Truck is a 02 short bed with 160k on it. I was driving home with a trailer on sun when I noticed a vibration at highway speed. My buddy stated since I had the original ujoints on the driveshaft we figured one of them was starting to fail. Yesterday I took the driveshaft out and took it to a shop. Two hours later they call me and say I'm all set. They replaced 3 ujoints and balanced the driveshaft. I get home reinstall. I go for test ride the truck shakes bad at speeds over 50mph. Take the shaft back out and go back to the shop. They take the shaft back and state the will look at it. They call me to come get it. They state the calibration on the machine was off and now it's good to go. I reinstall the shaft. I go for test drive. There is still a vibration at 60+ but not as bad. I going to take it to a tire shop tomo and have the tires checked for balance. If that does not fix the vibration where should I look next?

 

I am not sure your short bed has a two piece or one piece drive shaft but it if has a carrier bearing you may want to look there..

 

I had a similar issue:


Couldn't find it after new everything and alignment. (right down to ball joints etc..)


After months of chewing my cheek I comprehensively tore the drive line down and inspected every piece. My problem turned out to be a severely worn yoke on my rear diff. The U joint would not stay centered and caused an inertial balance issue.


I ended up ordering a posi rear axle (because I wanted one) and it's as smooth as silk now.


Word to the wise in hind site, start from the rear and go forward. I ran without my front drive shaft off just to eliminate the dragging rotation of the front shaft and had no significant change. I've been told by my local diesel mech that you can remove the rear shaft and run in 4 hi with the front engaged to isolate it as well.


If the shop replaced all 3 joints on the rear shaft and balanced it, I would say take that off your suspect list. I see your getting your tires checked. Go to factory spec air pressure and make sure the shop checks the wheels for true as well as making sure you don't have mud or asphalt clinging to them. Our Land surveying truck shakes like a puppy crapping razor blades due to wheel contamination.


Hope it goes well for you, I know the frustration.


Denny

 

I am the king of all vibrationdom... as well as injector woeville.

It will take some troubleshooting to isolate the suspects of vibration. Due to age, miles, lack of knowledge on the part of many parties (including myself), and overpowering the driveline - I've had:

• Spun bearing on the pinion gear in the rear end
• Bent driveline
• Bad U-joints
• Bad carrier bearing
• Underinflated tires
• Bad alignment (Watch out! Car shops can't properly align an 8000-pound beast.)
• Warped brake rotors
• Under-equipped driveline shop do a bad balance
• Front hub lock stuck in "lock"
• A partial miss in one injector (Injector imbalance can cause a partial miss, not like a full miss of a gasser with bad spark)

I had to install ladder bars on my stock-height truck to prevent axle wrap (overpowered engine). The axle wrap is what cause a lot of carnage on the driveline.

I posted a test procedure list for vibration within the last 6 months, but I have to search for it. I'm stuck for time this morning, but you might be able to find it about Nov 2014 or so.

 

Tugly's list is comprehensive as usual but I would throw in hub bearing assembly in there as well.

I had a nagging vibration for some time (over a year) that was noticeable above 40-50mph and then go away when I slowed down below that and it turned out to be a toasted hub assembly needle bearing. The right front hub inner needle bearing dried up and spit the needles out all over the inside. They wedged between the stub shaft and hub and worked their way into the locking hub. This caused the axle (longer one of course) to spin constantly at wheel speed and eventually took out the oil seal on the differential (that can only replaced from INSIDE with the carrier removed). That's why there's a Dynatrac conversion kit sitting in my garage.

 

I assume the OP is primarily feeling it through the seat and not the wheel, right?

I also assume brakes and associated items have been ruled out?

My money is on the rear diff if it isn't the tires or wheels.

My money is not on an injector problem....lol

 

So that's vibration. Where do you look if you have a 'jolt' when pulling away from a stop sign?

 

My money is on the center support bearing.

 

If it's a jolt then I agree it could be the center support bearing.

If it's a clunk-clunk-clunk then you need to grease your slip yoke.

 

I don't have a center bearing. It's a 4 bolt flange out of transfer case to a dbl ujoint to the drive shaft to a slip joint to a single ujoint then a 4 bolt flange from the rear diff. Going to balance tires tomo then go from there. It's not front hubs I checked those an greased them they felt great plus there only a year old. I also found one of my fuel tank straps had rotted out and is broken. So just anther thing to add to my list. Front brake rotors are trashed but that vibration is only during light braking at highway speed but goes away after I let off brake. If it's something in the rear diff I will have to take it somewhere because it will be beyond my ability to fix

 

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread buddy
I checked that bearing, has about 1/8 - 1/4 inch of play.
That thing is $60, what a ripoff!

 

i will second removing the rear driveshaft and running it in 4 hi if it is still there after balancing the tires.
if it is not there with the shaft removed, you know it is in the driveshaft. if it is still there with it removed, you then know it is in the rear axle, trans, or transfer case.

 

Ok here's a update. Balanced all four tires vibration was still present. I removed driveshaft and drove it in four hi and the vibration was gone. I will be dropping the driveshaft off at a different shop for evaluation and repair. I'll update this thread when I get the driveshaft back

 

This may not apply, and it is extreme: I had a clunk with shifts, as well as a few other issues from my power-up. As I mentioned before - I added ladder bars for the other issues, but it also cleaned up the clunk. I'm not saying "Throw some ladder bars on there and all is well", but I'm wondering why they would eliminate clunk - and if there is alternative fix (knowing what I know now).

 

What I'm wondering is whether my clunk started appearing after I (successfully) plowed through 5 feet of snow while parking at a snowboarding trip.
Without a plow that is