Driveline Vibration

[AWeaver]

Ok guys I need your help. I just had all three of my u-joints replaced with moog joints, and I've had my tires re-balanced twice. I still have the vibration in the driveline which seems to be getting worse. I don't know where to look next. Its the worst right around 60 mph, but it comes and goes. Its not a constant vibration. It will shake my whole truck for a minute or two and then go away for a minute or two. What are your suggestions? Thanks in advance. Oh and the truck has 135k on the odometer.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Might check to make sure the tires aren't slipping on the wheels and loosing balance - especially if they're oversized.
Other than that I don't know. I've been chasing a vibe at 40 and 74 mph for years and have replaced or balanced EVERYTHING that spins under there..

 

[AWeaver]

Done alot of research on this today. Found a thread that mentioned something about a sleeve coming unseated that keeps the output shaft of the transmission centralized. Looked under my truck after reading and sure enough the seal is leaking and i have an oil stain on my resonator where its being slung off the ujoint yoke on to my exhaust resonator. Going to have my mechanic check it out. Ill post what i find out. transmission has been rebuilt twice btw.

 

[CPesce]

I own 2 rams, what I have noticed with tires on these trucks is that I have always needed to road force balance the tires. Not your standard balance and not everyone does this so you will have to call around in your area. I have always tried to have the normal balance but it has never worked.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I even put centramatics on mine - no change.
I'll have to check the tail housing of my NV5600. It doesn't leak but it could be allowing the output shaft to wiggle.

 

[PWong]

Is it a 4-wheel drive?
I would try to remove the front DS and drive it to see if anything change.

 

[cerberusiam]

If you still have the 2 piece DS the problem could be on either en or in the middle. The stock hanger bearing is problematic, a little too much play and they deflect. The slip yoke at the t-case can wear the bushing and cause deflection. The flange on the diff can be slightly off and casue a vibe. First thing to do is flip the flange at the rear diff 180 degrees and be careful about aligning the flanges. Even installing the ujoints a little tight will put a vibe into them.

Solution: toss 2 piece DS, have a 1 piece aluminum 5" DS built with standard 1480 ujoints at both ends and a strap yoke at the diff. The OE DS's are just a problem no matter what.

 

[AWeaver]

If you still have the 2 piece DS the problem could be on either en or in the middle. The stock hanger bearing is problematic, a little too much play and they deflect. The slip yoke at the t-case can wear the bushing and cause deflection. The flange on the diff can be slightly off and casue a vibe. First thing to do is flip the flange at the rear diff 180 degrees and be careful about aligning the flanges. Even installing the ujoints a little tight will put a vibe into them.

Solution: toss 2 piece DS, have a 1 piece aluminum 5" DS built with standard 1480 ujoints at both ends and a strap yoke at the diff. The OE DS's are just a problem no matter what.

My truck is a 2wd so the t-case and the front shaft cant be the problem. I am really leaning towards it being a transmission problem. The fact that the seal around the output shaft is leaking and slinging oil onto my resonator needs to be addressed. But could the shaft be out of balance causing the seal to leak? I don't know? This is a very frustrating problem that is getting worse. I am going to take it to my mechanic who has rebuilt the transmission twice and see what he thinks. I don't know if the bushing that is supposed to centralize the output shaft can be replaced without removing the whole transmission. If it cant be im really worried he is going to tell me that's not it and try and get me to buy a whole new drive shaft. I would replace the drive shaft but I just paid good $$$ for him to replace all my u-joints. I don't have the $$$ to keep throwing at it to hope I get lucky and solve the problem.

 

[cerberusiam]

Yes, the bushing is in the OD unit. The OD unit would need to be removed, disassembled, and the old bushing driven out with a new one driven in. Don't think it is possible to replace with OD disassembly.

DS could definitely be out of balance and cause seal to leak. Unless there is excessive movement in the yoke while is seated intot he trans the bushing is likely not the problem.

Does your DS have the big damper on the yoke at the trans end?

As was earlier noted, are tires out of the equation?

 

[Tuesdak]

Rotate the tires and see if it follows a tire. Possible separation of one or more tires.

 

[AWeaver]

Yes, the bushing is in the OD unit. The OD unit would need to be removed, disassembled, and the old bushing driven out with a new one driven in. Don't think it is possible to replace with OD disassembly.

DS could definitely be out of balance and cause seal to leak. Unless there is excessive movement in the yoke while is seated intot he trans the bushing is likely not the problem.

Does your DS have the big damper on the yoke at the trans end?

As was earlier noted, are tires out of the equation?

No doesn't look like the yoke has any damper on it. Im not sure what that would look like, but all the yokes look the same so im assuming it doesn't have one. As far as the tires go, theyre 275/70/18 BFG AT's. Ive had them rebalanced twice and it hasn't helped. I wouldn't think those would be hard for the local tire shop to balance, nor would I consider them oversized.

 

[Prairie Dog]

No doesn't look like the yoke has any damper on it. Im not sure what that would look like, but all the yokes look the same so im assuming it doesn't have one. As far as the tires go, theyre 275/70/18 BFG AT's. Ive had them rebalanced twice and it hasn't helped. I wouldn't think those would be hard for the local tire shop to balance, nor would I consider them oversized.

