HELP stumped on front end vibration on a 04 explorer

[darkostoj]

i drove my buddies 4wd 04 explorer to work today to fix his car for him. It had all sorts of vibrations.

I changed the rear driveshaft u-joint some vibes went away driving high speed and the clunk dissapeared from going in reverse to drive (it was bad)

i put on new front rotors and pads - vibe went away when braking.

the last vibe was a vibe at 50mph + and got worse the faster you went. It felt like it was coming from the front end. At highway speeds it would go away when turning left and get worse when turning right. He already had a shop do his passenger wheel bearing...so no brainer thats its a drivers wheel bearing right? I put a new one on, and not only are the vibes still there but the ABS light came on in the dash.

I'm gonna go put it on the lift again and inspect everything, but I have NO IDEA what it could be. I'm stumped

 

[jrford]

welcome fellow michigander. . .
bummer dude, been there.
wheel bearings maybe, but you replaced them, some don't last more than a year, sure sounds like one is bad but i would also check:

Rim/Wheel - i noticed corrosion inside the hub of wheel, throws the balance machines off, look for a little ridge and clean it up, and re-check balance, also where it mounts to the hub. Rotation helped confirm it with mine.
Front drive shaft, pinion, reaching for straws . .
ABS light, check the connectors? Although when i was doing my fronts brakes it didn't take much to break the wire. I had it resting on the control arm and if fell off and was caught by the ABS wire-toasted it. If you can pull codes it will tell which one.

can you put it on a hoist, safely, and wind it up you might see, hear or feel something.

 

[Limited02]

Like JR said, balance the tires and rotate them. If no balancer, just rotate them and see if the problem changes. I would first check to make sure the lug nuts haven't come loose. Keep us posted.

 

[darkostoj]

i changed the front drivers side wheel bearing again with another part and the problem is still there! rotated the tires and the same exact problem is there. Is it possible an axleshaft could be causing this problem?

 

[jakedrew]

I would rotate the tires and go from there.

I had a bent rim and got new rims and that got better.

Allignment wouldnt hurt.

i still sorta have a vibration above 50 that i cant track down. but i am thinking it is more the road then the vehicle. A lot of it is in my head too. lol.


ABS light - ? is it always on? there is a sensor on top of the rear diff that i had to replace when the light stayed on. had to drop the spare tire, blow off the area and on bolt and it is out.

i heard of guys doing brakes on these, using a c clamp to compress the calipers and that maybe causing a sensor in the brake resivior to go bad.
that was a blinking abs light though. you would have to search for more info.


good luck

 

[Limited02]

My next guess would be to check anything that can wear out, such as: Upper/lower ball joint, steering joints, tierods, etc.

I doubt the CV shafts would be causing that much of a vibration but I guess it could be possible.

And I didn't see you mention if the steering shakes when driving? If not, then the problem could be in the rear and another member had a vibration issue that he traced to the tie rods in the rear that was loose.

Good luck and keep us posted!!!

 

[xlt03]

You're running out of things to replace/repair. How's the shocks and springs. Other than that I can only think of the half shafts (CV joints).

 

[jakedrew]

on my 04 , i just had my upper steering shaft replaced. but that was a more of a loose feeling steering wheel when going over bumps deal.