Vibrations and road noise gone!

[Jim Galloway]

Today I found the source of a problem that has been nagging at me for a long time (2 years) and has been overlooked by more than a couple mechanicss.. My truck has been vibrtating really badly, ecspecially at speeds over 55 mph. And she whined like an S-O-B. I got an alignment, balanced my tires, and had my wheel bearings, r-arm bushings and ball joints changed yet the vibrations persisted as did the noise. A few days ago the car began clunking sometimes when I shifted gears and I traced the problem to my rear driveshaft u-joint. Two of the bearing cups was dust and the other was mostly missing. I just put a new one on myself and my truck rides like it did the day it rolled out of the factory. I am so pleased. Especially since my total expenses came out to $7 and I was able to do the work myself with my few tools. I have never really tried tackling any mechanical work, but now that i have I find it immensely self-satisfying and I am looking to my next project.

THANKS BRIAN 1 for giving me the ecouragement to try it myself.
Doing my own oil changes now, Jim

 

[Brian1]

Originally posted by Jim Galloway
THANKS BRIAN 1 for giving me the ecouragement to try it myself.
Doing my own oil changes now, Jim

Glad I could help. I knew you could do it! It is nice knowing you did the job yourself and it actually took the problem away. I always like doing my own work to my stuff.

 

[superman5787]

I've got a good question for ya. My '91 does the same thing as yours did. All I really wanna know is if you could feel your shaking up front or not? I mainly feel mine up front and through the steering wheel. I've done everything you have accept the u-joint. Do you think mine could be fixed by that too? I hope so. Thanks

 

[Jim Galloway]

Superman,

It is very possible that drive shaft problems are causing your vibrations. In the beginning most of my problems seemed to be up front, which is why i had the ball joints and wheel bearings replaced which helped only a little, not significantly. That drive shaft is heavy, and if it is loose it could cause a lot of things to vibrate, i suppose right up through the tranny, but i certainly am no expert.
But, i do know that my steering whell used to vibrate like was holding a machine gun and now it is smooth. I would suggest you get under your car and take a look at your u-joints and the slip joint on the shaft. Really try to move them around while the car is in gear and remember that the drive shaft is heavy so don't be fooled by any fake sturdiness caused by gravity. They should be pretty tight. I also read that if the driveshaft itself is bent or unbalance you could have vibrations, so check that out too.

Good luck!

 

[superman5787]

Thanks, I'm gonna go try it right now. I'll tell ya how it goes.

 

[superman5787]

Alright, it's movin'... I'm gonna go have it fixed TODAY. Mine's been vibrating at 60 and above for the last year and a half. I'm so sick of it. Okay, I'm gonna go now. Thanks for the help, man.

 

[Tom M.]

That's exactly what my '92 is doing at 55 it shakes like a s.o.b. & feels like I am driving a tank. I thought it was the offroad tires or the radius bushings. But I will check out mine too. Did you get a clunk in the steering wheel like steering box was loose? WOW amazing the stuff that is so common on these things. Thanks.

 

[Jim Galloway]

Tom,

My truck definitely clunked whenever I released the clutch or gave it power. This is because the u-joint needle bearings were dust and the spider was worn really badly. It made a clunking noise whenever I gave it power because it was loose inside the bearing cups. Its an easy fix and and the u-joint only cost me $7.
I have no mechanical experience and I did the job myself in just over an hour.

The clunking on my car was obviously coming from the somewhere in the drivetrain. Not really noticeable through the steering, mostly just by sound.

Hope you figure it out. Good luck!

 

[morbo]

Hey guys this is the same rumbling noise I have on my 1995 4x4 that happens when I drive above 50 MPH. It feels the way you guys describe it. Can you guys give us a little more explanation on how to replace this bearing cups that you are talking about and where to get them? Anybody have any pictures? Could it also happen on the front driveshaft? Please help me out becuase I really want to get rid of this rumbling noise before mid December as I'm going to drive like 1,500 miles and I don't want to deal with this rumbling feeling on my way.

 

[bronx explorer]

i have the same thing going on with my truck im going to look at it today also what brand of u-joint and where did you get them at. thanks also any explorer in binghamton new york e mail me

 

[Jim Galloway]

replacing u-joint

Replacing the u-joint is pretty easy, but if you want to have someone do it for you I wouldn't pay more than $50 for parts and labor. I just bought whatever brand ujoint they had at autozone; i wasn't really concerned about the brand. I don't think it matters much for a part like this- they are just bearings. You may want to look for one with an grease nipple so that you can easily lubricate it now and then without taking it off the car.

You have to take the drive shaft off of the truck to replace the ujoint. To take the old joint off, a manual will tell you to use a c-clamp and some correctly sized sockets. I tried this, but the c-clamp just broke in half because the joint was in so tight. I ended up just banging the bearing cups out of the shaft with a hammer by smacking a smaller diameter socket placed against the end of the bearing cup. It will make sense when you get the shaft off and are looking at the joint/ Don't be concerned about really smacking it....you are going to replace the whole thing anyway. Once you have the old joint out, just tap the new one in. It's that easy.

Try it out and I'm sure you'll get it. If not, it will certainly be cheaper to have someone else do it if you just bring them your driveshaft rather than the whole car.

 

[410Fortune]

You gotta keep up on those U joints and wheel bearings.

Also worn spindles can cause an often overlooked vibration problem. The D35 TTB front end is notorious for the famous 65MPH vibration, especially when we run larger tires and lif kits, etc....

The stock driveshafts can be "upgraded" (basically rebuilt, balanced, using larger, stronger U joints, lengthened if need be, etc) for a couple hundred bucks.
All the u joints on my truck are greasable and I can tell you if I slack on my maintnenece I can feel it in the drivetrain.