Another vibration thread....please help

Hey guys, I am having some vibration issues with my truck and I am trying to track it down. I will be replacing my u-joints and lower ball joints in the near future but I am having some concerns about my driver side cv axle. I have a vibration at 50mph plus. It feels like it's coming from my driver front. The steering wheel shakes, I feel it at my feet and my cv axle spits grease out all over the place. I had the cv replaced when I bought the truck two years ago and it has been spitting grease ever since. Today I got under my truck and could feel a bit of play in my cv axle where it goes into the front diff. The passenger side had some play as well but not as much as the driver side. My truck does have a diff drop as well. I am now considering to order the neddle bearing bushing kit from ECGS. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

It sounds like you might have several possible issues going on. Is your truck lifted? I am guessing it is since you have a diff drop. Are you sure the vibrations are coming from the front end? The front diff needle bearings could be a cause, I believe if you switch it into 4hi the vibrations should go away immediately - that would be one way to determine if the vibes come from the diff or not.

Your drivers side CV boot has been leaking grease for 2 years? There is a good chance that the bearings inside are not being adequately lubricated, and have worn themselves out due to a lack of grease. I would think that the CV axle needs to be replaced regardless of other potential vibration causes.

If none of these seem to help, you may have vibrations propagating from your rear driveshaft as well.

 

I will try putting it in to 4wd. I have only driven 10k in the past two years so it's not very much driving time that the axle has been leaking. This axle was brand new when I firstt got the truck. I assumed the grease leaking out was just a little extra. I have ordered the bushing from ECGS due to the extra play in the driver xv and will swap out the needle bearing when I get it. If te vibes are still there, then I will move to the U-joints. Thanks for the reply.

 

Something else to be considered, it might actually be the diff drop that is inducing vibrations. By lowering your front differential, you've increased the front driveshaft angle, which is already pretty short to begin with. You might get rid of the diff drop and see what happens, and unless your lift is pretty tall (3+ inches), you probably don't need it. I still have the original CVs on my truck at 125k miles, 30k of which are with a ~3 inch lift, and they are still going strong.

 

x2. It's often said the diff drop causes more problems than it solves.

 

Yup, I have already thought of that. I'm gonna see if my friend still has his stock front diff bolts so I can remove it. Tbh, I think "diff drops" are retarded. I bought the truck this way and I'm just now getting around to sorting out the suspension and vibe issues. Full OME lift arrives today