violent vibration over 40mph

[SC-Surfer]

There should be no play at all. Have someone move the steering wheel back and forth (engine off) while your under it with a flashlight.

Check the tie rod end, all the links. See whats giving. Thats the best way of checking everything out. I would also put a wrench on everything you touched. Just to make sure.

If you pulled the rotor, check to see if its set flush with the hub.

 

[Racenut]

Just got done checking my suspesion and putting grease on caliper bolts. Drove over 40mph (got upto 55) drove fine till I hit a bump in the rode and the death shake appeared again. This isn't safe at all... can't control the car when it does this. The steering wheel shakes from side to side and it seems like I'm in an 10 second 7.5 magnitude earthquake! After the shaking stopped I went over 40 again with no prob till I hit a bump in the rode.

I did notice the drivers side wheel had play in it when I moved it side to side (noticeably more play than the pass side). I looked at the link that holds the tie rod end to drag link (I'm assuming that's the name of it). And the rubber was good but seems like the play is in there. What should I do now? Am I on the right track? If so how could a simple brake change cuase this out of nowhere?

It does sound like you are on the right track, and I would not put the blame on the brake change.

Some things just happen like that and it may seem like it's related but it's not.

One thing that I have noticed with my '02 EB is that it feels a little different every time it gets jacked up for any type of service work. It could just be that the Tie rod end was getting week and when you jacked up the front end it shifted everything and made it to where now you can feel it.

Also make sure to check your front hub assembly's. They are a common faliure point on these trucks and when they start getting loose they have the same type of reaction to bumps in the road.

 

[SC-Surfer]

^ Great point.... Jack up the front end, grab the tire top and bottom and see if you can move it back and forth. also use a prybar or 2x4 under the tire and have someone lift it up and down while you (again) crawl under and check the ball joints.

 

[Fastcat]

The only bolts itouched where the caliper bolts. Ill inspect the links closely pretty sure its the drivers side. And this is the 2nd time my truck has been lifted lol the 1st it came back off the lift the ball joints started squeeking like a bed spring and now this!

 

[joezek]

You know this symptom sounds almost identical to the problem we had on my fathers F350 4WD 20 years ago. He had a brand new 1988 F350, 4wd, 460 engine etc. It would drive smooth as glass, and then when you hit a bump in the road you had instant out of control left to right shaking in the steering wheel. We jacked it up and pulled on every piece of front suspension and nothing was loose, and it was all brand NEW. Ford looked at it a few times and the only thing shaking was their heads. We decided to install one of those offroad steering shock stabilizers. That didn't seem to help much when one of these attacks happened.

The strange part was that it wouldn't shake for 6-8 months and suddenly it would do it 10 times in a week, and then nothing for another 6 months.

The shaking was so violent that it felt like the front tires were literally coming off the road, and the truck would actually move over into oncoming traffic lanes and we couldn't do anything to stop it.

 

[Fastcat]

there is play in the steering shaft... A lot of it I can pop the hood grab the shaft and shake it its very loose. How could this have happened is it common problem?

 

[Fastcat]

The problem is the pitman arm