Out of control vibration - HELP

[halo15]

My 1999 ford explorer SOHC can not go any faster than 65MPH (maybe 70) without starting to vibrate violently. It can be felt in the steering wheel as well. This just started recently. It feels like something in the front end. The car felt like it was going to come apart before I backed off to 60 and stayed in the right lane of the highway all the way home.

Any ideas/help appreciated....

Thanks Dave

 

[4x4firefighter]

i had that problem...it was the upper ball joints....lowers werent bad just the uppers. im told it was a common problem with X's.....take my advice and get it looked at asap..it will mess up the wear on the tires and u will have to buy new tires.........if it is the ball joints REPLACE THEM NOW!!!! when i had my truck i blew a upper balljoint while driving and it ripped the whole front axle out from underneath me.....not to scare you but if it is ur problem, dont ignor it!

 

[halo15]

I replaced the upper and lower ball joints last year with the new Moog greasable ones. I was told that these were better than the stock. Never want to do that job again.

I checked under the car and everything seems tight/normal. Any other ideas before I throw in the towel and hand over some cash to my local garage?

 

[Djsynystr]

i had a similar problem and i rotated my tires and it was solved. check your front tires for feathering or uneven wear.

 

[duke16]

Are you sure you don't just have a tire out of balance?

 

[halo15]

Tires have around 40K on them. Hope it's just that. I was looking into a new set but wanted to get a little more out of these. Had the car in for an alignment after the upper/lower ball joints were replaced a year ago. Dealer told me that I should get a new set b/c they had to put extra weights on two of the tires due to uneven wear. Never had a problem until now though. Thought at the time that they wanted to add to the bill. I'll probably have to spring for tires now.

Was looking at the Mich LTX m/s - Anyone else have a preferance for a mostly highway driver??

 

[duke16]

Why new tires? Can't you just balance them again (assuming that's the problem).

 

[toypaseo]

Was looking at the Mich LTX m/s - Anyone else have a preferance for a mostly highway driver??

Those will be an excellent choice for highway driving. I got a set after having the dismal Goodyear Wrangler RT/S from the Firestone recall. ALOT better ride, and ALOT quieter.

 

[Lankhimself]

Something like this can be caused by one or more tires being out of balance. Bring your truck to a local tire shop, have them rotate them and also get a rebalance done. See if that helps.

 

[halo15]

Had a closer look at the tires. On the last rebalance, they moved the fronts to the rear. They wore unevenly with extra balance weights added. Rears look uneven and worn. Fronts look OK. I'll bring the car in to the shop and see if a rebalance will work.

Thanks

Dave

 

[french-jeremy]

Hello,

I'am french and i have a similar problem, when i drive at 80 mph, i have vibrations in the sterring, and i feel a resistance in the steering, when i want to turn at the left or at the right.

I have change my lower ball joint, since 2 weeks, i will change the sway bar bushing this week.

If i put the front tyres to the rear, and i mount the rear tyres on the front, the vibration can disapear ??

Thank's.

Bye, bye.

 

[duke16]

Hello,
If i put the front tyres to the rear, and i mount the rear tyres on the front, the vibration can disapear ??

Possibly, but it's better to get all 4 tires balanced.

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

if the tires are unbalanced, i know that some places can sahve the tires so the tread is evened out. i know this seems like a waste of money, and it is. but it can be done if the wear is that bad. but if can't hurt to have them all balanced/rotated.