3rd Gen Vibrations

Hi, I'm a long time reader, first time poster! I've been doing a lot of reading on vibration issues and have not been able to fix my truck. any help would be appreciated.. my previous truck of 9 years and 220k miles was a 2008 DBLCB LB Sport with lift and I never had ANY issues with that truck. This new 3rd gen is giving me all kinds of problems but I'm not giving up on it yet. Here is what I have done so far..

2017 SR5 4x4 Access Cab Stock Truck 14k miles. Vibration may or may-not have been present (didn't have but a day before putting on the lift).

Installed 3in spacers up front and 2in AAL with shims. Vibration arround 65-70. also Vibrates in 4Hi at lower speeds.

Installed Dynomat in door panels, back of cab, and under rear storage to dampen sounds. Also installed HVAC insulation in back cab wall and door panels. Closing doors no longer sounds like tin can!

Installed CB drop, tried multiple angles, no change in vibration, removed CB drop.

Installed Diff Drop. Vibrations were much less but still noticable.

greased Drive line (not slip yolk) no change.

Installed 5100's on rear much nicer ride, no change in vibrations.

Installed 1.25 wheel spacers. Vibrations more noticable but not as bad as after initial lift.

Removed 3in spacer in front and installed 2.5in ready-lift. Also installed ECGS bushing. Front Diff was 1/2 quart low. vibrations ALMOST gone. Ride quality improved (not so harsh, no bump steer)

Installed 265/75 16 AT tires. Vibration is back and more pronounced.

current setup @ 26k miles:
2.5 inch front lift (Rancho Ready Lift)
2 inch (closer to 1.5) AAL rear lift W/shims Bili 5100's
1.25 wheel spacers
265/75 R16 tires
ECGS Bearing

Issues with the truck:
vibrates from moderated-heavy braking from 50-15mph
"clunk" when comming to first stop on morning commute
Vibrations arround 65-70mph can be felt in steering wheel, gas pedel, floorboard, and slighty in seat. This is a high frequency vibration, not a "shimmy"
Cab still resonates on rough roads and with vibration
Still have road noise coming from rear of cab
Truck surges during heavy acceleration between 3500 and 4k RPM (had TSB done still surges)

I can live with everything EXCEPT the vibration at highway speeds as I travel 60-80 miles/day. Anything you guys would do next?

 

Single piece drive shaft with a double cardan would be my best bet.

I know it's barely a lift, but you could look into traction bars. I think the higher speed vibes are usually a carrier bearing angle issue though.

Any play in your carrier bearing?

 

Thanks for the reply!

No play in CB.. have tried multiple different thickness spacers for the drop. all steel, haven't tried aluminum.. I did try and put a thick rubber between the CB and mount. no amount of playing with the CB made any changes, good or bad.

The only changes that have affected the vibration is the diff drop, ECGS bushing, and wheel spacers. this leads me to believe its from the front somewhere. I've eliminated tires and balancing (new tires) is there any way to isolate the front drive train? I know this is extreme but is it possible to remove the front diff and CV's, basically turning it into a 2WD for troubleshooting purposes. Ahhh I cringe at the thought of doing that.

I wouldn't mind going to one piece DS if I knew that would fix it. can I remove DS and just drive in 4HI to troubleshoot. that may be easier then removing the front lol.

 

I think I'm going to remove the wheel spacers tonight and see if anything changes. After looking at the new tires, I'm fairly confident I'm going to rub when locked and stuffed.

 

So I removed the wheel spacers this weekend.. no change at all. At this point, I figured it was balancing on the new tires. I took it back to discount tire and they rebalanced and said it was 2-3 ounce off. Thats pretty significant but unfortunately I felt no change in the vibration. I then removed the front diff drop and it did actually get worse so I know the diff drop is helping. put the diff drop back on.

here's the kicker! what made the most significant change for the better was removing my running boards. I noticed when I kicked the running boards the cab would resonate pretty bad. I'm guessing the new tires with the more aggressive tread somehow caused or amplified the frequency at witch the running boards were causing the cab to resonate. I don't think I have fixed the root cause but it is definitely tolerable now.

I feel like this truck is really sensitive to resonate frequency causing otherwise normal, tolerable/unnoticeable vibrations to be amplified and felt throughout the steering wheel, floorboard, and seats.

thoughts?

 

Since you said there is vibration braking, my thoughts are you may have a warped rotor or drum. This may show vibrations even when not braking and at highway speeds as the pads barely make contact on part of the pad as it spins.

I just went through some vibration chasing myself when I upgraded to E rated tires. For me the carrier bearing alignment (and a loose mounting bolt) I think was to blame, but sounds like that isn’t your issue.