2 piece driveshaft or 261 Tcase guys-Vibration

[battlegraduate09]

Truck in signature has developed an odd vibration. Between 70-80 mph only. I have re balanced once and rotated the tires 3 times in the 4 months i have had them. (35" trail grapplers and 20" BMF novakanes)

It is lifted, but the carrier bearing has a spacer that came with the lift (RCD) brand new rancho adjustable shocks, sway bar, sway bar end links, steering stabalizer, suspension ect...

I have checked fluids, u joints, carrier bearing (the rubber is slightly worn but as a diesel tech I have seen worse and not cause this vibration)

It is not RPM related, it doesnt do it under heavy acceleration or torque. Strictly 70-80mph but the odd thing is sometimes it will rattle/vibrate so bad I will back off the throttle. Other times, it is hardly noticeable.

I am in the middle of ALOT in my life and I really dont have the time to fool with this right now so I am posting this up for suggestions, maybe something I over looked with the stress I got going on so when I do have a few minutes to work on it, I can rule out the suggestions from you guys. The truck has 77,xxx miles and i have only put 5,000 on it since I got it.

 

[battlegraduate09]

Back up

 

[c20elephant]

Can you tell if the axle has any shims, or maybe the lifting blocks are angled.? Check the transmission mount for sagging (this may be part of the problem) and the rubber isolator around the support bearing, mine was dry rotted at 37,000 miles and made the mirrors vibrate..

After I replaced the support bearing I had a ever so slight vibration at highway speeds, I replaced the transmission mount and the ever so slight vibration went away...

 

[Chevy1925]

x2 on checking the lift blocks for tapered ones or flat ones.

also, how did you check the u-joints? did you pull the drive shaft and physically twist each one?

 

[battlegraduate09]

I did think of replacing the mounts and buying the transfer case brace for the 261xhd and zf6 that MA sells. The lift blocks that came with the lift were tapered and I put them in right. The vibration wasn't there for the first 4,800 miles, only noticed it within the last , couple hundred miles.

And no I have not physically pulled the driveshaft yet to check u joints, but I'm not really opposed to just getting new u joints and carrier bearing anyways. I wish I had a good driveshaft shop close to me but the best one in the area is still 50 minute drive. If I do pull it soon I'll find a way to get it down there and checked though. No use in half assing it.

 

[Chevy1925]

I did think of replacing the mounts and buying the transfer case brace for the 261xhd and zf6 that MA sells. The lift blocks that came with the lift were tapered and I put them in right. The vibration wasn't there for the first 4,800 miles, only noticed it within the last , couple hundred miles.

And no I have not physically pulled the driveshaft yet to check u joints, but I'm not really opposed to just getting new u joints and carrier bearing anyways. I wish I had a good driveshaft shop close to me but the best one in the area is still 50 minute drive. If I do pull it soon I'll find a way to get it down there and checked though. No use in half assing it.

dont waste your money on the tcase brace. its not going to help you here.

pull the shaft and spin each u-joint feeling for rough spinning and look for rust coming out of the seals. i wouldnt just replace them as they are good joints from the factory. its money you can put towards what the actual issue, replacing good used parts is a waste of cash

 

[battlegraduate09]

I get what your saying, I just figured while it was out I might as well get the drive shaft checked, and change all I can. I didn't plan on putting cheap junk back in it but im going to be moving in a couple weeks and really don't want to be pulling my enclosed trailer full of my belongings and have a major issue.

most of the carrier bearings I have replaced have been because of the rubber shell rotting out. Rarely do I see an actual bearing failure.

And I mentioned the brace just because of the torque of the truck. She has decent power to be a heavy pig after a few thousand dollars haha:thumb:

 

[Chevy1925]

I get what your saying, I just figured while it was out I might as well get the drive shaft checked, and change all I can. I didn't plan on putting cheap junk back in it but im going to be moving in a couple weeks and really don't want to be pulling my enclosed trailer full of my belongings and have a major issue.

most of the carrier bearings I have replaced have been because of the rubber shell rotting out. Rarely do I see an actual bearing failure.

And I mentioned the brace just because of the torque of the truck. She has decent power to be a heavy pig after a few thousand dollars haha:thumb:

again, the brace wont do anything. all it does is hold the broke pieces of the tcase when it does break from bad u-joints or internals giving up. i dont run one and mine weights 7800lbs on a daily basis before i add a trailer to it.

 

[c20elephant]

This would be stock

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This would be modified when set correctly
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[WVRigrat05]

My lly vibrated like your saying, new trans mount and a yoke greasing fixed mine both times it did it.

 

[battlegraduate09]

My lly vibrated like your saying, new trans mount and a yoke greasing fixed mine both times it did it.

Was yours intermittent and shake bad ?

 

[WVRigrat05]

Yeah. Especially under light throttle or when I let out of it and coasted. If I was going down hill I'd vibrate hard for a second then lighten up as the turbo brake kicked in. Felt like slop in a way. It wasn't a constant vibration. If I floored it it stopped. It did it the worse with my cruise set just cruising on flat ground around 75-85

 

[battlegraduate09]

Mines really only at 70-80. I'll have to check on the mounts before I pull the driveshaft

 

[battlegraduate09]

the poly trans mount MA sells will fit the zf6 and allison right ?

 

[WVRigrat05]

Not sure. But I put new tires on my truck so the busted belts death hop and shimmy is gone but I have the same vibration as you do and my lly did. So I'll be doing some greasing and doing a trans Mount.

 

[TeaBagger2006]

I swear I had the same issue....i turned out to be bad u joints. had to physically remove shaft to notice that 1 u joint wasn't playing nice

 

[c20elephant]

Got rid of the final little vibration by replacing the transmission mount six months ago, take a close look at the OEM mount. It has an inherent design flaw where it can sag quite substantially with age as one guy found out up to a 1/4" or more and placing the driveshaft out of alignment creating some vibrations.

Energy suspension makes a replacement also. It is not cross references part number wise looking it up, GM being GM used this same mount on numerous model cars, trucks and vans...

For you crew cab 4x4 long bed guys here are some part numbers for a single piece driveshaft...

Driveshaft: PN 23251132 $422.10
Pinion yolk kit: PN 19257639 $127.50 This part comes with a new seal, washer, and nut so no need to order the pinion seal separately.
Retainer: PN 23170499 $7.78 NEED 2 this is the u joint strap.
Retainer bolt: PN 11548472 NEED 4 these are your strap bolts. You can use the old ones but I chose to get new.
Transfer case output seal
Seal: PN 12478093 $62.04
Total: $637.78
Tax: $38.27
Grand total: $676.04