Mechanos

Went to the parts store today to pick up some new rear wheel bearings (I'm chasing a high speed vibration) and the only thing the books list (both the computer and the paper catalog) for the '01 2500 D70 is bearings for the D70 w/ drums. My D70 has disc and there is no listing in the books for this.

Do both the drum and disc versions of the '01 D70 use the same rear wheel bearings?

Rattletrap1

Don't know the answer...but I'd look up a 2002 as they all had disc rears.

FWIW...I haven't heard much if any problem with bearings on full floating axles.

Mechanos

Tried that..... there was no listing at all for 2002....

Scubasteve

A bad wheel bearing should give you a fair amount of noise as well. It could be the wheel bearings but I kind of doubt it.

I notice your truck is a 4x4 so I would look at all the u joints first before doing the bearings.

Another thing to look at is if you had the boys at the tire shop balance your tires recently and they they didnt clean the mating surfaces for the rims then they have wasted there time If you have any rust and crap build up on the mating surfaces.

Let us know what you find


Jason

Mechanos

I have the wheel bearings and seals sitting here (assuming drum and disc D70s use the same bearings) but am holding off on tearing into the axle just yet. I, too, would be surprised if it was a bearing. I've checked all the u-joints (first thing I did) and all are tight. I have an appointment at the tire shop tomorrow to have the wheels checked/rebalanced. I can see where wheels weights were, but the tires are only about 6 months old so that may be where the old weights were with the previous set of tires. I have alloy wheels..... The vibe just started earlier this week out the blue.... so far, I'm dumbfounded.

Barry Smith

Mechanos, I had a wheel bearing go in mine about two weeks ago. It didn't vibrate as much as feel like the clutches in the diff. were slipping on take off? It turns out the seal went bad and lost the grease? I don't know if this will help you any but thought I would let you know what I felt when it happened. Good luck!

Barry

Mechanos

Thanks Barry.

This vibe is driving me nuts!!! I tried to pay extra close attention to it this morning on the way in to work. Seems like a could hear a bit of a hum with vibe, but it's hard to tell from all the other road noises at 75 mph. I'll find out tonight after work if it's a tire or wheel weight and go from there.

Rattletrap1

How do you lose grease in a full floating axle? Should be gear lube aint it? A leaking seal should be evident with the wheel and drum off, but still shold trash a bearing if the axle lube is kept up to level. Brakes however would get coated with oil on that side.

Mechanos

Well, I think I got the vibe fixed. 3 of the wheels were 3/4 oz. off balance and one of them was a 1 1/4 oz. off. After having them rebalanced and since they had them off, rotate, I could only barely notice the vibe. In fact, if I wasn't specifically looking for it, I doubt I would have even noticed at all. It was only a short run home from the tire shop, but the trip into the office tomorrow will be the acid test. Glad it wasn't a bearing.....

Mechanos

Well, it looks like I spoke too soon. The vibration is still there. It's definitely wheel speed related and is independent of engine speed. I guess u-joints are next on the list... I've already checked them and they are all tight and have zero slop. I suppose one of them could be drying out and going bad, but not worn enough to be slopped out yet.

Mechanos

Still haven't found my vibe.... and it's getting worse. More pronounced at 70mph and now starting to make almost a grinding like vibration when accelerating. What does it feel like when a TC starts to give up?

pind

I had the same kind of vibration / growling thing going on with my 01 2500. Check out your front wheel bearings. The right hand one went out on mine, and that was the entire source of the problem

Mechanos

Bad vibe found and fixed..... turned out to be a bad u-joint. I'm not a big fan of the non-servicable u-joints.... yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the arguements. They're supposed to be stronger 'cause the cross isn't hollow, but I'm sure the u-joint that failed wouldn't have if it had a grease zerk and was regularly serviced.