Odd Noise at 35 MPH

[TimothyLong]

The past few days, I've noticed an odd noise coming from underneath my truck between 35 mph and 50 mph. It's like a grinding/scraping sort of a noise that pulses as I move. Sort of reminds me of a washing machine with a full load. The pulsing does correlate to my speed and it only makes the noise under power, not when I am coasting. The noise seems to come from somewhere in the center and not one side or the other. I am thinking it might be a u-joint going out on the front driveline. I haven't had the opportunity to crawl under there and take a look and with the rain that has set in, I probably won't until tomorrow (unless the noise gets really bad). Anyone have any thougyhts or suggestions as to what might be making this noise?

 

[Hoefler]

Carrier bearing in drive shaft.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Carrier bearing in drive shaft.

X2. Plus, your U-joints are probably dry by now and unless the joints are about ready to fall out, you can't tell they're bad without taking them apart.



For just a little more $ than having the old shaft rebuilt, you can get a 1 piece driveshaft. It's the best mod I ever made to my truck.

 

[04blackcherry]

Prairie Dog, Where did you get your one piece? I was quoted around $850 to have one made out of aluminum; locally.

 

[gathomas]

How many miles on you truck?? According to your Sig you have a Banks 6 gun box.

Have you upgraded your Auto Transmission?? Fluid & Filter changes ?

What I'm leading up to is the possibility of Planetary gear failure. I'm not saying that is where the source of the noise is, just be aware of possibility.

 

[TimothyLong]

How many miles on you truck?? According to your Sig you have a Banks 6 gun box.



Have you upgraded your Auto Transmission?? Fluid & Filter changes ?



What I'm leading up to is the possibility of Planetary gear failure. I'm not saying that is where the source of the noise is, just be aware of possibility.

I've got just a shade over 130K on it and I'm running the stock transmission. Oil/filter is done every 6K, fuel filter every 12K, transmission and diffs every 30K, but I'm a bit overdue on this one.

 

[TimothyLong]

X2. Plus, your U-joints are probably dry by now and unless the joints are about ready to fall out, you can't tell they're bad without taking them apart.



For just a little more $ than having the old shaft rebuilt, you can get a 1 piece driveshaft. It's the best mod I ever made to my truck.

Never thought of that bearing and yes, replacing the u-joints with greasable ones is on my short list. If I replace the driveline, it might be even shorter. Is there an advantage to having a 1 piece besides getting rid of a few u-joints?

 

[Prairie Dog]

The one piece solves the angle issues (from what I understand) and the truck has for the first time in it's life, no shutter at all. Its even more quiet in the back seat.

The shaft I got from DC was $650 plus $150 for a shop to shorted it by 1. 5" and rebalance it.

 

[TimothyLong]

Thanks for the advice, guys! I appreciate it. It's been raining here all day and I don't have a garage. Supposed to quit tomorrow morning. I'm going to crawl under it tomorrow when I get home from work and see what I can find.

 

[04blackcherry]

I hear yah. I'm always trying to find a dry piece of cardboard to lay on. Prairie Dog is right, you have to take the driveshaft out of the rig to find a bad u joint sometimes. I just did that a couple weeks ago.

 

[TimothyLong]

Because of the mileage and seeing a lot of other guys have u-joint problems, I had planned to take a day or so and just replace all of them with greasable u-joints anyway. I was hoping that I could get away with it till spring, but it looks like that's not going to happen, at least for the 3 on the rear driveline anyway. If the problem turns out to be the bearing, is that something I can do myself or should I take it to a shop/dealer and let them do it. I've never had to deal with one of those before.