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Shaky 94 Explorer at 59

Redwinggirl99

New Member
Joined
July 30, 2001
Messages
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City, State
Seattle, WA
Year, Model & Trim Level
94 Explorer
Does anyone have a clue what this could be. I've done the obvious. 3 new changes on tires and balances. Change some kind of sterring bushing thing. It gets better before and after those speeds but is really annoying.

What could cause this??

Thanks
 



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It could be that the tire(s) are mounted improperly or it could be the imperfect manufacturing process.

Try asking the tire shop to remount and rebalance them. That helped me before. If it's the tire, you usually can get a new one(s) for free. I got a bad BFG AT KO and the shop tried to balance, remounted, rotate, and it was still bad so they got a new one for me, that fixed the problem.
 






I've done that plus.....

I've had them actually put on new tires and rims of their, then drive it. It still happens. What could cause this?
 






There's a good chance your problem is driveline related.
I would have someone inspect the u-joints in the rear driveshaft. Simple problem and very common.
 






Shaky

I'll try that, thanks!! Calling the dealer back again......today.
 






Hi Redwinggirl99,
Welcome to the site. I think you'll find just about everything you'll ever want to know about your Explorer right here on this site.
I would agree with Gary, that you might have a driveline problem.
 






me too, me too

My '94 has developed a good shimmey that I only feel between 60 and 65. I too have done the balance thing, and even got an alignment, with out getting rid of it.

I once had a little "FAZDA" pick up that had a bent drive shaft. Now that I think about it, it had a shake at a certain speed, but it was MUCH worse. Good advice. I'll check back to see if Red got her shimey fixed.

BTW, I don't know how many of you know this, but since Ex's just don't stay in line for very long, I got a "life-time" alignment deal from Firestone. It was $120 on sale. Now I can get an alignment for free whenever I need one. Which means those guys are gonna know be by name real soon. ;) I'll be there the morning after EVERY 4-wheelin' trip.
 






This 60-70 mph (for most people 65-70 mph) vibration problem has happened to several people on this sight. I went through every thread that had "vibration" in it, and found that not a single person that has had this problem, has been able to find the root cause. The most comon answer I received was to ballance the tires (thats a no brainer). At this pont I've replaced all u-joints, all ball joints, rear drive shaft, re-pitched the rear end (I have a 4 inch lift) completelly rebuilt the front end, replaced the tranny ( granaided it!) rebuilt the transfercase, and replaced the radious arm bushings and put spacers in the radious arm bushings. I've even removed the front drive shaft, and reballanced the tires several times. I still have the vibration. Next week the X is going into a special shop for a couple of days, where they are going to do several tests, including a 100 mph ballance. The person I talked with seemed very Knowledgealbe and wes sure they would find the root cause. I'll put up a post if indeed they find the root cause.
 






Now wait just a minute...

Sschultz...what do you mean, "I went through every thread that had "vibration" in it, and found that not a single person that has had this problem, has been able to find the root cause"...

MANY Explorations members have found the root cause of their Explorer's 60-65 mph vibrations, and have reported this on various threads at various times on this board.

To put it short...In 91-94 Explorers, it seems that if your 91-94 shakes at 60-67 mph, then 99% of the time this vibration is due to worn radius arm bushings. Shakes at other speeds are often due to driveline or front-end problems, like an out-of-balance driveshaft, bad u-joints, alignment, or wheel out-of-round.
 






Radius Arm Bushings

I just had that replaced. It didn't change a thing. Can't get a call back from the dealer, I think they don't have a clue and don't want to deal with me anymore. Totally frustrated here!!
 






Ok, since you've ruled out RA bushings, the next thing on the list could be:

1) an alignment (if you haven't already)
2) have ball joints checked
3) have rims chked for out-of-round
4) have driveshaft u-joints replaced and shaft balanced

ball joints I forgot to mention. They can cause shake problems. Jack up the front of the truck and grab a wheel and see if it has any play in it. It should not.
 






Rhett, After reading my post, it does sound like there is no hope of fixing this problem. Which is not nessassarly the case. What I was trying to say was I've read every post on this sight and have tried every suggestion and then some, to remedy this 65-70 mph vibration, with no conclution. Also almost every thread posted on this issue never came to a consistant root cause of the failure, that is if the thread even ended in a conclution. Agood example is right in this thread. Darkman has experianced this problem, and has tryed several different solutions,but never stated if the vibration is gone. Nothing against darkman he did the same thing most other people with this problem do (including myself), we see the post and say hay I have this problem to, I never did find a solution, I think I'll let this guy know what I tried (and thats where it ends. No solution)In responce to the 99% of the 65-70 mph vibration. That is simply not true. Most of the poeple that posted a vibration at 65-70 mph noticed it or still have the vibration after they replaced the radious arm bushings. Please re-read the original persons post (Redwinggirl99). I could be wrong but I'm under the impression the the radious arm bushing have already been replaced. But then again she could be refering to the camber bushings, when she states bushings. Like I said in my last post I found a shop that sounds like they really know what there talking about, that said that its possiable that the rear driveshaft may be the culperet. But they have a high confidence level that the problem is in the wheel assembly(mainly ballancing). This is there hypothosys: If the tire is dynamically ballanced, the Std. shop calls that good enough. But if the rim or tire is out of round usually the dynamic ballancer won't even notice it. The first harmoncs noticed form a ballanced tire is 57 mph. On some tire depending on size that speed is differant. this out of round tire at speedes of 65 mph cause vibration. If your radious arm bushings are woreout thats the first place that you are going to see the problem. If you fix the radious arm bushings, like I did, then they are saying that I only fixed one of the symptom of the root cause, but sometimes thats enough to absorb the vibration. In other cases the wheel assembly needs a specialty shop to do a more indepth examination. like the one I'm gonna try next week. One thing the shop added is that a vibration at the lower speedes (35-45 mph) are usually driveline related (u-joints, ball joints, tierod ends, or a slung wheel weight). I hope this clears up what I was trying to say.
 






