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Shake from 60 to 70 2002 EXPLORER

vadergn

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October 30, 2010
Messages
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City, State
Buffalo NY
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 explorer xlt
2002 EXPLORER XLT

From 60 to 70 I have a shake which seems to be coming from the front. I feel a slight vibration through the steering wheel almost a heavy drown. took it to Ford and they put it on there vibration machine or what ever it called and the only thing they came up with is tire noise and drive line but could not determine what was doing it. The vehicle drives straight and no pulling but I have been smelling burning breaks from time to time but they feel good, tires are new had them rotated and road forced balanced and still its there.

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS THERE MUST BE SOMEONE OUT THERE (TECH) WHO HAS HAD THIS PROBLEM AND FIXED IT
 



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Did you get an alignment when you had you new tires put on? I know you said it doesn't pull, but alignment could still cause a vibration. Also, it takes very little error in spin balancing your wheels/tires to cause vibration at speed. I'm speaking from experience here. I might suggest going to wherever you bought your tires and asking them to check them again for balance. It might be something more complicated than tire balance or alignment, but these are easy/cheap(ish) things to check before starting to chase driveline issues.

Brake-related shudder shouldn't happen at specific speeds as you report, and should only occur when you actually are on the brakes. But anything's possible. Only other thing I can think of consistent with shudder and groan that's NOT the driveline would be wheel bearings.

Your symptoms can be difficult to pinpoint a cause. Just have to start eliminating likely issues and narrow it down. Good luck!
 






The place that I bought the tires from balanced them twice and road forced balanced them they also said there was no bent rims. I had it aligned but I also had the rear end rebuilt 3 time due to the whine which they still have not got it out not sure if that would effect the alignment. Could the steering rack cause this it was replaced by the place I bought it from but not sure if it was a new rack they put in.
 






I had this same problem with my 02 Explorer. It turned out that I needed to get the wheels balanced because one of the weights fell off the rim somehow. I would get the same symptoms as you. When I reached speeds of 55 MPH+, the front end would shake like crazy but after the balancing, it stopped. I hope this helps.
 






I thought it was the balancing but I have them done 2 times and road force balanced 1 of the 3 would have got it right and I don’t see any weight missing off the wheels.
 






I had this same problem, it turned out that the drivers side sway bar was broken so i replaced it and all is well.
 






I will check but I think Ford would have picked that up easily when they check it out. Ford came up with drive line issue and tire noise they could not pin down what the drive line issue was.
 






Rear diff rebuilt three times, I suspect driveshaft positioning relative to the rear diff is causing the driveline imbalance. You can unbolt the driveshaft from the rear diff and rotate 90 degrees and bolt it back down. Test drive. Repeat process until the vibration goes away.
 






I will try that 1 thing i noticed yesterday was that I was driving on a new section of road and I did not feel the vibration. I noticed this only when its a new road??
 






shake over 60

Anyone hear of a transfercase causing this type of shake over 60. when im on the thruway going 65 70 and take my foot off the gas I get a shake and then it stops after 2 seconds
 


















when im on the thruway going 65 70 and take my foot off the gas I get a shake and then it stops after 2 seconds

That sounds like torque converter shudder. One test you can do is while you are feeling the shake, lightly tap the brake pedal while still maintaining speed. If the shake stops as soon as you tap the brake, it's likely the TQ. If so, you can try adding some Lubgard friction modifier to see if it helps.

You never reported back on the driveshaft indexing. Did you unbolt and rotate the driveshaft 90 degrees?
 






Anyone hear of a transfercase causing this type of shake over 60. when im on the thruway going 65 70 and take my foot off the gas I get a shake and then it stops after 2 seconds

yes on the xfr case, but when mine went on the heep, it was always there, didn't matter which road and always at 65mph.

If the vib changes under power/coast that sometimes indicates a diff going bad. But also check all the CV joints, Axles, ball joints, tie rod ends.

On my Ex. i've been chasing a vib at 70-80mph. What i've noticed is it depends on what lane i'm in, and what road. Also pot holes, man hole covers things get a little rough, in some cases its rather noisy. But it wasn't like this new. What i've done so far (not all to fix the vib):
New tires - balanced by 2 shops, Michelin LTX A/T2s.
Rechecked one wheel as it lost a weight, i had one weight on all outside rims, and one day i noticed one was missing.

Did an Alignment with new tires.
New wheel bearings in front, did them a year or two ago.

My conclusion is that the struts/shock's are shot, based on the fact it varies with the road. Not 100% but i've got 80k on them, first OEM set only lasted 20k.
 






Had the shaft indexed by Ford and chcek again by another place and they said not the shaft all bearings and joints are good tires road force balanced. The last place I had look at it said there was play in the shaft leading it to the transfer case CV joints were good. I do notice that when i pull my 2 sled snowmobile trailer it shakes on andf off every few seconds and its not the trailer. This is the first time I have felt that shake at 70 when I take my foot off the peddle quick on the highway. With the SM trailer it does it all the time.
 






Had transfer case check by Ford they said it is fine ansl shaft is indexed correctly. I did put my foot on the break with the gas on as suggested and it still shake. Still not sure why it shakes and stops when you take your foot off the gas at 70 or pulling a snowmobile trailer?
 






I have the same problem with my 2005 from ~60 to just before 70 mph.
 






Put the rear on jackstands and put it in gear, get it up to speed and see if it shakes or if you notice anything vibrating at all. That might help shed some more clues.
 






Put the rear on jackstands and put it in gear, get it up to speed and see if it shakes or if you notice anything vibrating at all. That might help shed some more clues.

Careful if its 4wd it can walk off the stands, all 4 wheels need to be off the ground. If not the 4wd will engage because the wheel speeds would be different, AWD the viscous would lock up. If its 2wd (don't remember if OP is) that would be OK But not with 4wd.
 



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