Drive shaft need balanced??

[ABorgardt]

Just trading my 06 2500 for an 06 3500 drw and am noticing that from stop there is a heavy vibration that fades till about 10 mph and is gone. it then picks back up at about 65 or so. have not yet gone fast enough to see if it goes away.



I am thinking that since it is a 2 pc drive shaft that is might be out of balance. about 60k on the truck.



Any ideas? my sig is correct except the amsoil has been hooked up yet(waiting on oil change) and it has a lift (not sure if it is a 2, 3 or 4 inch) supposedly done at the dealer. I have been told that a lift can cause a drive shaft to be out of balance but im not sure. the lift on the rear is just straight up, no shims to angle it but have also been told shims are not necessary with such a short lift.



What do you guys think? Thanks

 

[DieselLady]

You may need to shim the carrier in the middle of the drive shaft if the lift is high enough. Measure the blocks that were put in the back. That should give you the aprox height of your lift. Can you isolate where the vibration is coming from. Steering wheel, seat of the pants, etc?

 

[HBarlow]

Many of the late model Dodges have a driveline shudder on start up when heavily loaded. (My '06 did it when loaded) They are aligned at the factory for an unloaded condition but driveline misalignment occurs when a heavy load squats the rear end lower than normal pushing the driveshafts out of alignment with the transmission tailshaft and differential and causing the u-joints to work at a severe angle.



Your truck's driveline is probably misaligned by the lift kit. Shimming the center bearing support and rear axle may be required to realign it.



A driveline shop that is experienced with lifted trucks should be able to do the job.

 

[ABorgardt]

Thanks guys.

The vibration is in the seat of the pants. It happens under no load, and i have not yet had the chance to load it seeing how i have only had it a week or so.

Now to find a local shop with the experience i feel comfortable with.

 

[JDKammin]

I bought an 04 last spring with 48,000 miles. It had a vibration that got real bad at 65-70 mph. There is no lift on the truck and has a one piece driveshaft. The rear driveshaft was waaay out of balance and could not see where any weights were missing prior to balancing. My guess, like the other post, is that your hanger bearing needs a spacer. I would have thought the suspension kit would have had one in the kit. Do you know the brand of suspension kit? If so, contact them for some info.

 

[sag2]

Refer to TSB 03-003-04 for the complete list of center supports. They fit all HD trucks including 05-08.

As a general rule, shudder unloaded requires longer support, shudder loaded requires shorter support.

 

[DieselLady]

Refer to TSB 03-003-04 for the complete list of center supports. They fit all HD trucks including 05-08.

As a general rule, shudder unloaded requires longer support, shudder loaded requires shorter support.

Good info. I did a set of air bags on a friends mega cab and she would never let them down after she dropped her trailer. She always had a surge feel when first taking off from a stop with no load on it. Took me a few to figure out that the angle was to high with out the trailer. Let the air out and the sure went away.

Oo.