How many with the vibes

[WStoops]

Continuing on the vibration saga I presented in my first post (p. 2)



..... They pull the front shaft and determine that the constant velocity joint has a bind /tight spot, decide to replace it. The shaft comes in today, so I guess I will find out if it is bearable. However I've been driving around the last couple of days w/o the shaft and it still sucks... . I'm not done yet...

Greg

Greg, sounds like you are making some progress by eliminating some things. My dealer said that removal of the front shaft eliminated the vibration. Weeks later they said that they knew that because they removed it on another truck that had the vibrations, not mine. I'm beginning to think that this problem may have more than one source, if it is a "third order vibration", perhaps removing even one source fixes the problem. Yesterday I heard of a Hemi Heavy Duty Ram with a vibration but who knows if it is the same. Since they generally don't post here, they may have the same problem. I can say that my 03 gasser was as smooth as anyone would want, at any speed.

Wish I had it back. To give DC credit where deserved, the marriage of the Heavy Duty Ram with the Cummins was a stroke of genius, even if problematic. This past week I drove both of the other brands, 05's on the highway, and while I would not buy either, they were completely without vibration at highway speed. Please keep us informed as to your progress. Good luck, Wayne

 

[SMorton]

Wayne,



Here is my email address, send me a quick note so I can have yours, and also I'll mail you my phone number. Don't give up yet on your truck!



Scott



-- email address removed --

 

[JThacker]

I have got the vibe but it ain't that bad. It comes on about 2300 RPM and is gone by 2500 RPM, i am convinced my problem is related to the exhaust drone on my stock exhaust because it is clearly related to RPM, not speed and it isn't bad at all. You can only notice it if you look close at the rear view mirror and cars seem just a little blurry. My vibe isn't bad enough to worry about, so I guess it is coming from a different source than the one that is plagueing you all. Jay

 

[Mike B.]

I picked up my 05 today and it has a slight vibe that starts at 65 and ends around 75. The truck is a 4x4 SWB with an auto transmission. I think in my case it is a transmission problem. I got the vibe started and held it at about 70mph and put the truck in to neutral. Every thing was as smooth as glass. I did this several times, sometimes holding the RPM up to see if it was an engine related problem. Every time the vibe goes away. The vibe isn't too bad but it's there. My 99 is still smooth after 260K miles



(edit)

One more thing I noticed was the dip stick for the transmission shakes like the dickens at idle. I'd say it's shaking back and forth about 1/2". It's not loose and nothing else in the engine compartment is viberating at all.



I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow. I'm heading to FL next Thursday so I'll have plenty of miles to sort things out.





Mike

 

[WStoops]

Hi Mike,

Free advice being worth exactly what you pay for it, I would offer this: In most states you have 3 days to back out of a contract. Take it back and tell them you don't want it. There are many living with this vibration and DC is making no attempt, at the corporate level, to do anything about it. Very few of those with the problem have been successful at having it fixed. Mine has gotten worse over time and their feeble attempts to fix it have only screwed up other things. If people would start exercising their contractual rights by taking these vibrators back, within the 3 day trial period, maybe DC would start doing something about it. By the way, the problem started with the 03's and the 05's have it as well. Caveat Emptor, buyer beware.

Hoping the Lemon Law hearing this thursday will resolve my problem.

 

[DUBLR]

Vibe Input

For what it is worth... ... my dealer screwed around with the vibe cure to the point they made it worse. Then the transmission started screeching and over concerns pulling my horse trailer, they put in a new trans and transfer case at 30K miles. That put me back to the normal vibes we started with. Then... ..... I went with BFG 285-70 17 KO's. This different tire size affected the harmonics colliison (as referenced in this string) and now my truck as very tolerable, and I can say pretty much cured.

 

[Dosdon]

I'ts not your exhaust, I,ve exhausted

just about every exhaust scenario I could think of, at

at least a thousand bucks worth,-Cat back aeroturbin

resonator additional mounts, fewer mounts, and

nothing has worked.

 

[jabird]

I am in the process of trying to solve "vibration" on my 98 24valve right now. First of all a ton of things have been changed on my truck. I am the one who put the "droneing" noise "vibration" in my truck. It was not there until I converted the truck from a srw to a dwr. When I did the conversion I installed a Skyjacker 2" lift kit and Bilsten shocks and a Dana 80 out of a 1996. I had the driveshaft shortened for the difference in the rear ends. At that time new u-joints were installed and the entire rear two pieace assembly was balanced. All the rims have been checked and rechecked for straightness..... the tires and been balanced three times, and I run centermatics also. I installed a new ring and pinion at the same time also. I have checked the backlash on that three times now. I had the vibration, which comes in only when the convertor goes into overdrive, at 1650-1950rpm... . 57-65 mph, with my stock convertor. I replaced the trans. and convertor with one of Dave Gorends tripple disk setups, his valve body, and a billet flex plate. I was also standing there while he dyoned my trans. before we installed it. At that time there was no vibration on his dyno stand with the trans. Is any one aware that there was a TSB for this issue in 1996? I believe the number is 03-03-69 or 03-03-96, I forget which right now. With this TSB, Mother Mopar, replaced your rear driveshaft. The fix seemed to be a dampener on the front yoke out of the transfer case. They have part numbers for ALL wheel bases, includeing chassis cab. They also want about $600-$1200, dependant on which wheel base you have. Now yesterday I installed 1/2" spacer blocks on my rear leaf springs. By changeing the pinion angle, in the rear, that small amount, 50% of the noise has disappered. I am going to look into the front driveshaft next. I never even thought to check this out until I read this thread this morning. I know I have a 2nd gen truck, but I thought maybe some of this info might help you 3rd gen guys. Any ideas you might have would be greatly appreciated... . excuse my bad spelling

 

[WStoops]

Jabird,

You are a thorough and persistent guy. Wish you were working on a 3rd Gen so that we might be able to solve our problem. Good post.

