So I've checked my u-joints and greased them just in case, inspected rotoflex, and all seems well, but at about 72 mph, I am getting a vibration in my drive train. It goes away if I kick the trany into N, but comes back immediately when back to D. After 72, it worsens with speed and reminds me somewhat of the sound and feeling of having a back massager on your head. this truck has been driven very lightly by original owner who bought it new and had serviced and repaired at the dealership since 95. I have all the receipts to prove this. He did not trail run, mostly drove around DFW. It's making me freaking crazy. any suggestion? Can the UJ's be fubared and not show any visible wear? I looked at my motor mounts as well, and they are dry and a little cracked, but otherwise they look good. PS, truck has 120K and is immaculate shape. I plan to crawl under this weekend and am looking at just replacing u joints and shaft regardless, but would be pissed if I spent the money and still had the vibration. All steering components are less than 10000 miles old and as I said, in N its smooth as glass at any speed.
I've done my preliminary inspection and search...
- Thread starter handyandy123
- Start date
they can do funny things! may be the death wobble..... thats when your swivel balls are not correctly preloaded...... and by putting the vehicle in neu and it smoothing out doesnt really point to any thing.... could be tire balance, u-joints, centering joint on drive shaft, swivel balls as for mentioned..... whats done to the vehicle and what is it all ive gathered is it is a 95
try pulling the driveshafts one at a time, put on your diff lock, drive around at 72mph and see what happens.
For the cost of u-joints, changing them is not too expensive. You may consider changing the roto too since you will have everything apart.
My bad, it's a 95. thought I put it into the thread, but after a second look, I missed it. The steering components and bushings have all been replaced just before i bought the truck. So recently, that they are all shiny. Panhard rod still has the LR sticker on it, and its still white, that's why I rule out anything with the steering. I did have a wobble when I bought the truck but fixed the shaking by replacing front shocks and and the lower bushings on the drivers' side, as the old ones were flattened. The hard shake actually stopped, so that i could drive more than 60, but then once I broke that plane, the vib showed it's ugly face. I'm probably going to swap out the U-joints and the driveshafts. I just don't want to spend the time and still have trouble, so I was wanting to get suggestions as to what else i should check while I'm under there. The bushings on either end of the steering damper do look pretty rough, could that be the cause?
before you get crazy do what macklow suggested and lock your CDL and remove front drive shaft and go drive around.. if the vid is gone then you know the problem lies with your front.... the centering joints on the front drive shafts do go out... whats done to the truck? lift or is it all stock...
It has it has the OME 2" lift provided by heavier coil springs. I will pull the shaft off this weekend. Where are the centering... I have another truck that I can pull the shaft from and go in with new u joints...
the centering joint is located in the double cardon joint...... sandwhiched in between the two u-joints... drive line shop will have to cut the old out and press in the new one.... its a cheap part..... call will tillery he can get you one or great basin rovers.... i have had one go bad before.... it started as a small vib and over time got worse and then just shit the bed.... good way to tell is with the drive shaft still in place grab the shaft close to the DC joint and push and pull it.... if you get a lot or a moderate amount of movement its going out...
Well, if I understand correctly, I don't have this. I do not have the double u set up. its a single at both ends of the shaft
your absolutly right you dont.....dont know what i was thinking..... its safe to say that s not your problem.... i was thinking of my D2 and my 96 has a tom woods double double cardon.....
Whew! glad I didn't sound like a tard on that one. I've ordered some u joints and will be swapping the drive shaft from my other truck saturday. I hope this solves the issue. can't hurt at least. the vibration sure is making me crazy though. If I had the time, I'd have my head under the truck non stop until I solved the issue!
It sounds like drive shaft issues or worn U joints.
Let us know the outcome with the new joints in
Let us know the outcome with the new joints in