Shudder When Accerlerating/Braking

No "hard or tight" spots in any of the caps? Yes some movement is normal if you are pushing on the shaft at the carrier bearing but not too much. Hard to say, in the pic the CB looks kinda rough. It would be nice if you knew some one else with one you could compare it to. Wish I knew how to help ya bud!

 

I appreciate the help so far! I haven't pulled the drive shaft yet, so I'm not sure if I'd be able to feel any hard or tight spots. I assume you mean the caps of the joint bearings, right?

The CB movement feels pretty excessive to me. could that cause the squeaking and vibration issues?

 

Yes it sure could but I would for sure pull that drive shaft. You'll be able to tell more about your u joints and that carrier bearing.
And yes the caps on the joints won't spin/turn freely.

 

Cool, I'll look into that tomorrow. How, exactly do you check the u-joints for movement to see if they are good? What am I looking for?

Again, thanks for the help!

 

Get the drive shaft out and you can rock the yolks around, back and forth. You'll be able to tell pretty easy if one is bad. They should twist and move freely, if they are bad they will feel notchy and kind of hang up in spots. If one is real bad you may not be able to move it all. I had one go out on an older truck, it was so bad the truck wouldn't hardly free roll! Lol, I though the rear end was gone. Big relief when I found a locked up u joint.

 

Sounds good - I'll do that tomorrow if I can get the time to do it. Hopefully taking the drive shaft out is similar to my '86 4x4.

 

Ha! I had an '86 4x4 standard cab, 22R! My very first vehicle. I'm sure you won't have any issues, it's very straight forward.

 

I love that truck. My brother drives it now, but its still ticking along. I'll keep it in the family as long as possible.

 

That's awesome! Unfortunately mine is long gone. I still miss her. Lol

 

I'm also looking at replacing the carrier bearing with either the wookie strength mod or the cheap bearing + silicon mod. The latter is much cheaper, so I'll probably start with that and see how it goes.

 

The thing is I can get rid of the shudder with shimming the CB but it is a trade off for vibes at different speeds.Waiting for an angle gauge from a friend so I can dial the shaft in.Until then I have been adding/removing shims and flipping CB and driving.Guessing game that gets old quick.You need an angle gauge to do it right.Also mark your CB bracket where it meets the mounting bracket so you don't mess up side to side angles if you decide to raise or lower it.

 

I subscribed to a thread about aligning the driveline using an angle gauge. I guess that's the route I'll need to eventually go. That said, I'm not sure how long I can have my truck out of commission, so I'll need to get everything ready when I do it. I suspect that my CB is in need of replacement anyway, so I'll probably do the mod and try to align it later using spacers at the CB and shims if needed in the rear. I've also considered adding a leaf spring, but that seems harder to do for a wannabe mechanic and DIYer like myself.

 

I added a leaf and it made the shudder worse.The shudder was there when it was stock.I felt it during the road test before I bought it.Not a deal breaker for me.Also the TSB for the vibration is basically the same you will be doing minus the useless vibration thing in the steering wheel and tranny mount that you may or may not actually need.Looking at my truck I can see the mount is in fine shape.Checking angles and correcting them.They are using spring packs that are tapered to fix the angle.Easier for them to swap spring packs versus splitting them,shimming and then putting them back together.The techs just measure,order parts,unbolt old parts and bolt new ones on.I'll keep you updated on my driveline angles and the outcome.

 

Awesome. I'm about to check all my u-joints right now, but I'll basically be doing u-joint and CB replacement, then getting an angle gauge to fix the angles correctly.

Question, though....when people do the mod where they fill the new CB with silicon....what type of silicon are they using and how does that work? Just fill it with the clear type silicon stuff that you use in a caulking gun and let it sit for 2 days? Seems kinda weird...

 

Not sure.Any CB I have ever replaced was due to actual bearing failure and not worn rubber.The bearings get real loud when they fail.

 

Here's a photo of my CB. It can hear it clanking and rattling when I push it up and down. If you can tell, its kinda sitting on the bottom, not necessarily held in the middle of the bearing. I can push it up about 1/4" from where you see in the photo.

 

Yeah, that is for sure one of your issues.

 

The rubber is worn pretty good on yours.The bearing failing is a clicking sound with up and down pressure.Metal on metal.I'm not saying that worn rubber isn't changing your angle.Flip that CB and drop it 3/4 of an inch.It will be back to stock if you have a 1/4 inch play.I think flipping the CB takes it up an inch. You will need longer bolts to pull the job off.

 

First thing I would do is REPLACE that CB. Looks well done in the pic

 

I tend to agree. Any recommendations on an affordable replacement?