OK guys, im stumped. I have been a mechanic for ten years, so I would like to think that im not an idiot. However, here we go. I purchased my 03 2500 about 4 months ago. When i drove it home it had a vibration in the steering wheel. Felt like it had a bad u-joint, which it did. The drivers side was basically falling apart. The truck had 58,000 on it so i dropped it off at the local dealer who replaced the drivers side front axle assembly warranty. I picked the truck up, still vibrates, and the steering wheel was now off center, thanks Malcolm Conner Dodge. So I bring it back. I had been dropping it off at night because of work so I was just filling out the liitle night drop paper. I told them the steering wheel still vibrates and now its not straight. Here is where it starts to get good. They tel me it needs a power steering hose. Apparently there is a TSB for a redesigned hose with an internal vibration dampener that is supposed to fix a steering wheel vibration complaint. I then asked "Doug", service manager, why would a power steering hose fix a vibration that still occurs when you turn the truck off while driving down the highway? He said he would try that and call me back. So he calls me back and says im right and they want to put a hose clamp on the front driveshaft to balance it. A hose clamp??? I understand the theory, but thats a bunch of crap. So I talked him into replacing the shaft, warranty. So I pick up the truck, again, and it still vibrates, again. Oh yea, and they offered to align it for $69.96 to straighten the wheel, thanks, again, but no thanks. So, that brings us to today. I aligned the truck at my buddys shop so at least the wheel is straight. It needed tires when I bought it so they are new as well. I spent the afternoon replacing the right front u-joint which was also bad upon dissasembly, it had one dry cup and the bearings were no longer turning and flat spotted. So i thought, allright, this has to fix it. Nope, still vibrates. As it sits now, every u-joint in the front end is now new, as well as the front driveshaft. The tires have been balance twice and are new. It feels exactly like a bad u-joint. it is a high frequencey buzzy type vibration that only occurs between 45-55mph. It is definetly a drive-line vibration, not RPM or engine related. It is only felt in the steering wheel and not in the seat like a rear shaft type vibration. I am baffled and hoping someone else may have expierienced this one. Please help!

 

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ight=vibration Check out my post. I think I am going for an 06 or 07 now. It seems that all the research leads to a truck that will always vibrate. I would rather spend 15K more than deal with the lingering fact that a good truck will start that crap at any time.

 

Is the vibration similar to a wheel balance issue? Or is it a faster frequency vibe? I would find a tire shop who has a road force balancer and see what the wheels road force balance at. I have had many times where the wheels are balanced on a typical dynamic balance and when you check road force balance it is way out causing a nasty vibration. If you've never heard of a road force balancer it essentially a normal balancer that also has a roller that puts extreme force on the wheel/tire while it is spinning. The idea is simulate weight on the tire while it is balancing. If there is a tread separation issue it will show up with this, if there is an out of round rim or tire it will show up. Sometimes all it takes is to roadforce the wheel and find out where the high spot of the rim and low spot of the tire is and match the two spots to give the least runout, other times the tires can be defective and the only cure is to replace the bad tire.

Here's a link to the road force balancer I use at work:http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/ba...159T/index.htm

 

Try these:

http://www.carsondodge.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=67

They believe that many of the problems are related to the hydra-formed chasis.

Pete

 

Thanks for the replies, and keep em coming. I found the posts on the CD site somewhat interesting. It is absolutely not a tire problem. I definetly know what that feels like from a bent wheel to a shifted belt to a flat spot to cupping. This is a high frequency vibration similar to a u-joint, but I think we can rule that out for now, cause they are all new. One thing I just thought of after reading the "hydroform frame" thing. If it were possibly something in the rear of the truck that was vibrating, it could transfer up the frame and I guess through the steering box and into the wheel being that the box is bolted to the frame. But, the rest of the truck seems very smooth. I am getting a little depressed reading about all these other people that were unable to fix this problem. It is a very definite problem and I can't see anyone saying it could be normal and unfixable. Oh yea, the truck has no carrier bearing. Quad cab, short bed, SRW. More to come im sure

 

Im going to dig into the rear saturday. U-joints and check for runout in the shaft. Ill post the results. Wish me luck

 

Pete,
Thanks for the info on the frame. I put it up on the lift Saturday and noticed that someone had already replaced both rear u-joints, hm. So i figure the guy that I bought the truck from was chasing this problem also and finally gave up. I swapped the shaft 180 degrees on the rear and it all but eliminated the vibration. So I am going to have my driveshaft shop make up a nice new one and I think that will totally get rid of it. I have been workin on cars for a long time and I have never felt a rear driveshaft vibration in the steering wheel. Oh yea, and I also installed my 5 inch exhaust while it was on the lift, WOOHOO!

 

Has your truck been undercoated by chance? I know the weight of undercoating on a driveshaft would cause it to be unbalanced.