Slight Vibration at 52-55mph

[Buell Rider]

2000 Ford Explorer XLT 4.0 SOHC Auto 4x4. Has a very slight vibration that I can feel in the gas pedal at 52-55 MPH. Not a real problem and does not seem to be getting worse. Thinking it just may be a normal thing with the 5spd auto, but I wanted to fix problems before they get bad. I thought maybe some other drivers might have an idea

 

[cozmania]

i have that similar problem. the shudder subsides when i lay off the gas. it happens at speeds above 30mph. i've had three mechanics give several different answers: u-joint/drivetrain problem; transmission; ball joints; torque converter; tie rods; tires; cv-joint. so far i've changed-out the ball joints, tie rods and (new) front tires. problem still persists. the problem seems to come from the front end. one mechanic that said it was the trans will charge me $1800 dollars for the job. will he give me a refund if i still have the problem with a new trans? i don't think so. so i'm still searching for a more difinitive answer.

 

[vdavis25]

Have you had your tires balanced recently?

 

[mschoeppner]

Intermittent Vibration

I hope this thread is still active. My 2008 Explorer has a vibration that comes & goes between 40-50 mph, under steady throttle. That is, it comes and goes on 2 to 4 second intervals--sort of like driving over those rumble strips at a toll booth, but not as hard.
The Ford dealership "can't make it do it," but always finds $500 of other work that needs to be done. I'm at a dead end there.
An independent mechanic said "tires," so I put on a set of new Michelins with no improvement. He said he checked the entire drive line.
I suspect the auto 4x4, and wonder if that's really the place to be looking. What are the symptoms if your auto 4x4 engages during normal driving? How can you tell?
Thanks for any advice! Mike

 

[blakshukvw]

Road force balance of the tires is in order first. Next this sounds like the same symptoms you get in a front wheel drive car when the CV joints have a lot of miles and wear in the cages and balls. Hard to really prove this without pulling the front half shafts and tearing the the axles apart and even then it can be difficult to see the wear. You pretty much just have to install new half shafts to test the theory but it's common like I say on high mileage fwd cars. I bet it's worse when you're accelerating hard and gets worse the faster and longer you accelerate to? It's cheaper than a trans rebuild and Im fairly certain this is what you're dealing with. Obviously have all the u joints checked.