at what speed does your truck get "the shakes?" | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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at what speed does your truck get "the shakes?"

tbomb

Explorer Addict
Joined
February 6, 2001
Messages
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City, State
Levittown, NY (Long Island)
Year, Model & Trim Level
98 Sport 4.0 SOHC 4x4
at what speed does your truck start to shake, shimmy, or shudder?

mine started getting it real bad a few days ago at ~70 mph, after ford worked on it - figures (at least, thats when i noticed it.) im gonna throw my stock wheels and tires on later this week and see if it still does it; if it still shakes all over, its going back to ford, otherwise, theyre just gonna say, "its because of those low profile tires", and ill talk to someone who's competent (btw, i just had an alinement a few days before it went to ford and i checked my tire pressures...suggestions?
 



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at any speed above 0 mph or out of park or neutral ;)
 






mine did at about 70 when i first got my wheels, but after i lowered it and added new sway bars, it went away. now it doesn't shake until over 100
 






Mine shakes on acceleration from a stop at about 2500 rpm's and 3000 rpm's. It also shakes on the highway from 55 mph on.
 






Originally posted by expo5.0
mine did at about 70 when i first got my wheels, but after i lowered it and added new sway bars, it went away. now it doesn't shake until over 100

hmm, well, at some point, i am planning on getting a new rear sway bar (98's already have a solid front one), so maybe that'll help. i wonder if they just did a half-assed job balancing them?..oh well.

lets see what everyone elses truck does...
 






yeah, i have the 99 spec bars from the junkyard. i am not sure if they fixed the problem or if the lowering, perfect alignment, and new front suspension geometry i did at the shop a the same time fixed the problem. if i had known that those things were going to help out, i would have done them one at a time to figure it out, but it was really just a nice surprise when it didn't shake any more. i can hardly believe how nicely it now rolls at highway speed (55-85) it is like a brand new car. it comes alive almost like a good sports car and it is fun to drive straight at those kinds of speeds.
 






Yup, mine is pretty amazing on the highway also. It doesn't start acting squirrly until a little above 100 either. I probalby shouldn't go that fast very often though, my tires are only rated to 108 I think.
 






well, maybe ill call the shop that did the alinement (cuz it drove absolutely PERFECT after they worked on it, then ford had it for a day where they had to take apart the front suspension to replace an upper control arm - i mean i think it ran good after the first shop had it; if it wasnt, i would have noticed it) and ill ask them about it. since they just worked on it a week ago from today, maybe theyll check it out for free for me (theyre really nice there, so they might) - not re-align it for free, but just see if its all out of whack, then i could give the bill to ford and fight with them over it. it really is a pain in the a$$, because, basically, all i do is drive long distances (home to school to girlfriend and round and round.) id be happy to just not have any shakes until about 85 or so; i cant speed anymore, since a few weeks ago, another ticket -> fought it -> lost in court -> insurance company dropped me -> just got reinstated by insurance for assigned risk...my dad'll break his foot off in my ass if i get another ticket, heh.

thanks for the insight expo5.0

ill post whatever happens when i call the alignment shop thursday/friday.
 






lets see, i would have to agree any time its moving,, that the explorer is shaking more than it should be...but hey mine is 10 yrs old now. 1992
 






our 1992 XLT has the shakes between 68-72.. and I can change where it is by changing the tire pressure.. lower the pressure and it will lower the speed.. (I don't have that much play in it.. but that is the first sign I have a tire more than 1 psi off what I want it at)

we have 248k miles on the truck.. but the suspension isn't stock.. Duff front springs.. OME rear springs.. plus some other stuff..
 






Originally posted by jimabena74
at any speed above 0 mph or out of park or neutral ;)
Same here :D
 






Originally posted by jimabena74
at any speed above 0 mph or out of park or neutral ;)
 






I reckon I am just lucky, my 99 is staedy as a rock all the way to the limit ( ~ 104 ).
 






I reckon I am just lucky, my 99 is staedy as a rock all the way to the limit ( ~ 104 ).

Same here. My 98's smooth all the way to where it tops out at around 115.
 






Mine shakes so bad that it will knock a McDonald's Super Size drink out of the cup holder. The fact that I can never get all of the mud out of my rims doesn't help either. Do my tires being Static Balanced have anything to do with the shakes?
 






Mine shakes at around 72, 73 mph. After that, it's smooth as ever. My mechanic, also a tire expert, told me my tires aren't wearing evenly, hence the shake, but he told me I still have another year or two to go. So in about a year, Michelin CrossTerrain, here I come!!!
 






I shook all the time with my Thornbirds (go figure) but after I took them off I can run it all the way until the damn governor kicks in and it's very smooth.
 






From around 60 on up, it gets the shakes.
 






Tbomb, I would definately take it back to Ford, since they were the last to work on it. Sounds like something is not tight. Sounds like whatever they worked on your suspension could of thrown your day old alignment off. Might want to tell them to make sure everything in torque. If the alignment shop is nice, then I would go back to them and have it alignment, to make sure it's in specs. If your still having problems, I would have the tires rebalanced. I regliously have my tires balance every 5-6,000 miles. Have the air pressure between 30-35psi.

As for the sway bar, I really don't think it would effect the shakes. The bar just sits there and keep the ride level when cornering. Hope this helps
 



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Originally posted by tbomb
ford had it for a day where they had to take apart the front suspension to replace an upper control arm

Any time the front suspension is disassembled (for any reason) the vehicle should be realigned. If your X wasn't realigned after Ford had it apart it is possible that it is causing uneven tire wear that is leading to the vibrarion problems.
 






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