Tightened the bolts back down and took the truck out for a test drive.

To my amazement the vibration was significantly reduced almost to the point of being very difficult to feel much of any at all. During the test drive I stopped at Home Depot and picked up supplies I needed to build a fence for my chicken run. This added about 500 +/- pounds of weight in the back of the truck lowering it about 1.5" from stock. Driving with the load there was no absolutely no vibration at all when accelerating from a stop. So I took it up on the freeway and nothing. No vibration at 65-75mph either.

I got home unloaded and added an additional a pair of 1/32 shims to the existing 1/8 shims to bring the total adjustment to 5/32 or 3.96mm. Went out for a second test drive and it felt as buttery smooth off the line as it did with the load. There was absolutely no vibration at all. Easy acceleration, hard acceleration, freeway speeds, nothing. It has never been this smooth off the line. It's almost like driving a different truck now. I would put a camera on the underside to film it to confirm the vibration is totally gone if I had one that would work for that.

If anyone should decide to shim their carrier bearing in this manner, I strongly advise caution with going anything more than 5/32. The stock bolts are not that long and would not leave enough threads to properly clear the mount when shimming it any more than 5/32. If you need to add more than 5/32 you will need to look at getting longer bolts. Also the alignment shims also do reduce the contact area between the bearing and the mount. It's probably fine, but I'd feel better getting something better suited for this, like square cut shims with a center drilled hole.

Bottom line is this works for me and as far as I am concerned it pretty much confirms my suspicion that Ford NA added the rear leaf spring shims and possible a taller mount, effectively lifting the rear of the truck by 1.5-2" compared the the AU version altering the geometry of the drive line. They then didn't account for the change in the angle on the drive shafe and as a result introduced a minor vibration during acceleration.
Hi Bret,

Good Job! This helps to validate my suspicion that there is a solution for problem trucks. My only critique of the writeup is the bearing is called a Center Bearing, not carrier bearing...carrier bearings are located on either side of the differential inside the rear diff housing.

If you want to become a Vehicle Development Engineer, the next step would be to remove the spring shims and see if the shudder recurs, Followed by removing the center bearing shims and again assessing. That would start to confirm the driveshaft angle theory.

Me personally, I would call it fixed and move on! ? ??

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

Porpoise Hork

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Hi Phil,

Back in the day we always used to call them carrier bearings instead of center bearings. It might be a Texas thing, who knows.

Anyway, I tested the vibration by removing the shims and it returned and was just as bad as prior to installing them. I reinstalled the shims and noticed it still had a little vibration where before it was gone. So I removed the 1/32 shims, bringing it back to 1/8" adjustment. This seems to have done the trick as it again eliminated all vibration both off the line as well as at freeway speeds. I have been driving around with just the 1/8 shims installed for a nearly a week with them installed. This has been a full mix of city/highway conditions and it's been flawless with no vibration felt in either driver/passenger seat.
 

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Hi Phil,

Back in the day we always used to call them carrier bearings instead of center bearings. It might be a Texas thing, who knows.

Anyway, I tested the vibration by removing the shims and it returned and was just as bad as prior to installing them. I reinstalled the shims and noticed it still had a little vibration where before it was gone. So I removed the 1/32 shims, bringing it back to 1/8" adjustment. This seems to have done the trick as it again eliminated all vibration both off the line as well as at freeway speeds. I have been driving around with just the 1/8 shims installed for a nearly a week with them installed. This has been a full mix of city/highway conditions and it's been flawless with no vibration felt in either driver/passenger seat.
Any idea how this simple modification would affect out warranties?
 

HarryD

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For the benefit of this discussion I am adding a photo of our center bearing. It is not the best photo, but it is all I have at the moment.

Regarding the rectangular zinc chromate coated spacers that were pictured, do we have a part number for these? There was a PN referenced, but that kit did not look appropriate for our need.


20200609_183921R.jpg
 
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Porpoise Hork

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For the benefit of this discussion I am adding a photo of our center bearing. It is not the best photo, but it is all I have at the moment.

Regarding the rectangular zinc chromate coated spacers that were pictured, do we have a part number for these? There was a PN referenced, but that kit did not look appropriate for our need.


20200609_183921R.jpg

The picture of the zinc coated shims are for the AU Ford PX Ranger. I just used a pair of like these.

ender-Alignment-Shim-Universal-w-Case-352440199163.jpg


I was toying with getting some 1" wide 1/8" thick cold-roll steel or stainless and making a pair from that, but the alignment shims make solid contact on all sides of the bolt between the mount and bearing. So I'll probably just leave it like that since everything is good and solid.
 

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Hi Everyone,
I own a Australian Ranger PX 2 auto, 2017 build. I am afraid that the vibration probably tends to be a characteristic of the Ranger. Many of the PX1, PX2 and PX3 Rangers (as designated in Australia seem to have it. While The Australian Rangers are all diesels, the vibration is common.

I have had an ARB Old Man Emu 2 inch lift fitted. There was very slight vibration before the lift which then increased when lifted. I was advised before the lift that the vibration might be increased.

