jmmcdona

Have 91K on the truck and in the last few week had the whole front end redone due to the infamous death wobble, and now I am looking at an out of balance rear drive shaft and needing new u-joints. Redone the trans and t-case at about 75K. This is the 3rd Dodge CTD I have had at each one seems like it fell apart in the driveline when I got close to 100K. Come on Dodge build us a truck that has a driveline that will hold up.

rip 112

Hmmm I'm fine at 140k, stock u joints. Now the front end is a different story for you, I havent had much of any problems with my truck.

92'1stGen

Sorry for your luck. It sounds like you've had to replace a lot of things that rarely fail before 100k. Why did you have to replace the trans and transfer case at 75k?

jmmcdona

Trans cracked across the housing, and took out the t-case in the process only thing salvaged out of the t-case was the case its self. Beginning to think this may be the reason I am having drive shaft problems may have took the d-shaft out of balance therefor causing the rash of problems with u-joints, 4 sets of u-joints in a year.

Nsomniac05

4 sets of U-joints in a year is definately an indication of a problem other than workmanship. I'm pretty sure our AAM axles are the equvalent of a Dana 60 in the front and a Dana 80 in the back. They come with the 1350 series spicer joints. These are very strong and reliable. Something else is causing them to fail. Like you said the driveshaft could be out of balance and you would feel that driving. Or any of the bearings from the tranny all the way back to the pinion. or if the truck is being mistreated without your knowledge.

mitternocht

Actually I thought the rear driveshafts use Spicer 1485’s. Either way something is up with your truck.

2-Stroke

That is odd. I have 160k and have only needed to replace the Ujoints on my rear driveshaft. I did have my balljoints replaced at 30k under warranty, and the had the upgraded steering done as a recall, but other than that... no issues here.

jmmcdona

I know it's not being mistreated without my knowledge, and there has been a slight vibration in what I think is the drive line so off the rear driveshaft comes again and I am taking it to get it balanced or replaced along with new u-joints on the rear diff side and trans side. Hope this works will keep ya'll posted as to what the culprit is.

Thanks for your suggestions
Jason

storx

i have 554k and i only had to replace ujoints and balljoints...

mattk50

I have 183,000 and only had to replace lift pump and 1 u joint left front axle

jmmcdona

Got the truck back this morning and the culprit was a bent drive shaft as I suspected. The guy who built my new d-shaft said not to use the precision u-joints they won't hold up to the cummins power. Now I have spicer u-joints all around and my baby is smooth as silk now

SlowSixSpeed

Are you sure you had DEATH wobble? Its called death wobble for a reason or it just sloppy. Most every HD truck requires ball joint's, wheel bearings, u joints and various wear items at 100k. If your tired of it then buy a commuter car and keep the CTD for HD use or buy a 1/2 ton Ram since they use ifs, CV's, coilover shocks, and rack and pinion which is more modern design then out 100 year old design of a CTD.

jmmcdona

Pretty sure it was DW, steering is still tight, just everytime I went over a set a railroad tracks felt like the darn thing was gonna take me for a ride. A commuter car would be great but not sure how I'm gonna hook up the gooseneck to it. Maybe I could fab some sort of metal plate on the roof with a ball on it and beef up the suspension. Commuter car + 8500 lb trailer maybe I could do 35 or 40 on the highway.