For a little while now Ive noticed when I am out and have to crawl through a ditch or some rocky obsticles and I flex the truck pretty good I get a god aweful rubbing/grinding noise. At first I figured it was the tires rubbing in the front when they are tucked up in the wheel well. (I am running 33" tires with stock control arms and 3-3.5" total lift). Then I relized that they were barelly clearing and that the tires were not the cause. Last night I purposly ran it into a steep ditch until I heard said noise. Come to find out its the Drive Shaft hitting the gas tank skid plate (I have an 01 Ram OFF-ROAD) near the joint area. Seems kinda concerning to me, but IDK. Whats your thoughts on this. Is this an issue that only I have, or is it more common than I know about?

 

Worn bushings?

 

Hitting the skid plate under the tank, or the shield on the side? Could you post a pic? Is it something you could just smack with a hammer a couple times to get a bit more clearance?

 

Track bar issues too, maybe?
Yeah a pic would help...

 

It is hitting the skid plate under the gas tank. Doesnt just rub it either, it makes contact pretty good. And Trac Bar isnt an issue on this one. The trac bar effects the front axle location, this is an issue with the rear axle driveshaft contacting the gas tank (which is mounted in the rear right in front of the rear drivers side wheel well. The driveshaft hits it right at the joint area where it goes into the rear axle yoke.

 

Hey COL, yeah i had that happen way back in the day. I didn't do much about it as I had other changes in the works.

If you're not adding more lift in the near term, then I'd suggest going back to that ditch again to see the contact. Look to see what kind of room is left for the driveshaft to encroach. Hopefully it's maxed out. Look at the bump stops. Look at your leaf spring mount to the axle and the ends. Ensure all that is solid.

If the only way the DS encroaches more by compressing more, then best solution is extending bumpstops. Several ways could be done. Replace existing bumps with aftermarket, most time cost/time. Unless you like fab and such. Or if still have the factory blocks, you might find replaceable longer bumpstop. You could also look at attaching to the factory block (on the stop) material to decrease the distance in that manner.

There are some ideas for ya.

 

Duh! I was thinking of my jeep, the ram has leaves in the rear...

 

Can’t haul any weight at all in my truck the skid plate sounds like it’s tearing to pieces..

Skid plate rubbing against the drive shaft

 

Isn't that just the heat shield for the gas tank? Mine did that too. There is a clip, of sorts, that is supposed to hold that shield to the tank, and out of the driveshaft... Yeah, it makes some pretty rude noises....

 

When the truck flexes the driveline moves into the skid plate of the gas tank, was there a solution to the problem other than removal?



Rubbing the skid plate

Its a 2020! They haven't fixed this yet?
any knowledge or comments would be awesome. Thank you for your time. It has a 6" rough country lift and 35's if that's what made the problem. It came with 33's (no air ride)