Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) carrier bearing?

[Piersol]

I have a 1996 extended cab 2500 with 112,000 miles. I have developed a vibration(if you can call it that). It is a very high frequency low amplitude vidration that i can feel mostly when I decelerate. I can feel it mostly in the floorboard and can hear it more than I can feel it. All u joints seen ok but the carrier bearing has some play. It is not rattling around in there, it takes some force to move it around but it makes a "squeaking rubbing" noise like when you rub two pieces of rubber together. How can you tell if the bearing needs replaced?

 

[Dennis Garrett]

I had a deep rumbling sound when my carrier bearings went out at 160k. I couldn't pin it down, but when I jacked both rear wheels up, & put in drive, I could hear it coming up through the bed. Not hard to get out, just take the hub caps off, remove the 8 cap screws in the axle flanges, & pull both axles. Take the rear U-joint apart, & remove the rear end cover. Take off the two big U-clamps, and the whole rear end will roll out in your lap. (it's heavy, so be careful, and it's a fairly tight fit between the axle tubes, so you might have to work it out with a small pry bar. If your bearings & races are bad, you'll have to take them to an auto machine shop to have the bearing cones pressed on and off, no shade tree method that will work that I know of for these. If you have bad bearings or if one of them has failed, then you will have that super hard steel grit in the fluid, and both pinion bearings, and all four wheel bearings will be contaminated, and will all have to be replaced too, or they will fail one by one. If that's the case, clean & flush the entire axle housing to clean it up as much as possible, then after a few miles, drain it hot to get rid of anything you missed during the clean up. My ring gear & pinion seemed OK, so I had all the bearings put back on with the original shims in their original locations, & it seems ok for now. Here's a tip. DO NOT go to Dodge for bearings. Go to NAPA or an auto parts store, you won't believe how much you can save over the same thing from Dodge.

 

[Piersol]

driveshaft carrier bearing

Dennis, I was referring to the driveshaft carrier bearing but I will check out the axle too.

 

[Dennis Garrett]

My truck has a one piece drive shaft, so don't have that kind of carrier bearing to deal with. As you might imagine, my eyes still pop out when someone says "CARRIER BEARING"! It was a little nightmare I didn't think would ever go away. You're gettin' off too easy!

 

[Piersol]

IF that's my problem. And right now it's a big if.