Vibes; Not just tires

[gavin]

well, my driveshaft was, in fact, another culprit.

I found this on ebay:

a "heavy duty" and serviceable front driveshaft.

Yup, the correct 6-bolt flange.

comparing the old pos cv and new shaft.

flanges are the same.

the new shaft, with shorter bolts.

I paid around $330 or so, with the shipping (not too bad for shipping to Alaska).

 

[gavin]

a couple more updates on my situation.
I put the new driveshaft in... much better. Took it for a 15 mile or so spin yesterday just after I put it in, to make sure there were no major issues.

FYI, a company called Rockford Driveline makes this shaft; I even looked on their website, and it IS listed in their Ford driveline "catalog" as a replacement, and it is this exact (well, maybe not exact, but does state u-joints at both ends) shaft. So, for anybody looking to replace their stock cv driveshaft can get one from them. That's most likely who made this one (since the baggy with the bolts had Rockford on it).

Anywho, with the vibrations. I still get them. I can really feel it when I have overdrive turned on, going up a slight incline, and give it a little more gas. If it downshifts, it's fine.
I got home, parked in the driveway, and revved the engine. Right around 1100 RPM (or so) there's a nasty vibration. Well, this is a good and bad finding. At this point, I know there's vibration coming from the engine, engine mounts, or tranny mounts. Since the truck was in park, none of the vibration would have came from the tranny itself, correct?

And I remember doing a good tune-up on it not that long ago. Last summer actually, but I don't think I replaced the plug wires, just plugs, because 1 plug literally blew up (the ceramic blew out, luckily I was still able to remove the metal casing)

 

[gavin]

well, I'm now leaning towards wheel bearings... again.
I've owned the truck for 4-5 years.
So far, I'm on driveshaft #4, and will soon be going to my 4th set of wheel bearings.
The grinding is definately something with a bearing(s).
Although, everything feels great. I don't feel any grinding or the like when spinning the tires by hand. Only thing I noticed, is that the driver's side half-shaft has a slight amount of play between the 2 cv's; but the searches I did hear say that's normal.

But, I did find an old thread I posted in back in 05 where I stated that I had a vibe issue, and even tho the bearings felt fine I replaced them anyway, and the vibe went away.

And this makes sense, since I was running tires where 2+ of the rims (or tires) are out of round, which of course would destroy a bearing quicker.

So... next weekend I'm off to replace my wheel bearings... again. Hopefully I can find some lifetime warranty ones since I'm going through so many.

 

[gavin]

I replaced both my wheel bearings again; pass side was definately shot, dri. side became a spare.
Still having issues... it's better, but still there.
I doubt it's cvs, when I spin the tires by hand, they spin smoothly and freely, with no noises, clunks, etc, and I do not feel anything grabbing as if a cv was bad. The slight noise I hear when driving, is most likely coming from the cv-boot itself, as I hear it "squeak" when spinning tire by hand.

so.. is it possible an auto tranny to cause vibes? reason I ask; I get a bit of a shudder/bucking feeling with overdrive turned on, and trying to accelerate. I've actually had this issue a while, but after doing some searching, I was reading that it could be caused by low fluid. Well, I do have a deeper aftermarket pan on, and when I got the transmission rebuilt a couple summers ago, I honestly have no clue if they used a filter for use in a deeper pan. Fluid was a tad low, so I kept feeling it 'til it was full. Well, it's still full, and still getting that bucking feeling. Only happens when in overdrive, and it feels like it needs to downshift but doesn't (slipping maybe?).
Transmission fluid is still good; very red/pink and smells fine, too. No burnt odor (and I definately know what that looks/feels/smells like).
With overdrive turned off, there can still be a little bit of a shudder/buck, but definately nowhere near as bad.
And to add; the vibes that I can hear, actually seem to somewhat be related to throttle position. Not necessarily speed or RPMs (although those do have a factor). If I'm cruising along at 60, even with OD off, and accelerate just a tad (RPMs don't go up more than 100), the vibe gets worse, then when I left off a hair, vibes go away. If heavy engine braking comes into play, the vibes can start until I give a slight amount of throttle.

 

[gavin]

well I'm at an f'in loss.
Removed the rear d-shaft, just to make sure it wasn't the u-joints seized; both move freely, no catching, feel great.
Since I had the rear d-shaft off, for giggles I jacked up the front end, and put 'er in gear. No noises coming from the half-shafts (or, atleast, under no load).
Also, with the rear shaft removed, when I spin the tires, I don't hear the constant "click" I do with the d-shaft in. Ideas?

