I have picked up a new to me2004 supercrew with relativly low miles (36000). I had the truck looked at and was told it needed a left tie rod end and the lower ball joints replaced. Seems like low mileage for that. I also notice when starting from a dead stop and going up a hill there seems to be some sort of vibration noise for a few seconds or 20-30 ft.. Do not know where to start??? Could this be linked to the ball join, I assume very doughtful. The truck does have 285 70 17 Goddyear MT/R, could they be the cause??? Something else, help? Just do not want to further damage anything. Also, truck has a leveling kit and an additional spring in rear.

Thanks for the help

 

could it be the clutch pack in the rear or is it due to the limited slip?

 

Can you tell what area of the truck the vibration is coming from? Get the ball joint and tie rod end replaced and have an alignment done.It wouldn't hurt to see if the wheels all still had balancing weights on them.Any of thesecould cause some vibration. The previous ownermay have done some offroading with it that caused the tie rod, balljoint, and loss of wheel weights (if they are missing).

 

it seems to be coming from the rear. Would'nt unbalanced wheeld create a vibration at higher speeds? this only occurs from a stopped position to about 5mph

 

Sorry I thought it said 20-30mph, but as I actually read now it is 20-30ft.

If it is coming from the rear, check your universal joints.

 

U-joints are the first thing I checked, all was tight/no play at all

?

 

Sounds like you need to put some additive in the rear end. My 2004 5.4L 3V supercrew started doing that at about 45,000 miles and put some friction modifier in it and after driving it a few hundred mile, it stopped. That was about 10,000 miles ago.