Chasing vibrations

[BadaBingM3]

Ok folks, here is a cronological order of what I've been experiancing and doing to try to figure out why I have a "out of balance" type vibration but new tires/wheels have been balanced. I hope someone can chime in and give me some advice here. I don't want to jump and buy new tires if their not the cause.

1. Bought 1999 Ford all stock. Did not notice much of a out of balance type vibration but did notice from the front/right wheel a type of rotating sound while driving. Not a squeel or anything, just a vrrr, vrrr, vrrr type sound. I did notice somewhat of a slight wobble though with the stock tire sizes 265's but those tires were pretty much worn and done so I assumed it may have been a flat spot.

2. Bought Micky Tompson 15x8" wheels and 31 10.50 R15 Pro-Comp tires All terrain. Not all that agressive. Imediatly after I have a vibration that starts to develope from about 55mph to 70mph. Slight wobble in steering wheel, shaking of rear of SUV and can hear loose stuff/apolstery/rear window latch rattle with vibration on free-way. I also notice that on a very smooth road at about 25 to 28mph if feels like the Explorer has a slight wobble to it's ride.

3. Had shop rebalance all 4 wheels. Same issue. I also rotated the rear to the front and vibration is pretty much the same. Had Ford dealer do a 4-wheel alignment and they said nothing is out of order, no axles are bent or drive line out of spec's.

4. Ford dealer trouble shot it and completely can't figure out what's wrong. They suggested right tie-rod, lower ball joints, and all 3 U-joints.

5. Replaced Right tie-rod, alignment done. Replaced all 4 ball joints and I still have the same vibration. All 4 shocks have been replaced with new ones.

6. Inspected U-joints and front wheel hub bearings with several other mechanics including myself at another shop. U-joints seem to be tight and no play, hub bearings seem to be Ok too.

7. Only other possibility is the rear transmission body mount is a bit corroded and the rubber is deteriorated so will replace that.

So basically is it the U-joints like the Dealer suggested? I'm guessing they suck at trouble shooting because they suggested the tie-rod and it was not the case. Now they suggest the U-joints after the second time trouble shooting it but didn't say anything about the rear tranni body mount which is pretty much done.

Can it be the Pro-Comp tires? Is it possible one or more can't be balanced? Thanks,

 

[EvilTheCat]

That's all very odd.

Do you have any spare wheels and tires that you could put on just to see if the vibration goes away?
Or perhaps another vehicle that has the 5x4.5" bolt pattern wheels that you could swap for a ride?

Do you get a clunk noise when you put it in gear?
Or hold you foot on the brake and go from drive to reverse?
That's one way I know of to test U-joints.
You probably can't test a manual transmission this way very easily though.

Good luck.

 

[BadaBingM3]

No, no clunk besides the normal shifting of the automatic. Testing a spare set of wheels would be ideal but I don't have any at all.

The only other thing I will do here soon with another alignment since I replaced all 4 ball joints this last weekend will be a Hunter Road Force balance. Hopefully that will indicate the tires as now I'm am very suspicious of the tires.

Thanks,