Truck only vibrates at low speeds between 5-10 mph -- accelerating or coming to a stop. So I had the shop looked at it and they found the driveshaft is moving up and down. They told me that it needs the rear drive shafts ujoints, center carrier bearing and the driveshaft balanced. All for about $520.

Does this sound right to you guys? I figured I can do change the ujoints (cheap enough) myself and maybe the center carrier bearing. I've never done any of these jobs before but I'm willing to learn how to do it.

Does the shaft really needs to be balanced after all these parts are replaced? What kind of shop does shaft balancing? thanks.

 

Possible but....?
If you hace a FSM (field service manual) you could figure how to do most, if not all, of it yourself.

Have you gone underneath to see if u-joints and carrier look loose?
Any play at pinion.... rear differential entry point?
Checked for drive shaft damage (dents. dings, etc) anything that would cause imbalance?
Bad U-joints and an imbalanced shaft are two separate and different things.
Could all be bad but I would not think so.
Total Mileage?

RJ

 

Truck has 153K miles.

 

That mileage could be about right for needing U-joints and a carrier bearing.
I would change or have those changed, and then see if still a vibration.... indicating drive shaft has a problem (assuming no visual damage).

RJ

 

Whats the proper procedure in checking for bad ujoints and carrier bearing? Is it obvoius to spot a bad joint and bearing?

 

I dont mean this to sound critical or insulting either but if didn't know what was happening enough that you drove your truck to the point where you had to have someone investigate the problem for you, only to find the driveline in that kinda state, then I can only say that you definitely should let someone qualified tackle the job. No.....u-joints are not a "difficult" job labor wise, but it is a job that does require some knowledge about the what to do and not to do so as to not mess anything up any further. I have replaced plenty of u-joints and have finally come to a conclusion that its easier and faster just to have a good qualified driveline shop do the job for me if I simply take them the driveshaft. The parts are cheap and the job is quick enough to keep the labor cost low too. In your case, I have had two complete driveshafts custom built with DC joints for around the price you were quoted. But then again, I did all the R&R, took them all the measurements and parts I needed so all they had to do was build them.

 

Took the driveshaft off the truck and had the driveline shop nearby replaced all three u-joints, the carrier bearing and balanced the driveshaft for $343 (parts and labor, bearing was $150 i was told it's a "special" one, is that about right or did I get ripped off?). Oh well too late now but the truck runs awesome. Truck is so much quieter -- there was this humming noise between 50-60mph that is now completely gone. Truck even shifts better now. It used to be a little "jerky" on downshifts. Not certain if thats related to the driveshaft issue.

Thanks for the all the advice.

 

Did the driveshaft, in fact, need balancing?

RJ

 

Probably safe to assume that it needed some balancing since I see some weights welded to the driveshaft now. Shop told me that it should be checked for balance regardless specially if the components were replaced.

 

Yes, that does seem excessive since there was nothing "special" about your driveshaft, but hey.....at least your truck is fixed and runs great. Balancing is never a bad idea either and its not even to terribly uncommon for an OEM driveshaft to leave the factory and be a little out of balance. I wouldn't worry about it to much. You could have shopped around and saved a $100-$200 but then who knows how well they would have done the job.

 

Before I took the truck to the shop, I callled a few local parts store and the bearings were beween $40-$90 and have to be special ordered and I did not have time to wait. Plus I did not know which one to get since the parts store has a couple of different ones to choose from. So I decided the heck with it and let the shop get the bearings.

I actually shopped around and the first shop wanted $523, second was $327 just to do the u-joints so this was the best deal could find without spending a lot time shopping around. I shop that did the work has a really good reputation and specializes in trucks and other heavy equipment repairs.

 

Sounds like you chose wisely.