I am a new member!
I have been reading posts on this site for about 10 years and have gained a great deal of knowledge to perform work on my truck so I am grateful.

This post is about something that I used to get really stressed out about when my truck was new. At or around 40mph the truck will lope or shimmy and it is worse when the truck is cold and it is cooler outside. I spent thousands of dollars trying to figure out the problem. I put new wheels, tires, alignment, road-force tested wheels, cross-drilled rotors, drive shaft balance, speed shop even had it up in the air running it through the gears and still a big question. Someone mentioned it might be in the trans. so I put a tuner on it back then and still no changes. Did notice with the LT tires being heavier it is a little less noticeable.
I had truly stopped even worrying about this years ago until I saw under new posts this guy "SoldierMan6" who has a 05 2wd posted on a 2 year old thread about the 2500 death wobble about his acting up. I always thought it may be the combination of the IFS and the torsion bars of the 4wd set up. Had a friend with a 4 tire 3500 04 model 4wd did it too, but his was front axle????? Chrysler automatics???
Am hoping that some of you guys have had some experience with this issue and can shed some light!

Thanks,
Chris


OEM off-road 17's, BFG LT's, Airraid CAI, Cortex 3950, Magnaflow Y-pipe, Detroit True Trac rear (355's), Mag hytec trans and rear diff pan/cover SRT A-pillar w/ autometer trans temp

 

I can say that I had been tracing a vibration for months. I balanced tires, replaced tires, u joints, brakes all around and still no change. I checked the rims for roundness and trueness and checked the run out on the driveshaft all with no alarming results. The vibration was more of a wobble and it was bad. I finally decided to quit and take it to a shop. They had it for a day or so, checked all the things I already looked at and was returned to me wobbling just the way they got it. He couldn't find the problem. So a few days later I'm at it again and jack the truck up AGAIN and continue to touch anything that rotates. Because the vibration was in my seat I stayed looking at the rear of the truck, so I figure I'll check up front. I begin spinning the front wheels by hand and they look fine. Axles look good UNTIL I touch it with my hand. The right front CV axle almost slides off the shaft. So I order a new cv axle and since the shaft got worn down I pulled the shaft which comes out easy from the outside of the differential and replaced the output shaft and seal. Proud to say problem solved.

 

Thanks for the info on the cv assembly to output shaft. Does one just slip on to the spline of the other or are they "pressed"? Plan on pulling my front diff cover off next week to check visually and change fluid so I will definitely be checking out the ifs suspension components. I am not a fan of all of the rubber boots/cv joints and extra parts but it does drive better and more comfortable than single front axle models.
I never thought to look at the output shaft of the front diff due to it does it in 2wd and does not change in 4wd. Gave up looking for any problems years ago because it never got any worse and Chrysler replied to the issue as "harmonics" that can be dependent on road conditions; which in my case seems like more the issue than something mechanical.
Have had 2 sets of tires since then(they rot before I can get miles on them due to Las vegas sun) and going with a heavier LT tire even improved the condition.


Thanks,

 

The CV axle shaft slides over the output shaft and is supposed to be held with a c clip. The C clip is internal to the connection though. You don't see the clip from the outside until it's disassembled. It shouldn't have much play in it. When I touched mine it nearly fell off. If you have anything leaking while you're there then now is the time to replace the seal too.

 

Thanks,
Going to look over things closely now the truck is pushing 13 years and 100k miles. No such thing as too much maintenance in my opinion!

Appreciate the help!

 

Crazy, I've had the same issue. I just went and looked at the CV axle on right side. Sure enough it has some slop to it. The boot is very weathered too. Time to get new CV axle. Should I just get that stub shaft just because?
Also seal at the same time.
Hopefully the wobble can be solved after this.
Thanks for the information.

Fyi my truck is pushing 310k km and very little issues aside from routine maintenance.