 

[jabird]

There were some post about people being told to try a new convertor. I dont feel the convertor or the flex plate from Mopar are the issue. I can for sure tell you that with a convertor that locks up like Gorends, the issue does get amplified. When that thing locks up into overdrive... WOW... . you could really hear the drone come on. But with the 1/2" plates installed under the leaf springs, which changed my pinoin angle... half the trbl. was solved. This has got to be an condition caused by multi. design issues. If i had a "stock" suspension what would be the differences in a 3rd gen. and a 2nd gen. ? Does the American axle have a dramaticly different pinoin angle than my Dana 80? I'm running 3:54 gears, would this make a difference? I wonder if 4:10 guys have the same trbl. ?

 

[jabird]

Has anyone tried bolting a weight anywhere on the frame? Or even a flat plate of steel? I have got an exhaust drone to go away for a freind of mine by strapping a piece of angle iron to a section of his 4" pipe, so why wouldnt this also be a thing to consider. I also fully agree that if you spend $40,000 for a truck this shouldnt even be something we should be disscusing, but if Dodge isnt going to fix it..... then whats left. Its is a shame they dont stand behind their product better sometimes

 

[WStoops]

Jabird,

i've heard the conjecture about the torque converter. my vibration stays the same coasting downhill at 70 mph, no difference other than that the accompanied drone is not there. Yes, I do have both the vibration and the drone, lucky me. Lemon Law hearing scheduled for this coming Thursday, the 24th.

 

[Dieselnerd]

Jabird, don't waste time on that front driveshaft on a 2nd Gen. It never turns unless you are in 4 wheel drive because you have a front axle disconnect. They left that part out on the 3rd Gens so the front shaft turns all the time. If you only have the vibe in 4 wheel drive that's a different story.

 

[GGill]

Continuing my "As the World Turns" saga of vibration BS from P3...



Dealer replaced the front shaft knowing that I was still complaining about a strong vibration WITHOUT the front shaft being in... Yep still vibes w/ the new shaft in place.



The Service Manager has promised to pull a new set of tires and rims from a truck on the lot so we can see if indeed it somehow is the tires... worth a try I guess.



I noticed a new variable relating to the vibration yeserday... was towing my boat early in the AM to fish about 65 miles, was cold 10 deg. F. The vibration was almost gone, just a consistent vibe around 2100 rpm 5th and 6th gears.



On the way home temps in the mid 30's, vibration was immediately there when I reached 55... hmmm maybe it is tire/sidewall problem.



This sucks.

 

[WStoops]

GGill,

Good observation. We have a couple of things in common with respect to this vibration. Like yours, mine is less severe in the cold weather, much worse in summer temps on the highway. The accompanying drone is there all the time, irrespective of temperature. Not sure what all of this means. There are some posts on another site which claim that there is a TSB about to be issued that replaces the drive shafts with aluminum shafts and adds a dampener at the front end of the rear shaft along with weights being added to the frame. Supposedly this is the fix for the vibes not the drone. Anyone know anything more about this??

 

[Hercules130]

any word on the Dynatrac hub conversion?

 

[BRuppel]

GGill,

Good observation. We have a couple of things in common with respect to this vibration. Like yours, mine is less severe in the cold weather, much worse in summer temps on the highway. The accompanying drone is there all the time, irrespective of temperature. Not sure what all of this means. There are some posts on another site which claim that there is a TSB about to be issued that replaces the drive shafts with aluminum shafts and adds a dampener at the front end of the rear shaft along with weights being added to the frame. Supposedly this is the fix for the vibes not the drone. Anyone know anything more about this??

Where did you hear about that? I have the vib at 68-72MPH and would like to get rid of it.

 

[WStoops]

Where did you hear about that? I have the vib at 68-72MPH and would like to get rid of it.

I read about it on the Diesel Truck Resource site. There are a number of posts on the subject the last few days. I'm wondering why we have not heard of it here. As I recall there were a few of the more recent posts claiming that it is just urban legend, not true, so I don't know. As my Lemon Law hearing is on Thursday of this week, I would have thought that if it was true, they would have called me to get it done rather than risk going through this????

 

[GGill]

I read about it on the Diesel Truck Resource site. There are a number of posts on the subject the last few days. I'm wondering why we have not heard of it here. As I recall there were a few of the more recent posts claiming that it is just urban legend, not true, so I don't know. As my Lemon Law hearing is on Thursday of this week, I would have thought that if it was true, they would have called me to get it done rather than risk going through this????

I was on oilburners.net the other day and read an interesting thread regarding the vibe problem w/ the 3rd Gens... . I think that this warrents some more research and pushing w/ the dealerships... methinks a whole lot of stonewalling is going on.



Gee that would be something new



Greg

 

[Holton]

For all of you looking for the answer to your vibration issues, drop the front shaft out and take it for a ride. I'll bet all the vibration goes away. The problem (after many hours and many dollars) is a design flaw in the front shaft working angle. I just had my 2004 3/4t C diesel declared a lemmon and it was just replaced with an 05 1t single wheel. I've been told by those in the know that the 06's will have a axle disconnect that will stop turning the front shaft until it is engaged. Stop looking at your tires. Look at the working angles on your drive shafts. Some shafts have been known to be out of balance, out of round, etc. If you can, give it to the dealer, have him call a factory representative and have that guy instrument the truck during a test drive. Their equipment can tell the difference between a tire and a shaft problem. Best of luck... .