I purchased a '00 F350 SRW long bed a few months ago and since then I've noticed this crazy vibration upon take-off up to approx 15mph and also starts "bouncing" is the only way I can describe it around 45-50 mph.
Truck has 8" pro-comp lift and since purchasing, I've put on new tires to lower it down a little bit. I'm actually very satisfied with the lift now but want to do away with the vibration.
From what I've read, it could (typically is?) associated with the carrier bearing or u-joints. I've snapped a few pictures in hopes that someone might be able to help me out here.
Please forgive my ignorance as I'm new to diesels and trucks in general. I'm not so ignorant to the racing community and have been modifying cars for a lot of years :ford:
Ok here are a few pictures of the carrier bearing (best pictures I can get since it's cold on the ground right now). The angle of the shaft looks decent to me.... does it to you too?
Check to see if you can move the carrier bearing around with the truck in neutral and the wheels off the ground. 45-50 is when overdrive comes on will it do it with overdrive off?
I will check with the wheels off the ground. I don't feel the "bouncing" type as much when NOT in OD. In OD seems to be a lot more pronounced...... does that help?
If everything is tight there is a good chance the acceleration thing is axle wrap with some binding of the U joint involved. It looks like the lift was achieved with rear blocks which makes this more likley.
The 45-50 hop could be shocks or tires but it is also something that some superdutys in certain lengths just do. Ford sells a 500 dollar hunk of rubber that is supposed to prevent it.
If the carrier bearing part of the drive shaft is just above what would be straight line drawn through the length of the shaft then it is probably spaced down to the correct height.
Had the truck aligned today. All the U-Joints are good but the carrier bearing is shot to the point where the driveshaft is actually rubbing against the drop/shim thing. At least now I know what the issue is. Thanks everyone!
UPDATE as of 10 minutes ago: New carrier bearing is in. That's good news. The BAD NEWS is that the truck is NOW vibrating WORSE than previously.
Anybody that can help me get this straightened out I'm begging you for your help at this juncture. I'm extremely frustrated and have no idea what to do next. Before the new carrier bearing the driveshaft would move up and down quite a bit and is not moving around at all now which is the way it's suppose to be. I've taken a few pictures of the driveshaft ... please someone help me.
I've attached a few pictures to see if that helps or not.
Hi Folks. the more that I think about this the more I want to say that it's probably the U-Joints and I my as well replace all of them. Is this something that I can do at my house? If so, what U-joints am I looking for and does anyone have some instructions on how to accomplish this task? thank you!
UPDATE: Replaced all 3 u-joints on the drive shaft and it helped out tremendously. I still have a little vibration, however, it's not even remotely close to what I WAS experiencing. Once I get this 8" lift off this truck I suspect the vibration will be even less. From what I've been reading, it's a PITA to get it perfect and almost impossible with this big of a lift.
UPDATE: The vibration is still there and like before, it's upon take-off from a dead stop. Big difference now is that the vibration gets worse as I get into the throttle. I have read hundreds of threads/posts about this and have read that some folks have solved this via lowering the carrier bearing and some other folks solved it with traction bars.
I'm low on cash right now and would really prefer to try and solve this via the carrier bearing method until I can afford another method.
Here's what it appears that I have now in regards to drop on the carrier bearing: It looks like a 1" block and two 1/4"? shims. I have read all those threads which indicate with a 8" lift (like mine), I should be running approx 2" total drop. If the formula is approx 1/4" for every 1" ..... then that means 1/4" X 8. Does that mean that I need a few more shims? I'm asking because the driveline looks straight to my eye, however, .... I realize my eyes are getting old LOL.
Update as of today: Yep I'm tenacious as hell and almost refuse to give up, however, I'm getting close to my breaking point LMAO.
Messed around with the carrier shims and here's where I'm at:
* Hardly no vibration from take-off. It's very faint, however, not nearly like it was.
* Horrible vibration around 45mph + BONUS noise (howling from the driveshaft).
Again, all the U-Joints have been replaced. they are brand new and I'm 100% certain they are NOT binding.
WTF now? I'm so irritated and just want to drive this truck off a bridge.
I also have an 8" lift. *MOST* of my issues disappeared after my local off-road shop added some small(ish) angle blocks between the rear axle and the lift blocks. It looks to me like they angled the entire axle down (not up like I would have expected). You might try messing with the angles at the axle end. Took care of 99% of my problem. I can post some pics if that'll help.
New update: Thanks to one of the members here (once I get his name I'll post it up) helped me by looking at pictures I sent via iPhone and helped me with the pinion angle. I'm happy to report that approx 80% of my vibrations are GONE. Turns out that I had to actually REMOVE the shims (approx 2" worth) off the carrier bearing. Once I did that I'm no longer getting the awful vibration upon take off. I had the truck up to 70mph and noticed a very slight vibration, however, the truck is 11+ years old so I kind of expect it.
Thank goodness to some very nice folks on these websites to help another member in need! Happy New Year!
I was going to mention that it looked like your center carrier drop was a little too low. I took a bunch of pics for you today but since it sounds like you got it fixed I'll only post a couple. Here is one of my carrier drop:
My rear diff angle is off for sure but I will need some time to flip the blocks on the axles. I'm just glad I got rid of a lot of that vibration I was getting. Thanks a ton.
Not 100% sure but I think your drive shaft phasing is off by 90* on your front driveshaft. The picture is not too clear. Altho it may not even be possible to do so.
Believe I have approx 95% of the vibrations gone but it's been a very long and tedious process. Come to find out the rear angle was approx 2.5* off so I had to "shim" it. I also ended up putting in new blocks on the rear because the ones I had were shot. I wished I had kept them to show you what they looked like. Anyway, I still get a very slight vibration upon take-off , however, the guy that helped me (he specializes in 4x4's and what he does for a living) says that what I'm experiencing now is "normal" with the diesel engines. LOL.
Just thought I'd post up that the truck appears to be riding much smoother.
I'm having the exact same problem you experienced, but my truck only has a 6" lift. I replaced the u-joints, and carrier bearing and have shimmed the carrier and still get a vibration around 40-50mph.
Can you explain to me what the problem was and how you corrected it or give me the name of the guy who helped you out? You said you removed about 2" of shims, so how much did you leave in there? I'm just as frustrated as you were so any help you can give me would be great.
Come to find out, I have a 6" lift. I ended up getting 2.5* shims from the local 4x4 shop and they installed them on the back axle. You can get the shims from Summit Racing online as well.
My problem was actually not just one and was multiple issues. The first issue was the carrier bearing --- it was shot. The second issue is that the u-joints were all toast and binded. Then once I fixed all of that and got the carrier bearing all fixed, I noticed the pinion angle on the rear axle was not exactly the way it should be. Sure enough, we got an angle finder and it was off by approx 2.5-3 degrees. So the 2.5 degree angle shims helped out tremendously.
Sorry for replying late.... been putting in a LOT of hours at work. If you need more help I can try to help you on the phone. Just shoot me your phone # and I'll try to help as much as I can. I do (stressing the DO part) understand how frustrating this is. I still have a very slight vibration, however, I'm told it's *normal*. In my 25+ years driving, I've never considered anything vibrating like this normal, however, I've never owned a diesel before either ointlaugh:
Yes had to shim the carrier bearing and the rear axle.
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