shimmies like a *******, HELP!

[shieldsy3]

whenever I'm on the highway in my 99 v8 mountaineer, the thing shakes violently, but only at between 65-75. any faster or slower, and its pretty much fine. when i say shakes violently, i mean, i cant even really see out the rearview mirror. ive taken it to three different mechanics, got tires balanced, aligned, new upper and lower ball joints, and nothing helps it!! HELP!!


-Colleen

 

[Mattbuyshouses]

Call around to driveline shops in your area and get a price on testing and balancing your drive shafts. I had mine done just recently on both front and back shafts. One needed only 10 ounces and the other nearly 25 ounces (I think) and the shaking at 65-70 stopped completely. Now I don't get any excess vibration until over 80 and I rarely get that fast even on the wide open tollway. I only noticed a small shake then and only realized how fast I was going when I looked down in amazement at the speedometer.

I think my local shop charges around 35-75 bucks for balancing the shafts (cheaper if you take the shafts in than have them R&R them). Check first with your local shops to see what they charge tho.

I just redid my front suspension prior to taking the shafts in, only other thing I hadn't done was have the tires rebalanced (may be where the last little shake is coming from now). Balancing my shafts cost a little more because I had a couple new u-joints and a new CV joint pressed in and they corrected someone else's work on a couple of new u-joints that had just been done. I was there for about and hour and a half. It's a pretty quick job, about 15 minutes each shaft (just the balancing) and was all done while I waited. Your shop may vary.

It's NOT the only solution, simply the last thing I did that finally corrected the shake at highway speeds that solved MY particular (but similar) problem.

Hope that helps.

Matt

 

[Papa]

Call around to driveline shops in your area and get a price on testing and balancing your drive shafts. I had mine done just recently on both front and back shafts. One needed only 10 ounces and the other nearly 25 ounces (I think) and the shaking at 65-70 stopped completely. Now I don't get any excess vibration until over 80 and I rarely get that fast even on the wide open tollway. I only noticed a small shake then and only realized how fast I was going when I looked down in amazement at the speedometer.

I think my local shop charges around 35-75 bucks for balancing the shafts (cheaper if you take the shafts in than have them R&R them). Check first with your local shops to see what they charge tho.

I just redid my front suspension prior to taking the shafts in, only other thing I hadn't done was have the tires rebalanced (may be where the last little shake is coming from now). Balancing my shafts cost a little more because I had a couple new u-joints and a new CV joint pressed in and they corrected someone else's work on a couple of new u-joints that had just been done. I was there for about and hour and a half. It's a pretty quick job, about 15 minutes each shaft (just the balancing) and was all done while I waited. Your shop may vary.

It's NOT the only solution, simply the last thing I did that finally corrected the shake at highway speeds that solved MY particular (but similar) problem.

Hope that helps.

Matt

Did you notice if any of the OEM ballance weights were missing before you had the shafts ballanced?

 

[Mattbuyshouses]

Yes, on both shafts the weights had fallen off. On one shaft the old location was very easy to see, while on the other it took some searching while the shaft was on the balancing machine in order to locate it.

Great question, sorry I forgot to mention that.