U-Joint chirp or ?

[MojaveJoe]

Made a Wide Open Throttle start from a stop light today, and about 40mph, heading for 70, I suddenly started to get a jingling sound from under the truck.



Isolated it to drivetrain in that nothing affects its presence except slowing down to 25mph. I can be doing 50, go to neutral and idle down the engine and no change in sound. I can be in park revving engine and no sound.



Started out jingling between between 35 and 55. 30 miles later it's now chirping at a high pitch from 30-70.



Not sure how to tell if a u-joint is going out (visual inspection showed nothing obvious, and they are not hot), so I could use some suggestions on what I can check.



Got 150,000+ miles on original u-joints. And a 10,000 mile new Goerend Heavy Duty 48RE that's awesome



All advice and experiences welcome.

 

[EDankievitch]

only way to tell about the 'U"joint is to remove the shaft, mark how it all lines up before you unbolt it, then rotate the u joints if it's binding or shot you'll be able to tell right off. I've found on two trucks now that there was not enogh grease in them and one of the caps has rusted and froze on the cross piece. As the shaft tries to rotate the bearing does not move and the cap turns in the yoke hence the squeek.

 

[mrtrombley]

I had a similar sound in mine before it went out of warranty, dealer ended up finding a TSP that told them to replace the driveshaft!! It was not a common problem on my model, but they did replace driveshaft and all was ok. I believe it might also have had something to do with the middle driveshaft hanger?

 

[carisu]

Mine made a jingling/clicking sound when the front axle u-joints went out.

 

[BLoging]

it may be the unit barnings on the frount axle

 

[Hoefler]

carrier bearing

 

[TimothyLong]

I just recently went through this with my '03 and mine turned out to be the double cardan joint on the front driveline. Here is a thread that I posted on my experiences which may be helpful to you:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...-discussions/227325-squeak-grinding-gone.html



Not that your problem is the same, it's just that when these things start to go it's hard to diagnose exactly what it is. To me, it sounds like you have a u-joint going bad, but which one is the $64K question. My advice would be to replace them all, both front and rear drivelines, with greaseable u-joints and also replace the ball and socket in the double cardan of the front driveline. While you have the rear driveline off, you can check the center beraing and if it seems smooth there is no reason to replace it at this time.

 

[RPlamondon]

My 07. 5 has to have the front ujoint lubed with a needle point fitting by design and if the servicer does not know this they will not do it and bingo, a problem. I make sure it is done every service and check it at home with my creeper. If not done I go back and make them do it. Some diesel techs know some don't. I don't know about other Ram yrs just my 07. 5.

 

[CHIRP]

Jingling, clicking noise for the last couple weeks on my rig. Could hear it at 20-30 mph. I could hear it best with my head out the window. . listening. Fount bad LF u-joint today. I could hear the click when I spun the wheel while the truck was on a lift at the shop.

 

[MojaveJoe]

Update on driveline noise.

It turned out to be the front drive shaft double cardan ball joint.

I took it to my mechanic and did a test drive with him but could not reproduce the sound. He told me after I left the shop he put the truck in 4wd and the noise it made was scary. He knew what it was right then.

Here's a pic of my old ball and collar that are part of the double cardan joint. Had all the u-joints replaced with greasables.

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Besides the 4WD diagnostic test mentioned above, he said I could have pulled the front Drive Shaft and driven the truck to see if the sound went way. If it did, I could have taken the DS to a machine shop and have them rebuild the whole thing, then reinstall it myself.

Some other tricks he shared were common sense really, but are offered here for anyone worried about driving their truck with a similar problem. 1) If the front Drive Shaft starts making noise, pull it and drive the truck in 2WD. 2) If the rear DS makes noise or vibrates, pull it and run in 4WD high with just the front axle pulling. These are possible solutions for someone who gets caught in the boonies with no tow truck to call. If I had thought of these options I might have ventured into Mexico with the noise present, prepared to drive the truck with one DS if necessary.

FWIW there's my story. Hope this helps someone in the future with a similar problem.

 

[MojaveJoe]

One Piece Aluminmu Drive Shaft

BTW... I also installed a new one piece aluminum rear DS. All I can say is... ... . SMOOTH and SWEET! And an easy install. 4 bolts!

Here's a pic showing a side view of the new Alum DS. I might have lost a couple inches of ground clearance for about 3 feet ahead of the rear diff, compared to the stock DS, but I also lost 49lbs of onboard weight in the trade. A good trade if you ask me.

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