My 1998 12 valve diesel has 191,000 miles on it. I developed a vibration in the ride that persists from around 40 to 75 MPH. I needed new tires so I purchased a set of LT/MS Michelins. I also had the ball joints replaced and the shocks are less than 6 months old. The vibration is still there. I pull a big fifth wheel with this truck. The steering seems a little loose. Anyone have any ideas or experience with this problem? Thanks in advance. snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com
Yes and if it is a 4x4 check all the the joints on the front axle too because they always turn and do not forget the inner spindle bearings as well as they can cause a vibration as well when they are dry (the front axle shafts on a 4x4 dodge always turn) LAso on the steering looseness, check front axle pivot studs because on a 4x4 the weight of the deisel is hard on them and Dodge upgraded the axle because of this in 03.
Thanks for the help and here's an update with clarification. It is a 2WD model. The shocks were less than 3 months old. I got the tires in early July at Discount Tire. They've been really good about trying to balance them, but the vibration remained even after 2 road force balancings. I took it to a drive train specialist who test drive it and decided a wheel was out of balance. He told me to bring it in the next day and he'd check it out. I drove back to Discount Tire to talk with the manager one more time. I decided I wanted custom wheels and I thought it might help. I bought them and Discount tire mounted them and performed the road force balancing again. The shake remained. I have had the ball joints replaced and the front end aligned, too.
I took it back to the drive train specialist who checked the axles and drive shaft. He said the u-joints were too tight and he adjusted them. He also balanced the drive shaft. Then, he replaced the transmission mounts. The vibration is still there. He suggested it might be the torque converter or fan clutch. He suggested I take it to a diesel engine specialist here in Vegas, which I've been trying to do for a week and a half. He's really busy, but may get to it Sunday. The vibration is barely noticeable until I get up to about 20 mph and gets progressively worse up to 70 mph. It's tolerable at
60 mph.
The engine feels OK. There may be a little shimmy at about 2,000 rpm. The good thing about all this is the preventive maintenance that's been performed. Those u-joints were original equipment at 191K. Any ideas?
This is just a thought that has worked on newer trucks.
Loosen the tranmission mount bolts and the through bolt on the engine mounts. Start the truck and drive it 100 feet at a very slow speed. Stop gently and back up the same 100 feet, put the transmission in neutral, set the parking brake and shut off the truck. Torque the bolts that you loosened to factory spec's and see what happens.
I have a 99 2WD CTD with around 80K, also pulling 5er and have vibration around 60 - 65 mph pulling the 5er. U-joints check out fine. Interested in learning how/if you solve this problem.
Typically when a drive shaft is out of balance, it will make itself known only at certain speeds if it is not too far out of balance. Most drive shafts are not well balanced from the factory.
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