The Infamous shaking center console

[mountaineerbeast]

Well i have a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer AWD 5.0.
176xxx miles and still strong

I just replaced my ruined front driveshaft with a new one for $350
I also thought that the shaking center console at around 75 mph (highway speed limit btw) was caused by the ruined front driveshaft.

Well, i have discover that it's not caused by the front driveshaft.
I have read other posts, but there was no real solution so i thought i would start a thread to figure it out.
Some of my ideas (all very expensive to fix): could be front diff, rear driveshaft, transfer case (it's had a hard life with 1500miles of off roading since i got it), front sway bar, tie rod ends, bearings, or just bolt the %^&*ing console down so it doesn't shake.

Has anybody figured this out?

 

[jremington59]

A new set of tires, new front end parts and an alignment cured mine.

 

[Turdle]

Pull the rear drive shaft--and check the u joints. You need to pull it out to check them well.

 

[JCat]

You are correct that it is very difficult to find the reason.

It was an expensive path for me:
ball joints > bearings > bushings > tie rod ends > drive shafts > tires > and the final and official cause . . . . 2 slightly bent wheels that neither Discount Tire or Kaufman tire should have discovered because of my many front end alignments and complaints.

I eventually found a tire shop that had a reputation for having a certain type of wheel and balance machine, that could actually measure the tolerance of the hub surface being parallel to the rims of the wheel. TWO of my (stock steel) wheels were within "normal" tolerance, but since they were suspect, I replaced them anyway. It solved my wiggle/vibration problem.
.
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[toypaseo]

Getting my tires balanced solved my console shakes...