I just test drove two brand new diesels a 3500 4x4 4door swb and at 65 had the harmonic sounds drove smooth but had the noise from the rear also a 2500 and it also had the drowning harmonics at 65 what the hell is going on here my dealer has all the rejects?
I am in the process of getting a new truck and this is discouraging I am going to end up with a darn Hemi cause theres no strange shaft sounds coming from the rear end.I am from mass and if anyone lives close by take me for a spin i'll take yu for a ride in mine see if im loosing it or not.. . I have 30 days to pick my new truck on a buy back and am getting discouraged.

 

I've got an 03' with 60K on it and it too has this noise from around 65 -70 mph. I bought the truck used and sent in the change of warranty notice back to DC. Hope a recall comes out prior to the warranty going!!!

 

My truck doesn't have the 70 mph 'vibe' as described by some folks here (dash vibrating, rear view mirror vibrating, change in the console rattling, etc.), but I do notice that the engine gets significantly louder at around 70 mph, and then seems to quiet down at about 75. Could this be what some folks are attributing to the 'vibe'? Just wondering...

 

Finally after owning this vibrator for 21 months and 71000 miles I have been fixed. Not the truck. The truck still vibrates. I hired a Lemon Law attorney five months ago and today the truck was bought back by DC for very close to the purchase price. The trucks gone, I have a big check from DC and a new 2005 Ford F-150 super crew that is as smooth as silk. It may not haul as much and have as much power as the ram cummins. But it sure dosent vibrate. I drove five different 2005 ram diesels and they were much better than my 2003 truck but I just could not bring myself to put any more money into DC's pocket. I have owned around fifteen trucks, two of them chevy and two ford diesels. I have never had a problem with any of them as I have with this 2003 Dodge. My headache is now gone. Good luck guys with your hunt for a fix. I dont think you will find one unless you hire an attorney. By the way the attorneys fees are paid by DC. So it wont cost you a dime unles you need to hire a professional witness ( mechanic ). I did not need to. I had plenty of documentation from work orders. I think this web page is a great tool for owners to share ideas and experiences. Thanks for all the help guys and good luck.

 

I hvae an 05 with 3200 mile on it and don't hear a thing or feel a thing...it must only be some trucks....In a different forum a guy said he had the driveshaft and the rearend replaced and it went away...i know other people that just took off the stock tires and it went away....good luck...and msatow...sorry to hear that....i have an 89 f-350 with a 7.3 liter diesel.....you couldn't give me another ford....

 

I own a '04 swb 2500 w/ 29,000 miles, at 25 K it started vibrating at 70 mph. Took it to the dealer and they hoseclamped a flat washer to the rearend of the driveshaft to try and minimize the vibration and called it fixed. I tookit to a local shop who sent it out for a balance job, the balancer struggled with it and when he was finished it still shook. The dealer told my mechanic to get the truck to them. They had allready bought 2 trucks back this year. they had it for a month trying to fix it by swapping parts from an '05 but they couldn't figure it out. Itook it back to my mechanic because I really don't want to get a different truck. He played with weight on the driveline but it didn't help he then removed the rear driveline and drove it in 4wd and the vibe went away. The max aloowable runout for a driveline is .010" and this driveline runsout .020 one foot from the end and then the same in the opposite direction in the next foot. Now we're sending it to a more reputable driveline shop across the state to be retubed. Hope this works I really like this truck!

 

Racy12x, save your time and money. I have done that already. it dosent help. What you might try is an aluminum or carbon fiber shaft ( very expensive ). Their needs to be some flexability in the shaft. The stock set up is too ridged.

 

I've heard that loosening the motor and tranny mounts then driving like 50 yards then retightening everything has cured some trucks.

 

msatow, Good luck with your new F-150. Those are some nice looking trucks. I know what you mean about not being able to bring yourself to putting any more money into DC's pocket. I just liked my '03 and wanted a duplicate that didn't vibrate. The only way to be sure was to go with the Hemi. And I still don't know why it doesn't vibrate and the Cummins powered Ram did. It was not motor. As I said before, I could shut it off at 70 and coast down through the vibration speed and it would rattle the change in the ashtray. After our last trip back from Mississippi towing our 5th wheel and the rear end starting to sound like it was worn out, I'm leaning toward a bad pinion. I read on here or Dodgetalk.com of one truck being fixed of the vibe with a new rear axle assembly. I guess some dealerships will go to no end to fix it while others tell you it's normal. I have 12k on my '05 Hemi powered Ram already with no vibration whatsoever. It does have a very slight 1600rpm exhaust drone about like the 2100rpm Cummins drone. I can live with that with the Hemi or the Cummins. The driveline vibration is not normal and after 44k miles and almost two years, I was done with it. I'll likely be back in another Cummins powered Ram next time but, it will only be after a long interstate test drive. The Patiot blue 3500 SRW 5spd/4.10 '03 that I should have bought over the one I did buy didn't have any unusual vibrations. Just the normal 2100rpm vibe that smooths out with 50k on the clock. The driveline was smooth as silk. I'm sure it belongs to a happy Dodge/Cummins owner...
sr148, There's nothing wrong or weak about the Hemi. It's thirsty and won't last a million miles but for the time I'll own mine it'll do everything I ask it to do including towing our 10,040 lb 5th wheel around the southeast USA.

 

I was the guy who had the axle and driveshaft replaced at the dealership.
The vibration is gone!

 

actually its all i had to do for mine :P locked myself out,, but they did request my sellin dealer info so they could call and verify that it was me. So atleast there is SOME security ther

 

onle thing ive noticed,, my yokke on the front of the transfercase seems a bit loose,, could be the cause, also. Now it will makek a waah waaaaaah waah sound when acceling in 4x4, when my old dtruckk make that noise the trans went south? Wonder if this could be the problem?

 

451Mopar, Thanks for piping up! I hope it stays gone for you. I wish our dealership would have done the same for mine. That's the only complaint I had about the truck in 44k miles. What a shame. I'd be up to almost 60k on the '03 by now. Just about broke in!

 

Had my truck in trying to fix the early morning howl (hoot owl) that was coming from under the truck when cold. The dealer finally agreed to change the carrier bearing and sure enough that fixed the funny howl. Unfortunatley it added to my vibe problem. Previously a 2 or 3 on a scale of 1~10 it's was now a good 7.... bad enough you wouldnt think of cruising at that speed for any length of time. Well, I tried the "Indexing" trick and the second turn (180 degrees from original) did the trick. The vibes not gone but it's certainly drivable again. Maybe a little better than it was before the carrier bearing was installed. This got me thinking... why? The rotaional mass of the pinion offsetting the small problems in the driveline? Maybe..... OR what about the geometry of the flange or flanges. Machining erorrs for centerline etc. ???? I'd love to get one up on an inspection table and check out all the parts. Theres certainly something funny in there....

Dodge really needs to clean up this mess !!

 

My Hemi powered 2500 has the same "howl, whine glass ring" at 25~mph when it's cold out. I'm not about to let them mess with it. I can live with the music but the vibration I can't. I'm afraid to rotate the tires for fear of creating a vibration...