You might try putting it on the rack with the axles supported by stands and run it up to speed. If it wont do it then, I can at least tell you all the things I did that didn't help. :{

 

[cerberusiam]

No doesn't look like the yoke has any damper on it. Im not sure what that would look like, but all the yokes look the same so im assuming it doesn't have one. As far as the tires go, theyre 275/70/18 BFG AT's.

It would be a big round balancer on the yoke at the back of the transmission, looks a damper from the front of the engine.

The tires are BFG's, that is enough to make me want to pursue a tire problem. Already been that route with the BFG POS garbage. Vibrations, DW, and all manner of issues on tires that look perfectly good. E rated to boot and they STILL had issues.

 

[lpennock]

It would be a big round balancer on the yoke at the back of the transmission, looks a damper from the front of the engine.

The tires are BFG's, that is enough to make me want to pursue a tire problem. Already been that route with the BFG POS garbage. Vibrations, DW, and all manner of issues on tires that look perfectly good. E rated to boot and they STILL had issues.

Something like this?

#ad

 

[rscurtis]

It should be easy to differentiate between a DS vibration and a tire vibration, as their frequencies will differ by almost a factor of 4.

 

[AWeaver]

It would be a big round balancer on the yoke at the back of the transmission, looks a damper from the front of the engine.

The tires are BFG's, that is enough to make me want to pursue a tire problem. Already been that route with the BFG POS garbage. Vibrations, DW, and all manner of issues on tires that look perfectly good. E rated to boot and they STILL had issues.

OK that will be the easiest and CHEAPEST route to go. I would like you guys to explain what the difference is between a regular balancing and a "force balance". I will put the truck on jack stands this weekend and see if it still does it and post my findings. I guess if its not the tires I will look into getting the drive line balanced. Cerb, no I do not have a damper on the yoke.

 

[cerberusiam]

Run on jack stands the imbalance in a tire would have to be sever to see, it is not very definititve as you can feel a bad tire that would show like that. The nuances in these tires that cause vibrations are subtle are frquently will not show on spin balance. The road force applies pressure to the tire to simulate load that will cause the tire to squirm side to side or a weak belt or sidewall ply to introduce a wobble. Even then the forces are subtle, speed, and heat related that might not show everything.

If the vibration chnages with a road force balance but is still there, toss the tires and get a set that is rated correctly for these trucks. They simply do not like certain tire designs and builds with the BFG's being the biggest offender around.

Do you have a 1 piece or 2 piece DS? All the 4x4 trucks had the balancer, which was frequently the source of vibrations, but maybe the 2x4's did not use them because of the angles. You might check your crank dmaper also for any issues and consider a viscous damper to help with the harmonics.

 

[AWeaver]

Run on jack stands the imbalance in a tire would have to be sever to see, it is not very definititve as you can feel a bad tire that would show like that. The nuances in these tires that cause vibrations are subtle are frquently will not show on spin balance. The road force applies pressure to the tire to simulate load that will cause the tire to squirm side to side or a weak belt or sidewall ply to introduce a wobble. Even then the forces are subtle, speed, and heat related that might not show everything.

If the vibration chnages with a road force balance but is still there, toss the tires and get a set that is rated correctly for these trucks. They simply do not like certain tire designs and builds with the BFG's being the biggest offender around.

Do you have a 1 piece or 2 piece DS? All the 4x4 trucks had the balancer, which was frequently the source of vibrations, but maybe the 2x4's did not use them because of the angles. You might check your crank dmaper also for any issues and consider a viscous damper to help with the harmonics.

It is a 2 piece DS. Also, I have revved the engine from idle to 3k rpm's very slowly and haven't had any vibration that seems to be coming from the engine. It seems to be more speed related than rpm releated. Also the vibration seems to be getting worse, not staying the same. Its starts around 55mph and doesn't go away. It vibrates worse sometimes and less at other times. The vibration was the worst it has been this morning on my way in to work. Also, when I had my tires balanced again the last time, I had the tires rotated as well to see if that helped. I swapped the tires in front with the back ones. Still the same vibration. Steering wheel is steady with no wobble whatsoever.

 

[CPesce]

I would try road force balance. When I purchased my truck 2 yrs ago I had a vibration. I took had decline replaced, output shaft bearing replaced. No difference, so I took back to dealer and the did specs on EVERYTHING. Everything was with in spec. I had BF Goodrich tires. Took them off and sold them got cooper tires with the road force balance. Noise was better. I also installed spyntec hubs. Noise is much better. I think the only way you could solve it is to get a entire new driveline.

 

[Alan Reagan]

I had that problem on my 2011. Try disconnecting the drive shaft at the rear and then rotate the rear yoke 180 degrees. When you put the shaft back in the yoke, make sure to center the u-joints in the yoke. There is a little space where the u-joints bolt into the yoke that allows some side to side movement. Center that. That eliminated about 90% of my vibration. My vibration was really noticeable when I would look over at the passenger seat and see it vibrating at around 70 mph. Since you have just replaced the u-joints, you may not have put it back in the rear yoke without the same orientation. Believe me, it can make quite a difference in the vibration problem. The other 10% I got out with a Balance Master Drive Shaft balancing ring. The fluid filled (mercury) rubber ring slides over the rear drive shaft and then is held in place by a two piece steel clamp.