So my 2007 Dakota QC 4x4 is still vibrating, resonating, shaking...you name it. I have replaced the front struts, rear shocks, and had the wheels rotated and balanced twice. I notice it mainly at highway speeds and it gets noticably worse above 75 mph. So my question is...what's next? Could it be a bad transmission? Bad driveshaft?? Bad differential??? The dealer was not much help and now I am going to take it to a second dealer next week and tell them I don't want it back until they figure it out. I am so frustrated I don't even enjoy driving the truck. I really want to like the Dakota. It is a nice size, gets great mileage, and pulls my camper without problems (I get the same resonance even loaded with camping gear and pulling my trailer). I know 06raider is having the same issues. I still need to email him when I find out what is wrong with mine. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

If it has Good Years replace them. Those things are a hit or miss. If that doesn't work could be a bad factory frame. That sound crazy by it happened to a buddy with a 98 Dak. No one believed it until it was discovered at a specialty shop and fixed and it road perfect after that. Hope you get it right because I have been there not enjoying my ride and still paying for it and it’s not your fault.

 

Thanks graythang. Yes it does have Goodyears. I will look into getting Goodyear to replace them. Too expensive to do it myself, especially since these tires only have 17K on them. I have also thought maybe a bad leafspring. The search continues...

 

Mine was fine till I got my new tires, then the shaking began, 4 rebalance's later and it was fine for 3months, till I had the rims off to look at the brakes, since I got that done the shake is back, it's really starting to get to me, it could be the tires, and if nothing else I'm going back and getting another set of tires to see if that could be the issue. the guys I'm working with have been really helpful an the tire end.

 

As a quick TSB ck there was a referance to " fell like driving over rumble strips" BUT my interpation of your issue that does not apply ....your are the judge .........let me know .

 

maybe its a wheel, and when they balance the tire, they are really masking the wheel issue.

I mean...Ive never experience tires being so sensitive to a tire balance before. My tires were balanced once, and only once, and since then, I think i even lost a weight on 1 wheel, and I cant even tell, from 0mph all the way up to 80mph, Its all smooth.

Its gotta be somthing else.

A friend of mine had a bad shaking issue with a jeep wrangler he had, and it wound up being a wheel. You couldnt tell anything was wrong with it. He dealt with them doing everything under the sun and eventually they tested the wheels, boom, that was it.

 

Check the owners manual for the "bolt" pattern on the rims. I have the 17" Chrome Clad rims and it's got a spot in my owners manual (I think that's where I saw this anyway) to make sure your rims are bolted on in a "STAR" pattern.

I've heard if you just mount the tire and rim and bolt her back up and it's not on with that pattern, it can cause vibration isssues too.

Not sure, but just some extra imput that if you can do it yourself is free, and possibly cheap if you take it somewhere.

 

i would start with the goodyears, have them spin ballance them and go with them to look for your self to see if they are spinning strait, i used to work for a goodyear dealer about two years ago and always had bad tires, we got a batch of 20 one time and 18 of them wernt even close to round, one style (cant remember witch one) seemed to be worse than others but all styles had problems, whitch style goodyears do you have? goodyear has some major quality control issues, that why i only run toyo's.

 

You mean you use this method to insure the wheels are bolted on straight and evenly, which is correct

Another thing that can cause a shimmy (vibration) is the small clips that are left on the truck to hold your discs and drums on before the wheels are installed can cause them to not seat properly. I had the issue once after I rotated my tires, I took the tires back of and plucked the lil PITAs off END of shimmy

 

EXACTLY the problem I had when I put my 20s on...

It shook like a *****!!!

Took them off, bye bye bye...