vibration at 43mph +

[dsbike]

Our 2000 Ranger had a vibration that would start about 43 mph & would not go away. We bought the truck knowing this & got a good deal so we had room to play & pay to fix it. We were hoping it was a tire out of round or balance. The truck has been driven very little in the past 6 months. My son went to get the tires balanced by a friend who works in a tire shop. The first thing they checked was the axel shaft bearings in the rear axel. There was a lot of up & down movment, rear axel bearings were bad. They checked the front & there was play there also. He brought the truck home we jacked it up & sure enough the rear axle bearings were bad. I replaced them on Wed. Then I checked out the front end. wheel bearing were tight no play. However the passenger side upper ball joint was about ready to come apart. the other side upper & both bottoms had a littel sign of wear. I replaced all 4 , uppers were control arm & ball joint assemblies. Took it for a test drive & the vibration is gone. Yea!!! $250 for the parts, not a bad deal considering the dealer sold us the truck for $2000 below retail. I have a concern though. The truck has been lowered, 2 of the rear leaf springs have been cut from both sides to lower it. Does this method of lowering put undue stress on the axle shaft bearings? Or do the Ford axle shaft bearings have a history of going bad at 93,000 miles. I reinstalled Timco bearings, a much heaveir duty bearing. The DPO also has towed something with this truck in the past, could have been overloaded. I figure the ball joints are normal due to the cheap design & the boots deteriating & breaking after 10 years. I think my son got a really nice truck, hope it lasts him a long time. Thanks for reading my long post.