Vibration or no vibration

[Steve M]

The vibration problem is getting a little confusing. I had my tires rebalanced and the vibration appeared to be gone. I trip today revealed the vibration is still there. I'm curious if there's a trend by gear ratio and speed. If it's at one speed with 3. 73 and a lower speed with 4. 10 ratio regardless of transmission, we might be able to narrow it down to driveshaft vibration.

 

[Bob4x4]

I have seen this vibration caused by the front driveshaft as well as the rear. Work with your dealer and try to understand what they have to deal with as well. First year out, new suppliers, be patient.

Bob

 

[Prairie Dog]

Mine had what I would describe as a bad rod knoc when the eng was cool at about 2k RPM. I couldn't hear it so much as feel it through the throttle. But after a couple thousand miles it dissapeared. Smooth as silk now.

 

[Steve G]

No vibration at all here.



Steve

 

[Steve M]

Wow, is there only 29 of us who took the plunge for an '03? And almost half have the vibration... I went lurking on a couple of other Dodge CTD sites and didn't see any vibration posts. I wonder if they have it and aren't concerned about it until someone points out that it's not normal. The vibration is so mild in mine that I had to point it out to my wife before she even felt it. But it's there just the same.

 

[Mopar_Mudder]

I feel what you are talking about I think also at certain speed. I think is feels like more of a harmonics thing then a vibration. Only between the 65-70 area then it goes away.

 

[Steve M]

That's the one. On mine it's not so bad that I can't tune it out but bad enough to blur the image in the rear view mirror. If you touch the rearview mirror you can feel the vibration more so than in the seat or steering wheel. Sometimes it seems worse than other times. It's minor compared to the noise and vibration of my '98 5pd/4. 10 at 2100rpm but if it's not normal and can be fixed I wouldn't miss it at all. I don't know if some are producing worse vibrations than others. That would seem to be the case.

 

[JStieger]

I thought I had one, but then I got onto a freshly paved section of interstate and vibration was non-existant. Only 900 ear-to-ear grinning miles though!

 

[amsoilman]

The vibration that I am getting seems to be coming from the engine itself. If I am traveling down the highway at any speed and apply power, the truck has a slight vibration. If I remove pressure from the foot pedal, it goes away. If I take it out of gear and let the truck coast, it goes away also. I thnk it must be the engine that is doing the vibrating on my truck. What do you think?









Wayne

amsoilman

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I've test-driven 4 new CTDs and on every one I noticed more engine vibration resonating through the steering column and wheel than on my current '01. I chalk it up to a stiffer, wider frame, and one of the small drawbacks to the 3rd Gens. Although the last one I drove was very acceptable, the first two there was too much vibration, that I drove last October & November.



The Autos seemed worse.



Vaughn

 

[pstillo]

They guy's with the vibration what tires do you have on your trucks?

 

[jcarver]

I have the 265/70R17 BFGoodrich Rugged Trail T/A's on mine, which are the upgrade "on/off road" tires.

 

[Steve M]

I have Michelins on mine. The automatics have always been worse at transmitting engine vibration with the TC locked up. In '95 there came a TSB for a vibration damper on the front driveshaft. My '03 has a damper on it and vibrates about as much as my '95 did after the damper was installed, but at a little higher rpm. The '95 was worse at 1900rpm and this one is at 2100rpm.

 

[Briman]

I have The Michelin's as well.

 

[Swayse]

nope

No vibration here, but I've got 315s on my truck already.

 

[Fred Swanson]

Very slight in the steering wheel at 65. Mirror blurs, but not bad enough to bother. Seemed to get better when I switched from the stock exhaust to the 5 inch.

I may put the stock back on, to see if it comes back. Or maybe adding more power took care of it.

 

[Swayse]

exhaust

My exhaust was loose at the clamp right under the cab. Don't know if this has anything to do with it, but it's worth a try. I hope I'm not the only one under his new truck with a creeper almost everyday for the first few days, just to look. Maybe the wife is right, maybe I am weird. Naw, can't be.

 

[jcarver]

Yes, 65 mph seem to be the magic speed for this condition, seems to be affecting autos and sticks so we can rule out trans. Fred, it is interesting what you said about the exhaust. When I first complained of this to the dealer, that is the first thing STAR told them to check. They couldn't find any problem with it. Maybe at that certain rpm it is transmitting to much vibration through the exhaust hangers and setting up a harmonic imbalance? Maybe the hangers are too soft or too hard? I have noticed that the Cummins seems to be very "boomy" at around 2000 rpm at any speed (noticed accelerating through the gears), maybe at a constant 2000 rpm (65 mph with 4. 10 axle) the "boominess" is at just the right harmonic pitch that is is mixing with road and driveline noise and causing our problem? Not sure how they're going to come up with a fix for this one...

 

[TCrouch]

I have the same vibration 65-72 I have the new automatic vibrates the rear view mirror bad. i think it is harminics but it will put your hand to sleep if you leave it on the wheel for a while

 

[Jengle]

Nothing here at any speed to 90. I got 15k miles, so far.