2000 Ford Explorer Sport Front End Shakes When I Hit a Bump

Reader Question
Hello Mr. Davis. Last night, I changed my front brakes and rotors (probably about the 7th or 8th time in my life that I have changed them, so I’m not a complete rookie, but this is the first time changing them myself on my Explorer).

I have a 2000 Ford Explorer sport. Everything seemed fine, except last night, when I took it for a spin around the block, I noticed that whenever I turned, I felt a pretty good vibration/shaking on the front of my truck.

I took the wheels off again, made sure everything seemed tight, put them back on, and went for another ride. Same thing happened.

This morning, on the way to work, whenever I hit a slight bump in the thruway (and I mean slight), my truck started shaking violently. As soon as I slowed it down to about 25-30 mph, the vibration went away. I was able to get the truck back up to 55 mph and the truck didn’t shake again………..until I hit another bump.

Whats going on?

Please help!

Hey there,

First thing that comes to mind is a bad steering stabilizer shock…if you have one. It will be a small shock absorber under the radiator support area.

Other things I would look at would be, is the wheel on straight and tight and you tightened the lug bolt in a star pattern, are the front wheels out of balance…can you swap front to rear tires and see if the problem goes away, check the front end and steering linkages for wear, are the front brake rotors the same…did you match them to the old ones – same interior axle diameter, thickness and overall diameter????? The wrong rotor will cause a shimmy and out of balance complaint, so double check your parts.

Blessings,

Austin Davis