rbox

My front driveshaft had been causing a vibration from 65+. When I pulled the driveshaft the vibration went away. I took it to a driveshaft shop and they put it on a balancer and found that it did in fact have a high speed vibration. They ground off the old weights and welded a couple new weights on to balance it. I picked it up today and will reinstall it tomorrow. I'll post back the results.

EDR

Great! Let us know how it works out.

Did they say what would have caused it to go out of balance? Any damage or just bad luck? Just curious.

I've got a similar vibration that I still think is tire related, but after several attempts by Big-O it still vibrates the truck off-and-on right at 70 mph. Gets to be annoying when I need or want to drive at 70!!

raymond21

Same problem here, I've replaced every u-joint on the truck trying to make the 70 mph high frequency vibration go away. If I remove the front driveshaft it is smooth as silk. I'm about to the point of buying a whole new driveshaft. I to would like to know the results of having it balanced.

rbox

Got the driveshaft back in and no vibration. Balancing worked! A cheap fix at only $30 and a little time. Although I can feel the transfer case turning again now! I don't see how it's good to have all of that mass spinning unnecessarily... O well. I guess these trucks aren't made to cruise unloaded at 75mph.

rbox

After driving the truck for a few days: I don't get near the vibration that I did before the drive shaft was balanced, but it's still uncomfortable to drive at 70mph or higher. There is a very slight vibration/grinding that is going on. Just enough to make it irritating to drive at that speed. It feels like something is just "grinding" right below me, possibly an output bearing on the transfer case? I really want to get this truck drivable, right now it is not in any shape to take a long trip.

I will pull a 10-12k trailer occasionally with this rig but most of my driving is going to be unloaded (except fuel tank and toolbox in bed). I have owned a 2nd gen before but this is my first 3rd gen. Is this the nature of these trucks or is it possible to make them drivable and comfortable at 70+???

I hate to get rid of this truck after all I have already put in it, but I'm getting close to the point where that's what I want to do...

rbox

Could it be the transfer case front output bearing? Reason I think this is because it was vibration free while the shaft was out. The shaft has been balanced and checked so it has no vibration. The only thing that is turning now that wasn't is the front output on the xfer case.
I'm sure it's shot if the shaft was out of balance. I would think the vibration would have wore it out.
How do you go about replacing it?

NJMurvin

This has been an issue for (at least) the 04.5 models (short bed 4x4s seem to be the worst) since day one. At one point, Chrysler acknowledged it but never really fixed it - at least to my knowledge. If you do search on "vibe" and "vibration", you'll get a lot of reading material.

A couple of people have had success reducing the vibe by placing hose clamps on their REAR drive shafts - and then rotating the clamps into different positions to counterbalance the issue. I never tried it because the vibe in my truck - while noticeable - isn't that bad.

If you come up with a magic fix, please share.