Bad shake starting at 35mph

[Wils91]

2015 Explorer base 4wd 43xxx miles. Thursday evening, hit around 40mph and started getting a bad shake. I thought the front end was going to come apart.

I replaced the front right wheel bearing Sunday morning. Had to remove the entire knuckle to have it pressed out. Everything went back together fine and my test drive was perfect. Wife drove the car to work and back and around doing general things all week. Her work trip is a 40 mile round trip and she will see speeds from 25 to 65 mph during those trips.

The shake is severe. The next day I drove it and had it up to 80 with no problems but after stopping for a bit and driving again I was getting the shake at around 40. It is hit and miss. Sometimes it would be slight and others very bad. I took the car to the closest Ford dealer driving cautiously and I had no problems until I got within a mile or so of the dealer.

I thought maybe a tire threw a weight or the tire itself is going bad. Hankook dynapro with probably 10k on them. The techs checked all my work I did with the bearing without tearing it apart totally and made sure everything looked and felt alright with the front end. They said it was the tire. They drove it and felt the shake and placed that front right tire on the driver rear. They said they only really felt it now in the driver seat

Went to the place I got the tire and they won't have one until Tuesday and will replace it under warranty.

My wife is currently driving my truck while I use the explorer since my work is close to home and I can keep the speed low to prevent the shaking. But still at the 35 to 40 mph range it start shaking all through the front. I can see it in the hood and console while driving. It also seems now as thought with. Ery light pressure on the accelerator the shaking will start to happen.

I'm not totally convinced it is the tire. I think it's something in the driveline somewhere but until I get the tire replaced I'm just looking for opinions on what else it could be.

I honestly do not feel safe driving the vehicle.

Thanks for any replies. I'll try to respond to any further questions

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum.
It very well culd be a bad tire since changing its position seems to have changed the shaking characteristics if I understand the post correctly. My only concern is that being and AWD, you will now have 3 tires with 43k + miles on them and one new tire. This may be an issue. Also, according to the Warranty Guide, on an AWD, front and rear bearings are covered under the Powertrain Warranty.

Peter

 

[reserved50]

So did the vibration change when you did the bearing?
A little harder to do on an AWD vehicle but raise up all 4 tires on stands and place it in drive and watch all the rims and tires spin, see if any wobbles. Sometimes you can just raise the front or rear of the vehicle in PARK and have someone spin the tire by hand while someone else watches the inside and the outside of the rim/tire. With only 10K I would put the new tire on the right front since it wears faster at that location.

If the vehicle is shaking does the vibration go away as soon as you release the accelerator? might be bad axle or driveshaft joint but never heard of those wearing out yet

 

[peterk9]

Yes, with 10k it may not be the issue as I suggested in my post. Forgot the 43k mies were on the vehicle and not the tires.

Peter

 

[Wils91]

I was getting a steady fast bumpiness type vibration at highway speeds from the front right where I replaced the bearing. After replacement that went away and all was good and back to normal.

Then 4 days later I'm getting the terrible shake and it can be felt through the entire vehicle.

It does seem to stop when I left off the pedal and then resume when I start to put pressure back on even with very little.

 

[reserved50]

is the half shaft nut tightened, did you have any issues with removing the half shaft from the bearing itself? Not sure if its related or not

 

[Wils91]

Yeah the axle nut is tight. When I had it at Ford they took it all the way off and re tourqed it. The shaft came right out of the old bearing with a few hammer taps.