Shudder Mystery

[martion007]

Shutter Mystery, At 445,000 miles my 03 2by4 6 speed manual, Diesel Dodge developed a Shutter. Felt like I'm running off the side of the road on the grooves or I got tire chains on. Between 15 to 30mph on the speed up or slowing down,But If I speeded up real slow no shudder. Above 40mph everything felt normal. I could feel it in the seat,

the arm rest the dash but not in the stick shift. The whole body shuttered. Tryed inflating my air bags to different heights.

The shutter started when the temp. was 61 now the temp. is 34. so temp. has nothing to do with it. Man I spent 3 days tryin to find the cause. First I read all the posts here on the causes and cures.

I took the driveshaft out, checked each U-joint, all good. Replaced the center bearing that holds the driveshaft. Had some deteriated rubber, I droped the center bearing 1/4 in. with shim.

Took the front wheels off, filled the non-servicable hubs

with grease through the speed sencer opening, checked for any play in steering components,all good. Checked transmission fluid level, Removed cover of rear differantial, inspected inside gears, Gee! no wear at all worth mentioning, good for a 2 million at least. Rotated all tires. Took one rear wheel completly apart,because it had a very little rubbing sound. everything was good. If I had any hair on top of my head I would have pulled it out by now. I gave up on tryin to find the problem. I went and hooked up to a 31ft. travel trailer, going to deliver it to a dealer, When I started out on this trip

the truck shuttered so much I figured I wouldn't make it a hundred miles before something explodes,Then I would know the root of the problem. I asked myself,? "Do I really want to go this route?"

I figured I had no choice. 100miles later the shutter had stopped, I went on and delivered the trailer and returned home

1,000 miles in all and there is no shutter at all, ever, I had 300miles of shudder and now none So is this in remission? I sure hope not.

It makes no sence at all, I told my Wife my truck is no longer a big Ram Male, but rather a PMS prone Nanny Female. Now does anyone have any ideas what this shudder was? I'm stumped. One thing I didn't look into is power steerind hoses vibration. I don't know anything about that and just elimated that from my list of suspects. I just don't think that was the problem

 

[Spooled-up]

I would check the track bar and re-check the steering gear. Sometimes you won't notice the play just by pulling on it. Have someone in the truck moving the steering wheel side to side with the truck off and watch for play in the joints and track bar ends. Seems like you checked everything else!



Did you check for broken leaves in the rear springs? - I'm just grabbing at straws now.

 

[rbattelle]

filled the non-servicable hubs

with grease through the speed sencer opening,

How the heck did you manage that?



-Ryan

 

[steved]

IMO, he probably made a bolt that he screwed into the sensor mounting hole... we did this on a set of hubs for my dads truck... not that big of deal.



I don't know where the tracbar came in on a 2wd...



I know you said you checked the ujoints, but your symptoms ARE EXACTLY like mine when the ujoint on the differential went bad... it would vibrate, almost hum... and it was intermittent... it felt like you were driving on the rumble strips after it got really bad... still intermittent



steved

 

[martion007]

I go to walmart and buy one of those scyrenges that you use to inject flavor into turkeys before you bake them. The scyrenge fits right into the hole of the speed sencer if you take the needle off, I fill it up with warm timken bearing grease. And then put the sencer back in. I've heard many times that front wheel bearings go out at over 100k, I figure if you keep grease in them you can get a million. I do this yearly, also I put a thin film of grease on all mating surfaces, so it gomes apart easy next time. Also do that with my wheels, the first time I tryed to get my dulleys apart they were rusted together, I had to use a sledge. I also take the seals out of other bearings and regrease them, like idler, tensioner and fan bearing

I did check for broken springs, none

I will check the steering today like suggusted, and post my find,

I did replace my whole rack&pinion stearing at 200,000.

later