Vibration between 50 & 70 mph

[MikeD1]

The SA @ my dealer mentioned that label to me & affirmed they are 'sensitive'. Ford ships them via common carriers & he said they have had issues with them arriving and being out of balance even tho they looked OK. His suspicion is they are good when they leave the distribution point, but are damaged due to rough handling in shipping.

Who would think a DS needed to be handled like crystal ...................

My other thought is, you're prob. screwed if you get into any sort of accident or bottom out the car (even on grass) or hit anything on the road that impacts the DS.

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[Norseman71]

Update

Waited 4 weeks for dealership to call back about parts - didn't hear so I called them - they have no idea - nothing is ordered - they are still waiting for Ford engineering to connect with them - WTF

I left there last time with the indication that parts are on order and they will call when in.

When I did call apology and we will investigate and get back to you - 5 more days and no call

Confidence is gone. And I am bummed.

Summer is here and I don't feel like making any long trips..

 

[Lo Pony]

Waited 4 weeks for dealership to call back about parts - didn't hear so I called them - they have no idea - nothing is ordered - they are still waiting for Ford engineering to connect with them - WTF

I left there last time with the indication that parts are on order and they will call when in.

When I did call apology and we will investigate and get back to you - 5 more days and no call

Confidence is gone. And I am bummed.

Summer is here and I don't feel like making any long trips..

I think these are indications that something is up with the parts distribution. Just speculation, but Ford could be holding up the delivery of parts until engineering can get together and figure out what's going on. We shall see.

Overall, I'm taking this as a positive sign that something is in the works, but honestly I'm as clueless as everyone else.

 

[347CobraII]

For those who have the access or CD's, can you please post up from the Ford Shop Manual the section pertaining to the center carrier bearing R&R and diagnosis?

Thanks in advance!

I do have access if I pay for subscription. I've been there many time in the past and I did look up driveshaft info on 15 did save it

 

[347CobraII]

One other question I don't recall being answered...

How come a part such as the driveshaft comes clearly marked with a label that states:
"If dropped scrap".

This is on the barcode label affixed to the driveshaft tube.

Why are these driveshafts so delicate as opposed to prior model years?

A lot of driveshafts are marked this way it's called reliability

 

[FordTechOne]

A lot of driveshafts are marked this way it's called reliability

+1

One other question I don't recall being answered...

How come a part such as the driveshaft comes clearly marked with a label that states:
"If dropped scrap".

This is on the barcode label affixed to the driveshaft tube.

Why are these driveshafts so delicate as opposed to prior model years?

They aren't any different than any other driveshaft. It says "Scrap if Dropped" because the manufacturer doesn't want people installing damaged driveshafts. It has nothing to do with being "delicate", its simply a precisely balanced component that needs to be able to reliably endure spinning at over 20,000+ RPM without coming apart.

Who would think a DS needed to be handled like crystal ...................

My other thought is, you're prob. screwed if you get into any sort of accident or bottom out the car (even on grass) or hit anything on the road that impacts the DS.

That's true for ANY vehicle....if an object impacts the driveshaft, it's going to be damaged. It's not specific to this car, not sure why that's even a consideration....

 

[Lo Pony]

Mike, your joke wasn't lost on me. Dealerships and technicians can come up with a lot of excuses.

Driveshafts can be damaged, but they don't have to be handled like an egg. If a counterweight gets knocked off, a ujoint damaged, or a dent inflicted, then it's a problem. Otherwise it's just a metal tube. A strong metal tube, at that. If it looks ok and doesn't wobble, or have some kind of solid crap caked on it that would throw off the supposed balance, it's probably ok.

Say Mike's car has 0.005" of pinion flange runout, Jim's car 0.001, and Matt's car 0.020". Swapping a single driveshaft between the cars would give very different results. In Matt's example, a remedy for the vibration would be a driveshaft with lots of counterbalance to offset the high flange runout. The driveshaft that works to smooth out Matt's car would produce a terrible vibration in Jim's car, which only has negligible flange runout, and vice versa. Mike's car would require yet another unique balance/offset combination to run smoothly. You see the delimma.

