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Intermittent vibration above 70 MPH

Tiny
STICHY85
  • MEMBER
  • 2016 RAM 2500
  • 6.7L
  • 6 CYL
  • TURBO
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 92,000 MILES
Feels like more in the rear but hard to tell. I have replaced wheels and tires. Checked u-joints ball joints and all suspension components. It comes and goes and changes in intensity but seems to always have the same harmonics. Only thing that I can pinpoint to get to to change is going into a turn or coming out of a turn.
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Tuesday, November 24th, 2020 AT 10:22 AM

8 Replies

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Just to understand the issue. You are above 70 MPH and you go in or out of a turn and you feel the vibration? So it does not do this when going straight?

If this is the case, do you have an extended cab and long bed? If you do then you have a two piece drive shaft. If you have a two piece drive shaft then you have a double cardan joint that requires lubrication and most people don't know about it and never do it. Then it starts causing a vibration. Take a look at the attachment. Keep in mind this needs a special grease gun to get in there. They sell them at most parts stores but don't let them sell you just a common grease gun because it won't work.

Let's try this and go from there. Thanks
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Tuesday, November 24th, 2020 AT 5:17 PM
Tiny
STICHY85
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Than you for the quick reply! It is worse between 70 and 80. I don’t really feel it at all under 70. I do have an extended cab but it is a solid driveshaft. It will start the vibration while going straight and go away while going straight also. But the one thing that seems to make it change more then anything is going into or out of a turn. Yesterday right after I sent the question in for help I had to go to the store. For me to get to town I have to drive the interstate for a few miles. On the way to town it was very very slight vibration. Almost unnoticeable if you weren’t paying attention to it. Did my thing at the store and on the way home it was very noticeable the entire way back home. Going in or out of a turn it would get worse or get better bet never fully went away. There are times I’ll drive 10 miles or so down the interstate and it will be completely smooth. It’s very frustrating. I do have driveline warranty left but I don’t want to pay for them to say “ tires need balanced” like I have been told before and them send me on my way without fixing it. I’m trying to find the cause myself so I can go in and say this is the problem fix it under warranty. If it even is a warrantable failure which it may not be. I’m also trying not to just throw money at it taking guesses like I see guys doing on other forums that have the same problem. I did have the dealership repair a rear wheel seal that was leaking. Is there anything that could cause it from that repair? Everything looks good to me that would have been takin apart. Nothing lose and nothing leaking anymore. Sorry about the long reply. Thank you for your help. I’m up for any type of ideas to try.
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Wednesday, November 25th, 2020 AT 4:48 AM
Tiny
STICHY85
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
I do have that joint on the front driveshaft. It gets greased as it states every oil change. I bought a grease gun with a needle point just for it. I also removed the front driveshaft and drove it for a week without it and had no changes. Rear driveshaft is solid one piece shaft has one u-joint off the t-case and one u-joint into the rear differential.
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Wednesday, November 25th, 2020 AT 4:53 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
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Okay, that is great. This is not going to be easy without a tool called a vibration analyzer which would tell us exactly what system this is coming from. However, when the vibration is happening, can you make it go away by accelerating or getting of the gas? Meaning loading and unloading the drivetrain? Or does it stay consistent the entire time it happens no matter what you do?
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Thursday, November 26th, 2020 AT 10:03 AM
Tiny
STICHY85
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  • 5 POSTS
I wonder if I can rent one somewhere if not I suppose I’ll get it in to a dealership. But no it does not change by acceleration or deceleration. I kind of feels like it gets faster with more speed but it is hard to tell.
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Thursday, November 26th, 2020 AT 11:09 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
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You may be able to rent one but they are not common as rentals, so I doubt a parts store would have them as a rental program. They are not something a typical DIYer would use so they just don't carry them.

However, if you can find one, let me know what it is and we can get it set up. A lot of dealers don't have them either because they don't know how to use them so I would call them ahead of time and ask if they use one to diagnose vibrations. If they don't then they will most likely charge you to try things like balance tires, replace driveshafts, etc.

If it doesn't change then that points to something that is spinning at a constant rate like a wheel, tire, hub out of round. If the drive shaft drivetrain component was causing it then loading it and unloading it would at least cause it to get better or worse.
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Thursday, November 26th, 2020 AT 8:05 PM
Tiny
STICHY85
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What can I do at home to diagnose? I feel like it is something that rotates constant. I may go buy a dial indicator and check run outs.
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Friday, November 27th, 2020 AT 6:13 PM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
That is a great option. Do you have experience doing this? We need to check the hubs and rotors for runout. You can just start with the rotors because if they are out you can do the hubs but if not then the hubs are fine.

To eliminate a drive shaft for sure is to remove the rear drive shaft and drive it in 4WD and see if it still does it. Clearly this is a little harder with your issue as it is higher speeds but if you do it someplace safe, you can get up that fast. Clearly acceleration needs to be done slower.

I attached the runout specs. Let me know and I can get you more detailed info. Plus I attached some testing from the manual on tire/wheel vibrations. Clearly we have an issue with this if it is a constant vibration or possibly an axle shaft.
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Saturday, November 28th, 2020 AT 5:18 PM

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