First..i am new here, names Joe and I own a 99 Ram 1500 4X4, 3" suspension and 3" body lift, 33" Nittos (junk) and 16X10 Mickey Thompson classic II's

Here is my issue, I have had the truck since new, and I am wise in the ways oftheDodge ram..but for the life of me I cant find the cause of this shake and its driving me nuts

A few weeks ago the truckhas developed something akin to a death rattle that starts at about 1500RPM/25MPR and goes away at about 2K/30MPR but becomes noticeable at highway speeds...I thought at firstit was an engine related issue, I changed plugs, wires, cap, rotor,cleaned the throttel body and replaced the TB gasket.This did nothing to change the shudder andif I rev theengine while its sitting in the drive way there inno miss, pop, or sputter. I thenfound that one major cause of the "death rattle" in these trucks is the track bar, so I picked up a moog replacment and installed it. Now it is obvious to meat this point that the bar was toast because the steering wheel is way off center now, but the front end had tightened up signifigantly andthe push and pull I had going down the road is gone. Ihave a feeling the toe is way out but am unsure if thiswould casue such a shudder at speed...I read thatit is possiblebut havenever had an issue like this before with a skewed toe adjustment. I did checked the wheel bearings, ball joints,and they are OK, and the tie rods arefine..Also the plenum gasket is blown (3rd time) but I havent felt anything like this when the failed before.....any thoughts or suggestions? any input is appreiated.

 

my only suggestion is to fix your truck. once you hace fixed it, your shudder will go away. if you have any questions, ask someone that can help

 

just playin... im drunk.... and i dont know whats wrong with your truck. just tryin to ease your neves a little. i hope you get your stuff fixed.

 

LOL...No worries man, enjoy your tasty beverages!

 

ya'll stay up too late.. are you sure the shudder/vib is in the front ?
good call on the tune up. a skip under load shakes the crap out of the whole vehicle.
swap front and rear tires. i once had a knot on a front tire that caused steering wheel to wobble at very slow speeds, and would then smooth out as speed increased.
check ujoints on drive shaft. they will shake you. don't get run over but put trans in neutral and wheels off the ground to remove all pressure from ujoint and make sure there is no play. you didn't say, but i assume your vibration is in 2 wd.
if all that fails put it up on 4 jack stands and just crawl all over every moving part. check each wheel grabbing top and bottom and wiggle, then try front/rear side to side. this will test a lot of front end parts including bearing and tie rod ends. also check front axle ujoint.
try running the truck while on jack stands with tires off the ground. does the vib stay or go away.

 

get your truck aligned and wheel/tires rebalanced. that might help

 

Two silly questions... Does your tach needlebounce up and down a few rpms at a steady speed? Or does your steering wheel bounce or vibrate?

 

Thanks for the input guys..it is appreciated...the truck was on a lift a week ago and I checked ball joints and U joints...things of that nature...found nothing...

The Tach doesnt jump (only a small flux at idle) the steering wheel vibrates allong with the whole damn truck....i am beggining to think this is a tire/alighnment issue...the alighnmentwill have to wait till the new tires arrive, maybe I will rotate and see what happens

 

If I had to guess...its a tire issue. 10 inch rims are pretty wide for a 33 inch tire, even a 33x12.5. You may have some sidewalls separating, or a balance issue as the tires wear.

 

another thing you might want to check is u joints

ever mind im dumb[8D]. another thing to could also be is a gear problem.