Vibration in steering wheel and floor at 40 mph.

[Justin Smith]

Hey there everyone, so here is my problem. i have a 1998 ford ranger 4.0 v6 4×4 that has a vibration in the steering wheel and the floor weather i am accelerating decelerating or coasting. i had an alignment and my tires balanced and that seemed to help some but the problem is still there. so figuring it was a bad tire i rotated them and despite my efforts there same vibration is still occurring. it only happens at about 40 mph, any ideas or things to look at?

Topic

[college man]

I would look at the drive shaft,u joints and slip yolk.
Has the drive shaft been removed as of late.There is a
phase sequence that the drive shaft goes together.

[Justin Smith]

i am not sure because i bought the truck less then a month ago. there are receipts for recent work done to the truck but nothing to do with the drive train or 4 wheel drive system

[Ross Wagner]

check you rotors, could be warped sometimes people don’t turn them, and sometimes when they start to get thin if people throw wheels on without properly torqing them ( like with an impact gun )they could be warped.

[Dave]

I would check the tires for having too much run out(out of round) ,Or I have seen tires shake from having too much weight on them but they were still balanced. Then check rotors and check steering links and ball joints, finally I would also check the shocks and see if they are still good. Bad shocks will let the front end bounce all over because there would be no dampening just the springs.

[Justin Farrington]

If it’s happening during acceleration, it’s extremely unlikely it would be a rotor issue. Check the axles out as well as the bearings, ball joints, and sway bar linkage. It also could be a steering issue (the pitman arm specifically). So check the pitman arm, bushings, and tie-rods while you are at it. A good way to test if it’s a steering issue is to turn the vehicle on (don’t crank it over and start it) and watch the tires as you spin the steering wheel. If it feels like there is play in the rotation (like you have to rotate it 90 degrees (1/4 turn) before it moves the tire) of the wheel, then it’s highly likely the culprit lives there. Generally a little play in rotation is normal on older vehicles. But personally, past 15-20 degrees, I would suggest replacing the problem before it gets worse.

[Author]

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