Alright, I am going to aplogize for the long post a head of time. I just drove from northern michigan to atlanta georgia, while on the road I have a intermittent vibration that is driving me nuts. It happens at all speeds but is most noticable in the 60-75 range. I just completely put new brakes all the way around so it is not a rotor, Both unit bearing are just over a year old, I totally greased the front end before I left and I got the front two wheels balanced to try and solve it before the trip. It doesn't shake the steering wheel it i like the whole truck shakes/ shutters, it is worse when I am going around a curve then it will go away for a min and then come back. I have two ideas in my mind but I dont know if I am on the right track with either. I am thinking I might need a steering stabilizer. But I don't know since I don't feel it in the steering wheel if I am off track with that. I run 305's on 10" wide wheels so I didn't know if that could be causing feed back. Or my other idea is that I need a adjustable track bar. I put a shakle lift on my truck and since I don't have a adjustable track bar my axle is about 1/2 more to the drivers side. The tires so no sign of wierd wear ad have had it this way for over a year. The truck still goes straight down the road and doesn't dog track, but could it be causeing the vibration? The truck did the same vibration ever since I bought it, it is just getting worse. I know vbrations are hard to diagnose but any ideas would be great.

 

Can anyone help?

 

What brand of wheels and are the lug nuts the correct type?

 

Mickey Thompson and yes I believe so.

 

Most aftermarket wheels for these trucks are not hub centric like the OEM ones. Sometime the don't seat perfect depending on how they were mounted at the tire shop.
The BFGs I have take a lot of wheel weights to balance...maybe you slung a weight.

 

I just got them balanced yesterday. I know they are thr right lug and the truck did the same vibration even when I had different wheels on it, it did the same thing.

 

Since you don't feel any vibration in the steering wheel, I think you can rule out the front end. It would seem to me that you may have a driveline vibration if tire balance hasn't corrected it. It could be a u-joint or a midship bearing.

 

Have you checked the u-joints for any play? When I replaced mine, they seemed fine on the truck until I took them off and looked. They were bone dry and some of the needle bearings had already turned to powder. Thankfully I'm a preventitive maintenance freak.

 

Are you talking about the rear driveshaft u-joints.

 

Can the ujoints be bad and still look and feel tight on the inside. They could be the stock units with 208,000 miles. But I don't know. I sure they would not be to expensive.

 

How do you check to see if the ujoints are bad? I just checked if they seemed loose with my hand and I got a little movement out of the double joint at the rear of the transfer case. May be 1/8 ofa inch up and down. The one at the axle didn't move. I don't know though. It does seem to do it worse when deaccelerating from about 75 down to 45. So that would be pointing at ujoints over front end.

 

Firefighter, I don't live far from you. PM me and let me know how to get ahold of you. I'm just south of South Bend. You'll probably have to remove the drive shaft to see if the ujoints are bad. They don't always show signs of being bad until you get the driveshaft out. Usually they'll be really stiff or will bind in places. You don't generally see any play until they get really bad or catastrophically fail.

 

The u-joints usually show some red dust if they are dry but shouldn't cause a vibration unless you can feel looseness. Non-stock wheels can sometimes be made wrong and are impossible to balance. They made 2 yokes for the pinion shaft; a short splined one and a long splined one and the short one can give vibration problems. A bad rear bushing in the tranny can cause a vibe. Also, a spark plug miss can mimic a vibration. The u-joint in front of the driveshaft would be the one that causes the most vibes.

 

Firefighter, you can e-mail me at gbfoxcar@michianawireless.com I'd be glad to help you out.

 

Thanks for the offer Greg B. I would take you up on it right away but I am in Atlanta, GA right now on vaction. I am trying to get this fixed for the ride home. If I don't get it fixed you will be the first person I will get a hold of when I get home. It drove me nuts on the way down here. I will take the driveshaft off tomorrow and see what turns out. I just got the wheels balanced two days ago and have a brand new tranny so I hope a bearing is not the problem. I have the front axle unlocked so that should not be spinning at all.