The lift came with the centre bearing spacer kit. Unfortunately my Ranger has had to have the transmission dropped 2 times because of rear main seals leaking. When the spacer kit was refitted, the shims were fitted in different positions both times and that had adverse outcomes for vibration. My feeling is that not only is the spacing important but also the mounting position front/back on the mount as there is some adjustment there as well.

As I did not like the ARB washers as they seemed to not distribute the load on the mount, I swapped to the Ironman 4x4 spacer kit with the flat shims as per the earlier photographs in previous posts. I had to play around with the spacing and now run with one spacer between the chassis and the bearing mount. As I increase the spacing, the vibration increases. I found that you also need to keep an eye on the alignment of the bearing and position when tightening the bolts or the bearing can twist.

While the vehilce has been lifted, with the weight of the canopy, roof rack, fridge and storage system I carry in rear, underbody protection and side steps and the bull bar, winch and lights in the front, the height has settled to a little over standard. This probably explains why one spacer works for me.

I have slight vibration on take off but have learned to live with it. There is no vibration a higher speeds. Some owners here fit rear spring wedges to alter the rear differential angle which apparently helps. I am not going to bother. Unfortunately there seems to be many opinions but not to many solutions.

My Ford dealer always gives me a Ranger loan car when my Ranger or Ford Transit work vehicle is in for service. All vehicles have had vibration although some are barely worth noting. I have even crawled under them and photographed the mounts to try to work out the differences.

I did have a 2012 Mazda BT 50 manual which was built on the Ford T6 platform. This did not have any vibration but was not lifted. I am not sure if auto vs manual transmission makes a difference.

I might be wrong, but I have been running 265 75 BFG KM3's on 16 inch rims which are quite heavy. I have recently run road bias tyres on standard 17 inch PX3 alloys and feel that this has reduced the vibration a little. I will soon be trying some Nitto Ridge Grappler tyres (265 70 17) on the PX3 wheels so will be interesting to see what happens when I try these out. Can't get any at the moment due to the COVID 19 situation causing problems with supply.

Also of note is that both the Mazda and my Ranger lean to the left at the rear (looking from the rear), even with a new suspension.

Interstingly my Ford Transit work van has a long and heavy rear drive shaft which has a center bearing hanging off small rubber mounts. Guess what - no vibration.
 

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Here is an Instruction Sheet .pdf of the Center Bearing Shim Kit that 4Wheeler from Austrailia mentioned. Each shim in the kit is 4mm or 5/32" thick.
Ironman 4X4 is an Austrailian company, but they have a distributer in Oregon.
https://ironman4x4america.com
 

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I have had what I call a miss, stumble, vibration around 1500-2000rpm since new. I’ve done a lot attempts to eliminate this with little dealer assistance. I felt sure it was fuel injector related but never got a CE.

Anyway the latest fix, as it appears for now, 2weeks, is shimming the driveshaft center bearing. I’m still skeptical because from what I noticed is it’s more prevalent in cold damp weather, whatever that’s got to do with I don’t know, maybe fuel grade???

I added 1/8, to 1/4 and now 1/2 spacers with longer bolts. The truck has never been smoother.
When it’s cold it’s a little balky but when hot I don’t notice the old vib at all.

Again, I’m still skeptical that it won’t come back in the Fall, if so, imo it’s fuel related, injectors.
Im retiring in Oct. and will have plenty of time to deal with the dealer if it comes to that. The saggy seat cover is also something I want fixed.

My truck is a 2wd and has a bit over 15k miles, Eibach’s coil overs for a 2” front level. Stock tune. I run mid-grade or premium fuel (I also have been consistently using Exxon fuel for a month now) Most of my driving is city and in that 1500-2500 rpm range. I’ve loaded 2 different tunes to rule out Fords tuning but only had the stumble/vib move up in the rpm range.

The spacers I used are from Unistrut hardware that some folks may recognize. The only issue with these would be that they are not perfectly flat.
It’s working for me.

E48E3D54-865F-437B-B56D-CDFE6E3B949A.jpeg


ED5AEEBF-7880-439B-9E2D-FDEF38F3D502.jpeg
 

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I wanted to share something that I found here while working under my Ranger recently. What I did seems to have gotten rid of about 85% of the driveshaft vibrations when accelerating from a stop in the 10-15mph range.

I noticed that the driveshaft carrier was off to one side (I think it was too far toward the driver's side). Visibly, without measuring anything, I could tell that the driveshaft was NOT straight in line from the transmission to the rear diff. All I did was loosen the 2 carrier bolts, wiggle the driveshaft around some, eyeball the shaft, adjust it to be as straight in line as I could, and re tighten the carrier bolts. To my surprise this is greatly reduced, and almost eliminated the vibration. I have been driving it for over a week since doing this and the difference is very noticeable.

My Ranger is lifted using Fox 2.0 coilovers in the front, and the BDS 1" rear shackle kit. The BDS shackle kit is designed to keep the driveshaft angle correct, so maybe that also plays into this fix? I am still considering adding shims to the carrier to see if I can completely eliminate the vibration, but for now, this massive reduction is what it needed!
Sponsored

 
 



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