Run it till it gets worse!?!?

Last week I started to feel a significant vibration/chatter in my drive train under acceleration. Mostly between 20-30MPH. It stabilizes once I get over 40MPH and is fine at highway speeds. I felt that it was serious enough to take it into the dealership that sold me the truck new in 2018. It's got ~90k and I have the 120k extended warranty. They called back and told me that a technician couldn't reproduce the issue and that they'd put it on a lift and didn't see anything. I was shocked that they couldn't feel what I thought was a really significant problem. I asked what I should do and they told me to drive it until it got worse or something broke, then to take it back in. I didn't feel right about that. Im afraid that level of vibration could damage the pinion or the transmission. I called another local dealership to get a "second opinion" and am dropping it off with them today. I guess I am looking for validation that Im not crazy or over reacting. I love my truck and want to get a very long life out of it. I've been driving it 5+ years and I don't expect my truck to be as smooth as a Lexus. Am I over reacting? Or just being prudent?

 

Probably a carrier bearing. Not a huge deal, but would be good to replace it if in fact thats the issue

 

Any idea if the dealership would need to remove drive shaft to check the carrier bearing? Possible that they were just being lazy and didn't want to remove drive shaft in order to exclude that as a possible cause?

 

Nope. It should be a quick visual inspection to see if the rubber in the CB has degraded allowing too much movement

 

That advise is BS, "Drive it till it gets worse or something breaks"!!! It sounds like the needle bearing, either take it to another dealer for a second opinon. try the quick test, drive it in 4wh high and see if it goes away, if it does it's the needle bearing.

 

I agree that it sounds like the needle bearing. I just had mine replaced with the ECGS bushings because the needle bearings were shot and my truck is lifted so it would just happen again if I replaced them with the OEM part.

My vibration occurred between 30-40mph. Up until 29mph my truck was nice and smooth but as soon as I got to 30mph it sounded like I was driving on clapped out mud tires that weren’t balanced. Once I got over 40mph it smoothed out.

I had the ECGS bushings installed and it’s nice and smooth again at all speeds.

 

Could very well be needle bearing too. OP said the vibration is only under acceleration, which made me think carrier bearing.

 

Thanks! I'm picking it up this morning and going straight to another dealership. I'll try that test on my way there.

 

So needle bearing and carrier bearing are different things? I know WHAT a needle bearing is, but not sure WHERE on the driveline it would be located. Give you give me an idea so I can Google more effectively? Thanks!

 

Go with the ECGS clamshell bushing. I did mine when it was lifted on a 2/1 Bilstein lift. Somew dealers will use the ECGS bushing under warranty.

 

I honestly don’t know what the carrier bearing is (it could be an interchangeable term?), but here’s a really informative and relatively short video on the needle bearing/ECGS replacement:

https://youtu.be/krJ9_2L48x4?si=gY3PrD3GAPPF8GEK

 

Carrier bearing is located on the rear driveshaft. Shaft passes thru it essentially.

 

Yes two different things. The needle bearing supports the drivers side CV shaft right where it enters the front diff. Common failure point on trucks with a lift installed. The East Coast Gear Supply replacement bushing is a well know fix as that said above.

The carrier bearing supports the middle of the rear driveshaft. The bearing itself is rubber mounted within the assembly. As the rubber gets old it allows more movement than it should. This can lead to a shudder under load

 

And now I’ve learned something today!

 

Very helpful, SR-71A. Thank you!

I should have mentioned in the original post that the vibration feels like it's coming from under my seat or just behind it. Also, there is no change when I accelerate when turning the steering wheel. So I thought that the U-Joints or the carrier bearings were the most likely sources. But I will keep the CV shaft bearings in mind. I don't know much, but I feel better having some basic knowledge when Im talking to the service guys. This forum is so helpful!

 

have a technician ride with you so he can experience to same vibrations same time as you

 

I just got off the phone with the service department at the "second opinion" dealership and they actually suggested that! A lot more than the original dealership did

 

You should be able to rule in/out the CV needle bearing by putting it in 4wd and see if the vibrations stop. If so, it's the needle bearing. If not, look elsewhere.

 

Kinda same thing. You can mark the alignment of the driveline, take it off, do a test drive in 4wd if vibrations are gone then it was carrier bearings or ujoints....

 

Im quickly getting out of my depth here ... is that because when it's in 2wd the CVs are not getting any power put to them and they are just "idling" on those bearings? Like in the old days you'd manually unlock your hubs so that the gears in front diff were not being engaged? And now when the 4wd is engaged they are somehow bypassing those CV bearings?