Forum Discussion

Explorer

Nov 18, 2015

Front end Chassis Issue, 97 Ford Super Duty

Since you guys ALWAYS ( what a clever bunch) have a fix for everything.....I have a 97 Rexhall Airbus (30')with the Ford Super Duty Chassis F53, 30K miles. I get a rumbling between 25-40mph. Clears up at higher speeds. Definitely feels like the front end area. Truck mechanic said I have a noticeably out of round tire that was also wearing badly. He then checked out the RV as I had just purchased it, and replaced the driveshaft support. Took the RV to America's tire and they replaced the front 2 tires(MichelinXPS), as they were both old anyway. Spin balanced. Still rumbles. Mechanic rechecked, can't figure it out. America's Tire rechecked the spin balance, all good. Still rumbles. DW drove next to me and said the tire wasn't 'wobbling". Looked fine. Really feels like it's a balancing issue, but doesn't seem to be. Spin balance should have shown a bad rim, right? When rumbling, if I put it into neutral, no change. Accelerating, decelerating, coasting, neutral coasting...no change.
The rumbling frequency is similar to riding too far to the right and hitting those "rumble strips". Any ideas? jeff

Class A

14 Replies

dodge_guy
Explorer II
Nov 18, 2015
I would lean more towards drive line. It may be a bearing in the trans.
Now that I think about it it sounds like the lockup torque converter may be slipping! I had a 95 Explorer that had a similar issue as you describe and it turns out the TCC (torque converter clutch) was slipping. At certain speeds it goes into partial lock up and the PCM lets it slip a bit, (yes they design them this way).The fluid was dirty so I flushed it. The problems was fixed and I got another 60k miles out of it before it lost O/D.

Check your trans fluid and have it flushed with Merc V. It may very well fix your problem.
jeffwhite
Explorer
Nov 18, 2015
Wheel bearings were checked, I would also think that there would be other typical bearing symptoms like sonically in turning corners, physical play etc. All checked. Driveshaft was a thought of mine, though they check universals (my first thought when tires weren't the problem). Could it really feel like it's in the front end if the Drive shaft is out of balance? jeff
John_Joey
Explorer
Nov 18, 2015
I would pay attention to the drive shaft more. Good call on his part about the support, but it might be the drive shaft itself.
DrewE
Explorer II
Nov 18, 2015
Wheel bearing? though I would have thought that someone would have checked on them in the midst of all this checking and head scratching.