Vibration @ Highway Speeds

I sometimes get a pretty strong vibration that seems to come from the rear of the truck. It doesn't occur all of the time but will only occur if I'm going at least 55/60+ mph. Usually, if I slow down below 50 and then re-accelerate, the vibration goes away.

I've had the truck for a few months and have spent several hours on the highway but have only had this happen about 4 times.

Any ideas what this could be or how I could fix it? Let me know if you need more information.

Thanks,
Ben

 

Go have your tires road forced balanced, that will be a start.. If that doesn't fix it, it will at least help narrow down. Do you have new tires?

 

They aren't new and I haven't had them balanced since I've owned the truck.

 

I'd go have them road forced.. Like I said it'd be a start, might fix it.. Tires can do weird things.

 

Driveline u - joints. Check them.

 

That seems likely as the vibration doesn't seem to be biased towards any one corner of the truck. What do I need to check when I'm inspecting them?

Do i just need to lube them or do I need to take them off?

Thanks

 

The best way to check the ujoints is to remove the drive shaft from the truck. Mark the rear bolt flange and driveshaft flange so it goes on exactly the same way it came off, remove bolts from the rear flange and center support bearing ( if applicable ). Once it's on the ground, grab the drive shaft on each side of the ujoint and twist. ANY movement in the ujoints besides normal articulation is a sign of needing to be replaced. Rule of thumb: Replace them all if one is bad. Usually when one is bad......the rest are on there way to going bad.

 

I second the U-Joints. See how much slop you have in that carrier support bearing.

 

Juat grease the u-joints. 2 shots should be fine. push the driveshaft up at the center support, it should be quite firm. If it travels easily more than 3/8 inch, it's bad.

 

Resurfacing this.

Previously, I replaced a tire that had a sidewall bulge and greased my drive line. That solved the problem for a few thousand miles.

Now, I'm experience vibration starting around 40-45mph. This vibration increases with speed. I'm also experiencing some squeaking/chirping at lower speeds specifically when transitioning between accelerating and engine breaking.

New U-joints are on the list for sure. Is there anything else that I should be looking into?

 

sounds like u-joints and centerbearing..

 

This^

 

@wilcam47 @CD20H

Replaced the U-Joint and the truck is running great again. Thanks for the input

 

You are very welcome.