Vibration

[wildcard]

I have a vibration that's been going on for a while. I have a 300 I6 with what I assume is the factory 3 speed manual trans. When taking off, as I come off the clutch the truck has a bad vibration until I'm completely off the clutch. After that it seems to still have a small vibration while traveling down the highway. Enough that I have to lay a hand on top of my outside mirrors to see out of them. So I'm wondering if it could be the clutch (was checked by 2 mechanics when new motor was installed 2 years/50,000 miles ago) since it's bad as I relase it. Or maybe a U-Joint or carrier bearing since it still does a little while driving. Any thoughts ?

[Thunderfoot]

Has it always done it or something that has just come up? I would suspect the carrier bearing, just crawl under there and give it a good wiggle, they are pretty easy to tell when they are bad. Do the same with the u-joints, if it vibrating that much you should be able to feel slop in them if it is one of them

[BobbyFord]

May as well check the three mounts, too.

[wildcard]

OK, I tried wiggling the bearing and it seemed fairly solid. Also the U Joints seem ok. And the mounts all seem to be solid.
I noticed driving down the road, the steering wheel doesn't have any vibration but I can put my hand on the floor shift and feel a small steady vibration through it. It does have a vibration at an idle in neutral also.
BTW, this is something that's been going on a while but starting to get worse.

[theskytoucher]

Maybe you threw a weight off one of your tires?

[FORDification]

The grabbing of the clutch sounds to me like the symptoms of an oil-contaminated clutch disc. The vibration is probably a separate problem. Does the vibration occur only when moving or can it be felt when the truck is just sitting idling?

[wildcard]

Sorry about taking so long getting back. Odd hours at work.
I get a small vibration at driving speeds that I can feel through the floor shift knob, but not in the steering wheel. It can be felt at an idle slightly.
You are probably right about the clutch discs. Right after about the 3rd oil change on the new engine I learned my lesson about Fram filters. Luckily I happened to look down at the oil gauge as it hit zero. So that could be the problem there. Also the rear seal on the trans leaks a very tiny bit, but that should all be blowing to the rear.