Drive shaft issues

[Don Logan]

I have had a shaking on the right side of my Sport Trac for 6 months that appears to be a tire balance issue, I have tried numerous balancing, new tires, wheel bearing and so on. The vibration it evident in the steering wheel, but the passenger seat and it shakes between 60 and 70 miles per hour.

Yester day I was speaking to a freind out west who is having identical issues, Ford has told them there is a design defect in the drive shafts, but it will take 9 to 12 months to fix.



My question is, are there others who are experiencing the same issue and has anyone heard about this before.



Thanks, Please Reply

 

[TRACket Paul]

Your '03 should have the updated aluminum driveline in it. Check for steel or aluminum, perhaps yours was an early build.

Vibrations felt at the steering wheel are usually associated with a problem at the front of the vehicle, and vibrations in the seat are from the rear of the vehicle.



My ST developed a similar problem after I changed from the Goodyear Wranglers (39k miles w/o problems) to some Big O tires, about 6 months ago. I went through the same things, except the bearings, eventually they replaced two of the tires.

 

[troy malone]

did you road force balance the tires??

try this site..

 

[Casey B]

Ford replaced my driveshaft (aluminum for aluminum), repeatedly balanced/force balanced the tires and wheels, and finally found out that the bearing races in the left rear of the axle was worn. New bearings, seals, fluid, etc... in the rear end and vibration is gone well almost. But, not occuring enough to complain anymore. Mine always happened around 64mph.

 

[LoriMaury Kimbrough]

We had a shaking issue as well. We balanced and re-balanced tires, even had them road-force balanced. That worked the best, but only lasted for a couple hundred miles. We had the drive shaft checked for balance and it was within a 1/4 ounce of being perfectly balanced. Turns out that our right rear axel was "out of round". When the truck was up on blocks you could see the right rear tire bouncing all over the place. Took it to Ford that they replaced it under our extended warrantee.