In my 1999 Ram 1500 (shortbed 4x4 auto 5.2L 45K miles) a strange vibration has appeared and I wonder if anyone has seen this before. When accelerating from about 30 - 50mph there is a noticable vibration. The vibration is worse with greater acceleration. There is no vibration when stopped in park when I rev the engine. If I come off the power, the vibration ceases, but there is usually a "bird-like" chirping audible when I do so. With the radio on, I don't notice the chirping (seems to come from under the bed), so I don't know when that problem started or whether it's associated with the vibration or not.

I just had the engine tuned up (only getting 13-14 mpg) and the tech found a clogged cat. I replaced it with a Magaflow hi-flow cat and it seems to run better, but still have the vibtration and chirping. The transmission seems to shift OK.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

99.99999% sure it's gonna be a universal joint on the driveshaft. Squeaking 'cause it's grease is dried up, vibration since the grease is gone, it's now badly worn. Fix it asap.

 

I second that. didnt even realize mine was bad and the damn thing fell right off.

 

Agree, mine went bad about a day after I had the tranny replaced. Probably going to be the aft U-joint, but while your at it, its probably a good idea to swap both of them. Took me about 2 hours total to replace them. I didn't use a u-joint press, just a mallet and a socket, and a bench vice!

 

I also agree. Get it fixed ASAP. Nothing like losing a universal on your drive shaft....especially on the non-axle end. Can you say pole vault? [:'(]

 

I've never seen it, but I've heard its life threating. The PoleVault. I did see an F-150 loose its U-Joint (the axle end) and kicked out the drive shaft and whipped up and tore into the bed a good 8 inches before the tranny u-joint ended up breaking.

 

My dad lost a driveshaft on a Charger once...he lost the joint on the axle end. He said it was quite the experience.

But back when he was a mechanic, he had to go on a few wrecker calls where the shaft came off and the vehicle did a vault. He said it wasn't pretty. [:'(]

 

Had one towed in to work a few years ago, old mid-80's Chevy C1500 like that...could see the dents all over the underside, and the guy brought the 3 pieces of the driveshaft with him...he said it scared the **** out of him, I imagine he wasn't lying. [sm=scared09.gif]

I assume cpboomer will replace them asap after reading these horror stories...not something to put off too long.

 

Dude, ever seen a Uhaul truck full size do that? (The vault)




Better yet , ever seen it do it while driving off the lot ? I did, the day I bought my truck... It was classic =)

I felt sorry for the Spring Breakers who hit him though, even though that was the funniest part of it

 

Dang! I hope I can get a few more miles out it to get it to the shop! The drive shaft seems tight, but I'll get the U-joints replaced and see if that takes care of the problem. Thanks to all for the advice. Could have spared me the horror stories however... now you know what I'll be thinking about driving to the shop. []