Driveline vibration on deceleration - highway speeds

[wood_e]

Whenever I'm on the highway (55-75) and I decelerate I get a bit of driveline vibration. When I accelerate or have constant speed it's all good.

My tires were recently balanced. Pretty soon i will change the front/rear/tcase fluids - no idea if/when they've been changed.

How does one go about checking the driveshafts or the diffs for issues?

Thanks

 

[yavapaires]

Whenever I'm on the highway (55-75) and I decelerate I get a bit of driveline vibration. When I accelerate or have constant speed it's all good.

My tires were recently balanced. Pretty soon i will change the front/rear/tcase fluids - no idea if/when they've been changed.

How does one go about checking the driveshafts or the diffs for issues?

Thanks

Pull the driveline to properly check the u-joints. If you have the vibration when you let off the accelerator and let the vehicle "float" neither accelerating nor decellerating, then I would suspect a bad u-joint. If completely off the gas and decelerating, I would suspect a bad axle bearing, or rear gear problem

 

[JCat]

Also, the drive shaft(s) could be bent or out of balance.

This type of problem can very difficult to cure. My experience has been to keep replacing things until it goes away . . . which can get expensive.
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[yavapaires]

If the driveshaft is bent, out of balance, it should vibrate all the time.

 

[jremington59]

I had a similiar problem and my front shaft was toast. I see you have the AWD also. Check the play in the CV end. Better yet, pull it and take it for a short ride and see if it's still there.

 

[Lanky]

I am having the same problem only my vibration gets worse the faster I go. At 75+ it shakes so bad that things in the rear view mirror are blurry! I was wondering if it would be bad for the AWD transfer case to pull the front driveshaft and take a short drive at those speeds to see if problem goes away. I don't want to ruin the tc, I think I would be forced to do the Awd to 4x4 tc swap! Darn!

 

[Electrohacker]

just saying I had a similar problem and after a 4406 swap I now think it's in the rear axle

 

[shadowless127]

I am having the same problem only my vibration gets worse the faster I go. At 75+ it shakes so bad that things in the rear view mirror are blurry! I was wondering if it would be bad for the AWD transfer case to pull the front driveshaft and take a short drive at those speeds to see if problem goes away. I don't want to ruin the tc, I think I would be forced to do the Awd to 4x4 tc swap! Darn!

That's u-joints most likely.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

just saying I had a similar problem and after a 4406 swap I now think it's in the rear axle

double cardan drive shaft is your friend

 

[JCat]

I had bent wheels that caused this once. Apparently not all alignment shops can detect this.

 

[Cuco]

I am having the same problem only my vibration gets worse the faster I go. At 75+ it shakes so bad that things in the rear view mirror are blurry! I was wondering if it would be bad for the AWD transfer case to pull the front driveshaft and take a short drive at those speeds to see if problem goes away. I don't want to ruin the tc, I think I would be forced to do the Awd to 4x4 tc swap! Darn!

If your driveshaft is good you can try to Road Force Balance all your tires this MIGHT solve your problem

 

[gmanpaint]

@Cuco , do you realize that post you quoted is 7 years old?

 

[Cuco]

@Cuco , do you realize that post you quoted is 7 years old?

No I didn’t realize that it was 7 years old post , i’m still trying to feel my way around in this forum

 

[gmanpaint]

No I didn’t realize that it was 7 years old post , i’m still trying to feel my way around in this forum

It's all good. I didn't realize you just joined either. My bad. (Reminds self to turn cell sideways to see a members info)

Carry on!

 

[terraform]

Whenever I'm on the highway (55-75) and I decelerate I get a bit of driveline vibration. When I accelerate or have constant speed it's all good.

My tires were recently balanced. Pretty soon i will change the front/rear/tcase fluids - no idea if/when they've been changed.

How does one go about checking the driveshafts or the diffs for issues?

Thanks

Was this ever resolved? I have a 2007 Ford Explorer Limited (RWD) exhibiting the same behavior. Wheel bearings replaced, driveshaft has been rebuilt, both did not address the problem at all. Running out of ideas.

 

[DintDobbs]

@terraform This thread is 11 years old; you might not get much activity here. Many of these users are not currently active. Consider starting a new thread (after investigating the components suggested here) if nobody drops in with advice.

Also, this thread is in the 1995-2001, or second-generation, section. Your 2007 is a fourth-generation; do consider posting your question in the appropriate section. That will help you to get the best information for your vehicle.

If it only occurs on deceleration, consider checking out the rear drive shaft pinion angle. I don't know if your Explorer has been lifted or lowered in any way, but many ignore the pinion angle and this can cause vibrations, although I'm not sure under what circumstances they'd be most noticeable.

Are you absolutely certain that it's the driveline? Did you check your hubs, ball joints (I assume RWD's have ball joints in the same spot as 4WD's, don't know how or if the front suspension differs), control arms, and steering assembly? The angles change as the suspension cycles. The weight shifting from rear to front on deceleration changes the angles on both front and rear suspension, and this can affect things noticeably; this can make it difficult to identify the problem when the vehicle is off the ground because the angles are different than during driving conditions.

I don't know what rear suspension setup the 4th-gens have, but that could possibly be worth exploring too. If it has rear independent suspension, that has a half dozen things that can cause vibrations as well.

Please direct further discussion on this topic to the appropriate forum in this section:

2006 - 2010 Explorer Mountaineer 4th Generation

Questions related to the 2006 - 2010 4th generation Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer.

www.explorerforum.com

Happy Explorations! Hope your problem gets resolved without too much time and money spent!