I've replaced: front d-shaft, both wheel bearing/hub units, gotten an alignment, checked brakes, checked u-joints, checked half-shafts/cv's.
It almost feels like it's getting worse, too; on my way home, at times my whole truck was shaking, so more than just the vibe I previously had. But that would come and go.

 

[gavin]

decided to get ride height measurements via explained in my Chiltons (center of lower control bushing to ground, minus lowest part of knuckle to ground).

as long as my measurements are accurate...
dri side: 11.5-6 = 5.5, so only ~1" over stock; 24" from hub center to fender lip
pass side: 12-6.5 = 5.5, so same as dri. side; 24" from hub center to fender lip
so they're equal, which is good, and only about 1" taller than specified in the Chiltons.
now to grease the outside of the cv-boots to see if the noise is still there (I hear a rubber on rubber squeak when turning by hand), if so I musta just got a bum remanu'ed half shaft.

 

[gavin]

well.. I replaced my dri side half-shaft last weekend, as I woulda swore that's where I heard/felt things coming from.
But... no luck there.

So.. today, I replaced my pass. side half-shaft again (both were replaced ~3 months ago, due to rips in cv-boots on original shafts).

Haven't driven it yet, will find out tomorrow on my way to work.

But, a couple things I noticed.
#1 - there was some diff oil on the hub/bearing assy rim; normal to get diff oil there? I know it was diff oil, as it was purple; and I just replaced the fluid with royal purple last weekend.

#2 - I know the dri. side shaft has a c-clip that goes onto the end of the shaft that slides into the diff; what about the pass. side? It looks like there's a spot for a c-clip inside the shaft that slides into the diff, but no c-clip. normal?

#3 - how much play is normal, between the inner cv and diff? I can move the shaft in and out ~3/8-1/2". Normal?

#4 - how much play would be normal between the intermediate shaft and inner cv-joint? On the old shaft, I could pull the shaft pretty darn far out of the cv-joint cup (seemed to only be limited by the cv-boot).

#5 - is there supposed to be some sort of oil seal between the cv and knuckle/hub? I've seen pics of shafts with this seal; none of the remanu'ed shafts I've gotten so far (nor do I remember the original shafts) have any kind of seal (which may or may not be relevant to my issues).

I'm gettin pretty good at replacing half-shafts... personal record of only 30 minutes

 

[gavin]

well I drained and replaced all (well, most, 14qts) of tranny fluid last weekend.
seems to have helped, but still somethin there.

I'm thinkin maybe I did too much of a torsion twist... but, I did the measurements per Chiltons, and it's only 1" over spec on each side.
but it wasn't flat ground, so my measurements may be off.

gonna check that this weekend when I have a garage to borrow.

 

[gavin]

well... the tick/clicking noise from the dri side front seems to be getting worse, again.
so... for giggles, I loosened the torsion bar adjusters again.
using the Chilton's measurement, I was only ~1" over stock ride height (as long as I was measuring on even enough ground).

But... since it *appears* to be coming from the CV's, even tho I'm on my 2nd set with the same exact noises, can't hurt to try.
so I lowered the dri. side by ~6 full turns, and the pass. by ~5 full turns. measuring from center of hub to wheel well is about ~1" lower. Of course this is without the suspension fully cycling (I only weight 180, I can't help much )

will find out tomorrow how the ride is...

 

[gavin]

well that made virtually no change in the ride.
The halfshafts are also damn near parallel to the ground, so that definately leads the issue away from being an issue with the CV's.
Gonna swap back in the stock-type driveshaft and see what that does...

 

[Turdle]

Is it still vibrating at 1100 rpm's in park and neutral?

You might want to check the flywheel-torque converter bolts.

Also-check the harmonic balancer-
the v8 balancers will slip at the rubber sleeve joint-

 

[gavin]

Is it still vibrating at 1100 rpm's in park and neutral?

You might want to check the flywheel-torque converter bolts.

Also-check the harmonic balancer-
the v8 balancers will slip at the rubber sleeve joint-

I haven't checked that since I noticed it a few weeks back.

I'll try and do that this weekend.

 

[gavin]

well I put my cv-style front d-shaft back in.
it seems the front u-joint on the replacement already died. There's a "loose" spot; tension is good except for that one spot.

may or may not be a cause of my vibes... but I'll find out.

 

[gavin]

so... the front joint on the new shaft was bad.

just about ALL of the vibe has went away. There's still a slight bit there, but that could be due to my alignment bein f-ed up again.

gonna slowly crank my t-bars back up and see if there's any changes.