vibrations, STILL

[darw_n]

OK, what should i be looking at?

I have a vibration that is omni-present, but is strongest at 25 MPH, and 35 MPH. I feel it through the seat and the steering wheel. When the truck is cold (this is the weird one) it is not very noticible, when she warms up, the vibe can get almost violant at times, teeth chattering vibes. It is ONLY present when there is tension on the drive line (I don't feel it really when I am coasting)

I have a new tom woods drive shaft, and I had the balance checked, all good there
wheels balanced
everything is super tight underneath except a very *slightly* worn steering tie rod end

one note, I am not sure if this is related, but I noticed the vibe a while back, looked underneath, and noticed the weight from the factory front shaft was gone. Drove it like that for a few weeks, vibration got bad, and wore down the U-Joints, thus the new tom woods shaft.

so my mechanic thinks its a wheel bearing, because he doesn't think a transfer case issue would vibrate the steering wheel. But if its a wheel bearing, how the hell is it shaking the front drive shaft so bad that the factory U-Joints failed?

I have a feeling that its a bad TC bearing. I drove it with a bad drive shaft for a bit, and I am thinking that the vibration of a misbalanced shaft wore the bearings down.

does that make sense? should I be looking else where? Would a bad wheel bearing produce these vibes?

2000 D2
3" OME lift and steering stabilizer
Tom Woods front shaft

and yes, the donut thing on the rear diff to dampen the vibes is still there

thanks!

 

[Herkvet]

Are you sure your tires are good?
Have you looked at the motor mounts?

 

[enonz98lr]

if you had a D1 i would say panhard bar. dont know if it would be the same with a d2. but mine did the same thing at 35mph you thought the thing was going to fly apart:banghead: $120 for a new panhard bar and busings it was smooth as glass. this was the last thing i thought would be wrong because i had just put new busings in it at the beginning on the summer and had warn them out by the middle of summer for some reason.....hope this might help

 

[crown14]

Sounds like a bad tire to me, which can still balance out just fine.

 

[darw_n]

really? Never knew a bad tire can balance out fine!! The appear good, how can I tell?

motor mounts are brand new.

well, taking her in tomarrow, so we will see

 

[justinhaaga]

it's not a bearing, bearings will whine loud not vibe.

flip your front tires to the rear and rear to the front see if it gets better, might tell you if it is a tire.

I'd be looking at DS still. pull each one lock CDL and give it a whirl.

 

[Lake_Bueller]

I'm not much of a car techie but I've encountered similar problems with motorcycle tires. It is usually a "cupped" tire. Mostly caused by improper tire inflation.

 

[CapeCodRovers]

I just had the same exact problem. Rebuilt my driveshaft, still there. Rebalanced tires, new alignment, still there. The Problem was that my rear tires were chewed up (wrangler hp's). check the inner treads to see if every other tread seems higher or warped. if you or a buddy has two more tires swap them on and see if that helps. Always try the easiest solutions to your problems first, swapping tires may be just that.

 

[darw_n]

so, I probably not to expect any bearing issues in the diffs or TC case? The tires are pretty beat up actually, BFG AT's with Id say 40k on them, had them inspected, and they said after this winter, get new ones...

hmmm, I will keep you informed on the verdict.

 

[darw_n]

well, now it gets weird...

took all the tires off on a lift, vibe was still there. Drive shaft didn't even look like it was vibrating, but the truck shook. Here strange sounds from the front diff, they thought they were odd, to me, it sounded like a landrover. Changed the grease from the diffs and TC case to see, diffs were a little silver, TC was fine. Took the front shaft off, locked CDL, no vibration. Put the front shaft back on, the vibration was GONE. That is for 3 days, now it is slowly coming back. They did notice when taking the shaft off that one bolt was loose from the vibrations.

So my question is this, would a worn or broken gear in the fron Diff cause these strange random vibrations? I am feeling its the drive shaft, but wasn't sure what a diff issue would feel like. And now my mechanic washes his hands of it, and so if its something other than a shaft issue, I have totake the truck 2 hours away to get fixed...

thanks

 

[Butch]

I'm not an expert, but if the vibration was gone after you took the ds out and put it back in and the vibration started to slowly come back, could it be that the bolts on the ds are slowly backing out causing the vibration? Just a thought.

 

[barefoot]

if it is loose flange bolts....you will often feel it more right when you let off or get on the gas at highish speeds. i would definatley check that those bolts are DAMN tight. if they are backing off, get some nylocks.

 

[jwhee0615]

So did you ever resolve the problem?

well, now it gets weird...

took all the tires off on a lift, vibe was still there. Drive shaft didn't even look like it was vibrating, but the truck shook. Here strange sounds from the front diff, they thought they were odd, to me, it sounded like a landrover. Changed the grease from the diffs and TC case to see, diffs were a little silver, TC was fine. Took the front shaft off, locked CDL, no vibration. Put the front shaft back on, the vibration was GONE. That is for 3 days, now it is slowly coming back. They did notice when taking the shaft off that one bolt was loose from the vibrations.

So my question is this, would a worn or broken gear in the fron Diff cause these strange random vibrations? I am feeling its the drive shaft, but wasn't sure what a diff issue would feel like. And now my mechanic washes his hands of it, and so if its something other than a shaft issue, I have totake the truck 2 hours away to get fixed...

thanks

 

[DISCODOWN]

that kind of vib sounds like a worn bearing most likely culprit front diffs.......[from your descriptions] - usually bad or chipped ring and pinion real noisy...is it just vibrations or wheel shimmy too? does not sound likely but have you checked the steering dampner also?-[they actually soak up a lot of front end crap]

 

[Flyfish]

Anyone happen to know what the fix was as I have the same symptoms?

Thanks,
Flyfish