While driving my 99 Durango,(5.9 engine 4x4), it started to shake from the rear. As if a tire had a broken belt. The shaking continues whether going fast or slow. As I pulled over. While I was backing up, there was a "grinding" noise or a scrapping noise. I'm not sure if my rear end has gone out or what. But I do know that I had trouble replacing the rear brake shoes as they locked up a couple of times and completely disintegrated another time. Now my truck shakes as if it were in a dance contest. Do know where to start. I checked the lugs and I think the tires are in good shape. She has over 250k miles so she has been good to me. But she still has a lot of life in her. Any suggestions?

 

If you were working on the brakes, check the brakes. Also see if you can wiggle the drive shaft. If all that looks ok, pull the rear diff cover and have a look. Crawling under it will net better answers than us guessing.

 

I agree with checking the brakes. I had one of those c clips that holds the shoes in place come off before and it made a bad vibration.

 

Ok guys. Thanks. Gonna try that this weekend and let you know what I find. I did have difficulty with the rear brake shoes. I had to replace them several times because they would keep locking up. Even one time when I took off the rear driver wheel the new shoes had totally disintegrated. And I did replace the drive shafts once before. Thank you. Will keep you posted

 

Have you found out the problem with your 99 Durango? Curious on what you found. I was going to suggest that the self adjuster systems are bad, installed incorrectly, etc. The brake shoes installed backwards f-b, b-f.

 

Well, I got under it and shook the drive shafts and it is loose near the front of the drive shaft. I didn't even check the rear brakes yet. I know they were giving me hell before and I do hear a noise like when I back up. I'm not sure if that's causing the whole rear end to shake like someone is behind me shaking the truck. I don't have the the tools to really get to it like it want. I want to take it to a repair shop, but I want to be able to tell THEM whats wrong and what I need fixed and not the other way around. Don't want to get screwed over.

 

I can't imagine how anything other than the drive shaft could cause vibration while driving. Noise, yes, vibration shaking the truck, no. A drive shaft needs to be balanced, and a bad u-joint can screw that up.

 

It sounds like there are a few issues to be handled. Do one thing at a time, road test, and go to the next item. If you do too many things at once, you'll not know what corrected what. Keep us posted when you can. The updates are the best education for someone else that is experiencing similar problems. Thanks!

 

Yea, after I got under there and realized I could move the drive shaft with my hand, I figured that was the culprit. I even tighten up some of the screws where it connects to the housing. The way the truck shakes, like it's doing the twist, lol, I thought it may be the drive shaft but I am having issues with getting these rear brakes tight. Idk, I never had problems Replacing the rear brakes, but this is a new kind of beast. As I said before in a previous post, I have replaced them 6 times! I even had help from an awesome mechanic friend and still issues. Either The have completely disintegrated because they continued to lock up or they just kept unseating. And I have had to replace the hardware almost each time and each time it was only the driver's side. Don't know what going on with that.

 

Vibrations can be caused by several things. One being the driveshaft, U-joints, bent shaft, loose/worn connecting points, bent axle/wheel, shifting belts in a tire, front end steering linkage, out of balance rotating items such as tires, driveshafts, cv shafts, etc. You have to try to locate the area of the greatest vibration. ( Vibrations travel too, through various pieces on the vehicle).

I was also thinking of why you had to replace the brake shoes more than necessary. You have to look at the condition of the drum surfaces, concentricity of the drum, etc., look for missing balance weights by inspecting the surfaces for newly clean areas, etc.

Did you replace the brake hardware when you replaced the shoes? It's a good idea to take a pic prior to dismantling something, for references.