rear pinion yoke

[Schwinn68]

I've been having problems since last summer after I broke the pinion yoke and driveshaft. When that happened, I put on a new 1480 rear yoke, brand new driveshaft, new center link and tie rods. The truck had a four wheel alignment done and it came back better than factory specs.

The problem is, the truck developed a vibration at about 25 miles an hour and over 60. This happened after daily driving the truck only. I jacked up the rear of the truck and found I could move the drive shaft side to side in the rear yoke. It seems as if the yoke is stretching out and not holding the u joint tight allowing movement. I called Randy's ring and pinion as that's where I bought the yoke and they sent me a new one and warrantied the other. This one lasted about 2 weeks until it started doing the same thing.

I don't know what is causing these yokes to wear out but I'm open to suggestions. Having this vibration really takes the fun out of driving the truck and with camping season coming up I'm afraid it will only get worse.

I'm looking for suggestions on what could be causing the yoke to loosen up and cause the vibration. thanks

 

[blk smoke lb7]

Hey Ben not sure if this is of any help but a friend of mine was replacing u joints the other day and he had it all tore apart again and i asked why and he stated that the ujoint was wrong and i said how could that be.He said the joint was a little to tight it squeaked when you turn it,he called the local drive shaft shop and they said he got the wrong joint it happens all the time and that you almost have to order the ujoint from your vin to get the right 1.Maybe you got the wrong yoke or joint???

 

[Schwinn68]

The driveshaft was all new and included two new u joints which were all 1480 series. The yoke is an aam 1480 yoke. I've had three different ujoints in there including the one that came with the new shaft and still have the same problem. The guy at randy's has been very helpful with this but says he hasn't seen this issue before. He thought maybe I had a vibration in the driveline somewhere that was causing this.

 

[Bonestock]

Hey Ben not sure if this is of any help but a friend of mine was replacing u joints the other day and he had it all tore apart again and i asked why and he stated that the ujoint was wrong and i said how could that be.He said the joint was a little to tight it squeaked when you turn it,he called the local drive shaft shop and they said he got the wrong joint it happens all the time and that you almost have to order the ujoint from your vin to get the right 1.Maybe you got the wrong yoke or joint???

Ya make sure if you have a 1480 ujoint that you have a 1480 yoke.

 

[joshgabel]

Rear pinion yoke issues - 2nd replacement. Please help

So i went to replace my u-joints after having trans built due to vibration.
Noticed that the joint slopped from side to side.
One side of the yoke (bearing cup keeper tab)was ground away 50%.

Replaced yoke, u-joints and strap kit with OEM parts from stealership. All was well.

4k miles later same issue.

took to a drive line shop fearing i did something wrong. Same OEM parts replaced as before and drive shaft ballenced at my request just in case.

3k miles later (today). Bad vibrations are back again.

Pulled driveshaft and same conditions. Cross shaft has .25" play between bearing cups because one of the keeper ears is eaten away about 50%.

Dont know what to try next.

 

[Schwinn68]

I replaced the pinion yoke one more time with a genuine gm replacement and the vibration stopped and I had no more u joint issues. I finally found one online from a chevy dealer in california. It was actually cheaper than the yukon ones I tried. I've probably put almost 100,000 more miles on the truck since then.