That "rumble strip" feeling

[NotAFordGuy]

Hi everybody! I'm new to this forum, but not to forum life.

My wife and I bought an '03 Eddie B. Explorer, 4.0L V6, LOADED with all the good stuff about two years ago. 6 month old Michelin LTX-AT2s all the way around and regularly rotated by me.

Recently, it's started to have this feeling and sound of driving over rumble strips constantly. I have read and researched a bit and believe this may involve a fluid exchange for the transmission. Does that sound like something that happens often after 150K on the clock? We can rule out unbalanced or oddly worn tires, misalignment, front bearing hubs.....

Without test driving the truck, the tranny guy said my torque converter might be "coming apart." I feel like he may be trying to do a ripoff dance with me by claiming that just doing a fluid swap won't work, but I've read plenty of times where that's what people did. Just changed out the old tranny fluid for new and that rumble strip feeling went away and never came back.

Should I even mess with the tranny shop, or should I do the fluid swap on my own and see what happens? I'm pretty damn good with my tools, but that fluid swap looks like a real PITA if you don't have the right stuff.

Thanks for ANY help or advice..

 

[Number4]

How'd you rule out the hubs?

 

[apenland01]

I was just gonna say.....

How did you rule out the front and rear wheel bearing hubs? Did you replace them yourself?

 

[NotAFordGuy]

How did you rule out the front and rear wheel bearing hubs? Did you replace them yourself?

Yes, I did, although I suspect I'll have to change the front driver's side in the near future. Long story short, I replaced the passenger side hub with a Moog. I replaced the driver's side hub a couple months later with a much cheaper part. I knew I was making a mistake and should've bought the Moog hub, I just couldn't afford it at the time and it had to be replaced. I still don't have any play, however, in the driver's side hub, so I believe that bearing is still in good shape.

 

[NotAFordGuy]

Ok, guys, maybe this will help. We just had the tranny serviced today with a new filter and fluid by a local reputable transmission shop. It's shifting smoother, not that that was an issue, and still running strong.

On the way home, my wife was getting that "rumble strip" feeling between exactly 62 and 70 mph. After 70mph, it seems to smooth out again. Thanks for any help and knowledge!

 

[Number4]

Yes, I did, although I suspect I'll have to change the front driver's side in the near future. Long story short, I replaced the passenger side hub with a Moog. I replaced the driver's side hub a couple months later with a much cheaper part. I knew I was making a mistake and should've bought the Moog hub, I just couldn't afford it at the time and it had to be replaced. I still don't have any play, however, in the driver's side hub, so I believe that bearing is still in good shape.

Moog doesn't make hub bearings. So the cheap one you bought is probably the exact same thing Moog sells you. Same quality, which isn't saying much.

 

[Green98XLT]

I'd check to make sure you haven't thrown a wheel weight. Get the tires all rebalanced. For it to occur in that small window at highway speeds tells me its tire related.

 

[swshawaii]

4x4? Maybe?

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[Bobmbx]

Do some normal driving with the OD off. If the rumble strip is still present, it isn't your TQ.

 

[Green98XLT]

Do some normal driving with the OD off. If the rumble strip is still present, it isn't your TQ.

No sir, Torque Converter will lock up in 4th and 5th...

 

[NotAFordGuy]

I drove it quite a bit today with the O/D off and still got that "rumble strip" feeling after 60 mph. Does that mean that my torque converter is good?

 

[Bobmbx]

No sir, Torque Converter will lock up in 4th and 5th...

Hmmmmm.....I was under the impression that turning off OD prevented the TC from locking. My 08 Mounty "rumbles", but never with the OD off.

 

[DjDom]

U joints can cause that feeling too, along with worn CVs.

Mine was doing that for a bit at around 70 mph and then the transmission blew open...

 

[Green98XLT]

Hmmmmm.....I was under the impression that turning off OD prevented the TC from locking. My 08 Mounty "rumbles", but never with the OD off.

The 5R55 trans locks the converter in 4th (OD off) for towing, as well as in 5th, (OD)

 

[NotAFordGuy]

So, if I'm driving the truck (2003 Explorer, Eddie B. model, all wheel drive, 4.0L V6) with the OD off between 60 and 70 mph, and I'm STILL getting that "rumble strip" feeling, does that mean that my torque converter is not the problem? I can feel and see the RPMs go up when I shut the OD off, but the "rumble strip" feeling still persists. Is it time to look at another problem besides the torque converter?

 

[NotAFordGuy]

I started the rear driveshaft removal after my mechanic diagnosed the situation on Friday, August 7th. I got the Ex on the lift and started removing yoke bolts with a 12mm box wrench, a cheater pipe,, and a HUGE pipe wrench. My wife was holding the pipe wrench and I was breaking the bolts loose. I got the rear yoke apart and quit at 9:30PM.

I started back at 9:30AM,Saturday morning, by trying to replace the Universal Joint, Moog part #254 from Advance. After much frustration and failing to get that second clip in, I took the joint back to AA and did some comparisons to pick out a better fit, as there are multiple U-Joints possible for this same yoke. I tried part #270 and failed again. That second clip was just a fraction of an inch from going in, so I took it to a garage. Their mechanic said I had the wrong part again. Back to AA I went for another try. Back to my garage again and still no luck. Imagine my frustration!!!!

I go back to AA, and the service guy tries every Moog and Driveworks U-Joint in the store with no luck. I had my yoke with me, as this mystery must be solved....and then along comes a machinist friend of the AA employee....HE tries to install every U-Joint possible and finally says "You're yoke was machined poorly at the factory, so the machinist made up for it by skimming a few thousanths off of the bearing caps. I can fix this if you want to follow me to my shop." I agreed and did just that.

He wound up taking .0025 off of each bearing cap of the joint and even skinned .0010 off of the retaining clips to get the U-Joint to tightly fit in the yoke. He explained how machinists can error by a half-a-crank and fix the error with a surface grinder just to keep parts like a driveshaft yoke moving through production. He also said "Next time you're at a junk yard, grab one of these yokes, and I bet you'll never have this problem again." I'm sure he's right.

At almost 7 PM, after a LONG, frustrating day with the Ex, I finally got the yoke and driveshaft reconnected and reinstalled on our '03 Eddie, and that "rumble strip" feeling is gone. I hope this helps somebody avoid the frustration that I went through today. Again, NotAFordGuy.

 

[drdoom]

Epic.

 

[apenland01]

Wow. Thanks for sharing that adventure! Good stuff for future reference.

 

[XtremeRanger]

dang...mine started this drone right after I put on my lift...I need to check this out...

 

[NotAFordGuy]

Well, I'm back again. That lengthy story about my rear driveshaft yoke is about to get longer.

That machinist did a great job of correcting my bad yoke problems, but now they're back. There's play in the direction in which he had to grind, so now it looks like he took too much off of those bearing caps. At the time, it was all he could do to get the caps and clip rings in place and now they're sloppy again.

Does anyone know where I can get a rear differential yoke? As always, thanks in advance for any help!