Rear Axle Issues / Vibrations above 45

got news from the shop. service advisor said it was the differential housing or gears causing the issue. he wasn't the one working on it and the tech is out for training today...lol. it's covered under warranty. we'll see if that fixes it. they said they are replacing all the differential gears. not sure how that would cause a wheel wobble.

is there a gear on the axle shaft?

 

No. Each axle shaft is pressed into the bearing that bolts to the end of the axle tube. Then the axle shaft/bearing/backing plate is all slid inside the housing and inserted into the third member that is rigidly bolted into the axle housing. The chances of a third member causing vibrations are slim but not impossible but most likely caused damage to the bearing. It is hard to diagnose a third member being the cause of a vibration.

 

that's what i figured. I guess if the axle shaft is bent they will see that when they are working on the diff, hopefully.

 

On my tundra the rear wheel took a good hit when I slid sideways on ice into a large boulder. The wheel bent, but so did the axle.

 

The service reps often miscommunicate technical issues in my experience . It’s best to talk to the tech directly.

 

FIFY

 

It's got to be a bent shaft. When I bent one, you could clearly see the tire wobble in the mirror.

A bent housing or other issue would cause an alignment issue but not a visible wobble.

 

Same here. Truck felt like it had a square tire when I drove it the rest of the way home.

 

they said they got to replace the brakes too so guess the wobble wore out the brakes. they weren't specific on what actual parts they replaced so I guess I will find out when I see the paperwork.

 

maybe they just replaced all the internals in the axle? who knows. but they said it's fixed.

 

Sounds like they need more than that, but glad that got it fixed.

 

got the truck back with new differential...wheel still wobbles. . now i'm trying to get them to give me a loaner vehicle until they can fix it properly. they didn't even measure runout of axle like i asked. i imagine a bent axle shaft is going to beat up the new differential as well.

 

Ugh, no.

Untitled by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

OEM axle shafts and rear hubs. It's fine.

 

Doubtful, my guess is the flange is bent and the axle shaft from the bearing to the third member is straight.

 

that's what i told them to check...they didn't listen

 

It almost has to be the flange that's bent.

In order for a bearing to allow that much wheel movement it would have to be so bad the whole axle would practically be falling out of the truck

It's scary how little they know about what's in there. And I'll bet there isn't a single dial indicator in the entire shop

 

i'm just tired of going back to the shop. this will be my 4th time visiting a mechanic about the issue.

 

I just came back to VA from a trip to Nome AK. I hit some holes on the Alaskan highway and some places on logging roads in Canada that were massive. I’m talking the center hub of the wheel was lower than the ground. Granted I wasn’t driving fast but I find it hard to believe you did anything to bend the axles if there was no defect in them. I punished my suspension for 27k mikes in 3 months and not a shake shimmy or wobble.

Shitty bearing is my guess. Or a defective axle.

 

yea, it's been going on for a while now. i think it's a manufacturing defect or something.

 

check your lemon laws for state