I just put my new tranny in and now I have a speed dependant vibration.
I doesn't matter what the engine rpm is, but it does seem to get a bit worse off the throttle. Driveshaft?
How should I go about checking this problem?
It is starting to drive me nuts.
Seems like the driveshaft is the cause of more than half of bad vibration problems; was in my case too. Does the vibration get worse at higher speeds? When mine got really bad, the shifter on my 5-speed would shake like crazy on hard acceleration (actually hurt my hand), and would vibrate pretty bad at 70-75 mph. Easiest way to check the DS is to put the rear of your car on jackstands and chocks on the front wheels. Put the car in gear and watch the driveshaft turning. The aluminum DS sold by FRP wouldn't be a bad idea if that turns out to be the problem. Like I told somebody here yesterday, it's actually cheaper to purchase the aluminum one than to have your old one repaired.
I'd like to get the aluminum one, but I have a Ranger. Won't quite work.
I'll have to check the DS this weekend.
That's what I thought it might be.
I'm also going to have the tires checked for balance, since that is free.
And yes, the vibration is worse as speed increases, but it doesn't hurt my hand to hold the shifter. It just vibrates everything, making a bunch of noise.
Duh, didn't see your sig. I think if you can find a place that repairs driveshafts in your area, they will check the balance for you, but check first before pulling it. To repair it they just basically cut the old shaft out from between the ends and put in a new one. Good luck.
Oh, and check your harmonic balancer like Toffeechips said. If it is that out of balance, you can visibly see it wobbling with the engine running most of the time. At least it's an easy thing to check.
Oh, and you didn't have this vibration with your old tranny in?
I don't remember it being this bad before hand. But it has always had a slight vibration. But I didn't notice it when I first put the new tranny in. It happened after I did a donut. That's why I thought of the wheel weight.
The problem with the donut is I have about 400lbs of sand in the back for winter, and it was hard to break the tires loose gently. I may have torqued the driveshaft, or something of that nature.
I'm a slightly stupid showoff.
Check the free stuff and go from there. Good luck. Post back if you can't figure it out. Oh, add u-joints to the list of stuff to check I'm sure the DS in your Ranger was never intended to handle that kind of brutality.
I had the same problem. Couldn't feel it until about 60. But at 70, the car felt like it was going to fall apart. I thought it was the driveshaft, since it was speed dependent. Turned out, all I needed was a $10 wheel balance.
UPDATE
Ok, I found it. I don't know how I missed it the three other times I was looking. The balance weight on the driveshaft is gone! Must have departed during the donut. So now to get it rebalanced.
Oh, and by a coincidence all the tires were out of balance. But it didn't fix the problem, so when I got home from the tire shop I looked under the truck and saw the missing weight.
Just curious, what did that DS come out of? Was it custom built? If the welded on balance weight came off, there is a good chance you twisted the tube. My stock DS twisted and I paid $300 for a custom spicer DS and yokes. Its a heavy walled steel tube. I wish I had know about the Ford Racing alum. DS for $160. Make sure you upgrade the shaft if it twisted, no sense in having this re-occur. Good luck. Oh, I need 400lbs in back, cool. I have about 240lbs in the trunk and its not getting traction.