Tq for the axle nut is 175 ftlbs not 125, re TQ and try again. Hitting a bump in the road and then getting a vib is one sign of death wobble, what speeds is this happening at?

 

i read his post that the 125 torque was for the 3 12 point bolts that hold the bearing into the knuckle. that sounds correct.

lock it into 4wd before disassembly. do open up the cad and inspect it closely before pulling the axle. test the looseness of the inner axle half. it should be fairly tight in the large bushing which you won't be able to see, but it shouldn't have much side to side play. disengage the collar. test the looseness of the small bushing. should be very little play.

do spray those 4 little cad cover bolts with penetrating oil and let them soak to try and prevent them from breaking.

don't drive it on dry pavement in 4wd. it binds up.

 

I missed that sorry.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, you are right the Axel nut torque spec is 175, but I did could not break it loose, so I pulled hub/bearing and axel as a unit. 125 is correct spec for three bolts connecting hub assembly to steering knuckle.

What are the symptoms of death wobble?

The Vibration is kicks in between 30 and 55. Ive been afraid to go any faster than that

 

Thanks DH! I will lock her into four wheel, put her back up on stands, clean up the top of the CAD housing and hit the bolts with PB blaster this morning. I will pen it back up tonight. I will definitely post on my progress. Thanks for your advice and have a good day!

 

I finally got my ram 1500 back into the garage but not before I tried the 4wd on some wet grass. My dash light indicates 4wd is engaged, but front wheels do not seem to be driving in 4 low or 4 high. So I put in 4w high, parked it in the garage, jacked up pass side front and found that the wheel spins freely. I tried rotating the front drive shaft (between diff and xfer case), it does not turn. So I conclude that xfer case is engaged, but intermediate shaft and drive axel not working together. I pulled off the vacuum motor housing (I wire brushed the crud away and hit the bolts with pb blaster 3x a few hours apart) and in the bottom of the cad was a bunch of broken pieces of metal. My tines of my shift fork are broken off. I also found a thin piece of rubber about two inches long and a piece of wire. When I grabbed the drive axel, i found it was loose, had a lot of play, inside shift collar. I can make it clang when I shake it.

It is clear to me that my shift fork is broken and needs to be replaced, I am wondering what else I should be looking to do while I have the CAD open. I have not seen any leaking and don't really want to go after the seals as that procedure seems to require special tools which I don't have.

Neither my Haynes manual nor the 2001 FSM I downloaded are very specific about the procedure to replace shift fork and collar. It looks pretty straight forward, but any advice would be appreciated.

 

Broken pieces of metal could also be the needle bearing for the intermediate shaft. But if the shift fork shoes are gone and the fork is broken, that is also another source of the metal obviously. The rubber could be from the seal. The CAD area needs major rebuild/inspection even if you decide to install a cable.

 

Thanks Z -Man, im gonna pull the drive axel tonight and clean out all I can in the CAD. I am thinking that I should be able to see the condition of the needle bearing on the outboard end of the intermediate shaft. I am expecting that bearing to be shot because there is so much play between the two axels. I will post again once I can se more.

 

rubber and wire might be the remnants of axle seal, from the passenger side of the cad.

so you're likely to need:
Large inner bushing/bearing. they are interchangeable. i used the bearing.
Small bushing.
fork.
pads.
e-clips.
maybe a collar. check that yours will slide on/off easily. file off any burrs on collar or axle.
passenger side axle seal and pulling/seating contraption.

get everything you can from alljeep.com

link.
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-bearings.html

 

There is a plastic bushing that fits into the end of the axle that the nub on the end of the intermediate axle fits into. Sounds like yours is worn out or completely missing. That would account for the play between the axles. You can't see the bearing, but you can remove the intermediate axle and feel it by reaching a finger in through the CAD opening. If you need to replace the seal, and it sounds like you need to, it's easy enough to make a seal installation tool out of a piece of all-thread and nuts to fit, and some large washers.