From a historical perspective, what is almost surely happening is that Ford forgot their vibration fiasco from the 99-03 IRS Cobras, and did not take enough care to match offset tolerances between the drive shaft and the pinion flange in the current cars. Rotational runout is an unavoidable artifact of manufacturing and assembly, so it does not matter how perfect the balance is on individual spinning parts. Runout can occur at the flange, the driveshaft, and any number of places, and the smoothness of the spinning drivetrain relies on proper matching and indexing of all the parts as a rotating assembly. In our case, production runout tolerances are too loose, and the parts matching is.....insufficiently selective. Thus, there is no way they can confidently send out a replacement driveshaft or other part as a fix for anybody's car unless they are all replaced AS A MATCHED SET. It is stunning that they don't realize this.

For cars that vibrate: unless the techs are measuring flange runout with a dial indicator at the dealership, and ordering an appropriately offset-matched driveshaft, the repair attempt will likely fail. This has been the case over and over again. Usually, the flange runout measurements are not performed and a generic "balanced" driveshaft is ordered. Might as well throw darts blindfolded. Worse, even if runout is properly measured and a correctly matching shaft could be ordered, Ford is currently unable to supply service parts of the required precision to correct the mismatches that occur during assembly!

In most cases, it's not the fault of UPS - unfortunately, it's Ford production.

 

[GT Pony]

It has nothing to do with being "delicate", its simply a precisely balanced component that needs to be able to reliably endure spinning at over 20,000+ RPM without coming apart.

At 60 MPH, the driveshaft is spinning ~2800 RPM with 3.73 differential gears. At 160 MPH it spins at ~7500 RPM.

 

[Cobra Jet]

I do have access if I pay for subscription. I've been there many time in the past and I did look up driveshaft info on 15 did save it

Thanks - if you have the info on that specific area or part and when time permits, can you post it in this thread?

Also, do you know if that carrier bearing is a sealed unit or does it need to be greased (grease fitting)?

Thx!!

 

[347CobraII]

Thanks - if you have the info on that specific area or part and when time permits, can you post it in this thread?

Also, do you know if that carrier bearing is a sealed unit or does it need to be greased (grease fitting)?

Thx!!

There sealed with life time grease. Have never seen one that can be greased yet. That grease and rubber don't mix grease will make rubber swell up. Have to find other info it's in large file and all of it in PDF and I didn't change name for each one.

 

[ultimate warrior]

a friend got a 15 GT and it does not have the vibration my 16 EB does. it is absolutely smooth.

really hoping for an official fix soon.

 

[speedfrk]

I stopped at the dealer yesterday and said I'm really just thinking of trading since I don't want to go through the hassle of a lemon law claim. They know the car and basically said they don't want to trade for the used GT on their lot. They know the carfax will show all the work and that it isn't fixed- so I think they are protecting themselves from having to deal with it in the future with a different customer. This whole thing just sucks.

 

[PonyGrrrl]

I stopped at the dealer yesterday and said I'm really just thinking of trading since I don't want to go through the hassle of a lemon law claim. They know the car and basically said they don't want to trade for the used GT on their lot. They know the carfax will show all the work and that it isn't fixed- so I think they are protecting themselves from having to deal with it in the future with a different customer. This whole thing just sucks.

The Lemon Law process was easier than dealing with Ford, at least for me. If you trade you will lose money, Lemon Law you will not. I chose a replacement from Ford and the process was very easy. I was able to special order my 16 GT and couldn't be happier. Good luck.

 

[S550GTDan]

Thought the fixed it. Must have been a joke. Vibration is back and it's bad. I wonder if their hose clamp they installed to balance the shaft moved. Vibrates at 55-65 worse then before. lol. F*ck this car.

 

[MikeD1]

The Lemon Law process was easier than dealing with Ford, at least for me. If you trade you will lose money, Lemon Law you will not. I chose a replacement from Ford and the process was very easy. I was able to special order my 16 GT and couldn't be happier. Good luck.

^^^ This for sure !!

If it wasn't for all the mods, that's what I'd be doing !

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