3rd Gen U-Joints

[R. Weber]

My rear U joint went out at 50K on 2005 ram 3500 4wd. No off road, average use, mostly hwy unloaded. No angle issues. , Occasionally carry Lance Camper or pull light two horse slant trailer. Noticed slight vibration (whirring noise) at 50mph outside Barstow leaving a Flying J that disappeared at 65. Got progressively worse in San Diego. Dealership replaced the U Joint in the rear but not front. I am back in Wyoming and notice I still have a subtle vibration. It could be in the front of the rear drive shaft or ???

 

[Jeremiah]

U-joint issue is a common problem

My rear U joint went out at 50K on 2005 ram 3500 4wd. No off road, average use, mostly hwy unloaded. No angle issues. , Occasionally carry Lance Camper or pull light two horse slant trailer. Noticed slight vibration (whirring noise) at 50mph outside Barstow leaving a Flying J that disappeared at 65. Got progressively worse in San Diego. Dealership replaced the U Joint in the rear but not front. I am back in Wyoming and notice I still have a subtle vibration. It could be in the front of the rear drive shaft or ???

A check of "u-joint" threads will reveal this is a common occurance. My first u-joint went out at about 50K. I told the dealer to rebalance the drive shaft too. They didn't do that because it would have meant sending it out to another shop. Sure enough, part of the vibration was still there. I took it back a second time and this time they sent it out and the problem was fixed.



Interestingly, I just got my truck back from the dealer yesterday for the same problem. This time they replaced TWO u-joints and one of the drive shafts at 89,900 miles. Truck runs fine now but I fully expect the problem to reoccur in another 50K miles. In my case, the truck has been under the factory extended warranty, so all it cost me each time was a hundred bucks.



Good luck with your issue. Oh, another thing... you'll find -- if you're 4WD -- that ball joints are also a problem. Your truck will begin to wander or pull a little bit and a good shop will tell you they can't align the wheels because of worn ball joints. I took mine back to the dealer and they said everything was within specifications. That's because the factory specs are too broad. They did this on purpose to keep warranty work to a minimum. Go figure.

 

[fkovalski]

I had a U-joint go out at approx 43K. The dealer replaced only it under the PowerTrain coverage. But there was always a vibration after there placement. I ended up getting the entire rear shaft replaced. That solved the vibration.