I see what you mean. The root cause of the 65-70 mph vibration seems to be a combination of several factors inherent to the 91-94 design. I think there is a thread here somewhere about it. Someone posted to the effect that the problem is caused by a "harmonic" setting up at that speed between the frame, motor mounts, and various suspension components. I am not sure what a "harmonic" is. ehehe

Ford actually has/had a "fix" for the shake, which involved replacing the motor mounts and adding a lateral shock in the rear between the frame and body. Someone here said this fix was devised for Ford by Mercedes-Benz. Anyway, 91-94 owners who had this fix performed on their trucks reported mixed results...i.e. for some it didn't help!

I put in polyurethane RA bushings and it solved the problem in my truck. Maybe in cases where the vibration is caused by more than 1 thing, rubber bushings are too spongy to stop the vibration. I hope this info is of help. Maybe others will post what they know, too.
 






I've read your post's and I didn't see anyone mention the front beering's and hubs. I found after replacing the auto hubs with warn manual hubs and putting new beerings the shake wasn't as noticable. I think it was due to the tightness of the manual hubs as compared to the auto. After I replaced the ball joints the ride was very smooth.

At the time I thought the best solution was a solid front axle, and still do but I can't afford that at this time. There are so many components to check in the front end of these trucks that getting them all setup and aligned and tuned together at the same time will take a specialist. The fix that Rhett talked about sounds more like a patch than a fix, something to take the vibration so the driver doesn't feel it, hey, if it works, go for it.

Here's some things I would look into first;
The poly bushings for the radius arms, (Rhett).
Get manual hubs, if you have them already, try repacking the beerings and re-torque the hubs.
Check the ball joints, see section 1 in the manual, it explains how to check these in the drive-way with a jack and jack stand.

It could be anything!!

Good luck,
FM
 






FMNavajo,

I replaced my radious arm bushings with the factory ones (rubber ?). When the vibration didn't go away, I replaced them with red poly bushings, but the vibration was still there. I then tried another suggested idea of putting a washer in with the radious arm bushings to stiffen things up Dead Link Removed
At first I thought this had solved the problem, but it only cut down on the vibratio alittle.

A note on the hub / bearing idea. As long as the bearings are good, the differance between the manual and auto hub assembly, ( I'm not talking about the lockouts) bearing surface wise, is generally the same. I did cheak everything out in the front hub area and everything was in excellent shape and setup to factory spec's. I know this because I just rebuilt the complete front end (Everything outside of the differental, except the pivot budhings) this included new hubs and calipers.
The vibration is still there.

Rhett,

In general, harmonics are vibrations caused by moving parts.
 






I'm going to write a letter to Ford

It sounds like many have had this issue. But it was mentioned below that Mercedes/Benz had a fix for the problem that Ford new about in my model.

I am going to send a letter and see if I can't get some kind of logical information with maybe a service professional who can be informed from Ford that I will be bringing in my Vehicle and they should be doing "X" to correct it.

I'm a lttle annoyed that the dealership has still not called me back to follow up with my service. After I called everyday to reschedule. And, they didn't do any of the things you folks have listed to just even look to see if there has been some wear in parts.

I don't have a clue on how to do any of these you guys have done, but I expect to have a mechanic to do them for me if I'm willing to pay.

I'll keep you guys posted.
 












Sschultz, I tried the washer on my passenger side RA as well, and like you, it helped but it didn't fix it. I found the bigest difference between the M-hubs and A-hubs was that the manual hubs are much tighter, both in assembly and operation, less parts too, no flimsy springs or plastic.

I wish you luck in finding it, there is just so much to these front ends...... it's crazy! I'm seriously thinking of going to a solid axle in the future if I keep it.

FM
 






FMNavajo,

I have the factory Manual lockouts on my truck. But have worked on both. I'm Kinda wondering if the factory manual lockouts were made by warren ?

I to, would like to convert over to a solid axle. But according to Ricks convertion you gain alot of lift from this. Meaning, the exsisting 4" lift would have to be scrapped. For some reason the wife just won't go along with this plan, especially when the truck already has a butt numbing vibration.
 



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Dealer Finally called

Next week everyone who is important will want to "study" my truck at the dealership. With all my example and concerns from you guys in hand I will see what they think.

I'm doubtful of any knid of resolution. But I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks again. You all have been very helpful. And If I do get it fixed, I will let you know what I had to do!!
 






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