Stymied by front end vibration

[RShill]

2004 3500 w/ 67k. At speeds around 15 mph +/- I get a shimmy/vibration that. . feels like a very, very out of balance tire. This happens accelerating, deccelerating and coasting, but only 50% +/- of the time. I've balanced the tires, had the universal joints checked (I'm suspicious), had the front end looked at(?loose ball joints and tie rod ends-$1200--been there done that with little to no improvement) What do you think?

 

[vherner]

Had a problem similar to this with a jeep laredo. Turned out to be the steering dampener. Had it replaced and the problem disapeared.

 

[steved]

Sounds like a broken belt in a tire... have you rotated front to back??

 

[RShill]

turns out to be 2 of the rear u-joints noplay in them but were dried out enough to create enough friction to case the vibration