Not your average Dakota Shake problem.
Veteran
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 327
Likes: 27
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No telling. Bushing wear, degradation in a shock, etc... Was the truck parked for more than a few days? The only time mine does not vibrate is when I'm towing the trailer or have 200-300lbs of stuff in the bed.
I made a round trip to Jax yesterday and it drove me crazy. On straight, flat state highways with the cruise set the truck would be butter smooth then start a light shimmy for a couple of miles them smooth out again for ten more.
The only real thing that is consistent is the problem is worse if the truck had been parked for a week or two. This is part of what makes me think it is all bad harmonics between the frame and tires playing against each other. Guessing after it sits for a couple of weeks the tires are somewhat flat spotted and aggravates it until I get a few more miles on it. But I can still drive it 100 miles, take it to Discount Tire for them to road force check and nothing changes. As I pass through 60mph it will sometimes shake so bad you can see the bed shimmy in the rear view mirror. The steering wheel and the seat shakes too. If I run it up to 80 it is as smooth as any car I've owned.
In also running very good road tires. Continental Crosscontact LX20. All previous tires or wheel combos didn't change anything either. The Goodyear's on factory 18s and Dueler HL Alenzas on the 20" Ram wheels also shook randomly.
Other than the frame dampers, the other thing I'm going to try are new rear axles. I recall a TSB on 2005-2006 models regarding a shimmy at certain speeds and it related to excessive runout on the axle. I've used a runout gauge on them and they are flat but it's still worth a shot. They are cheap enough.
I made a round trip to Jax yesterday and it drove me crazy. On straight, flat state highways with the cruise set the truck would be butter smooth then start a light shimmy for a couple of miles them smooth out again for ten more.
The only real thing that is consistent is the problem is worse if the truck had been parked for a week or two. This is part of what makes me think it is all bad harmonics between the frame and tires playing against each other. Guessing after it sits for a couple of weeks the tires are somewhat flat spotted and aggravates it until I get a few more miles on it. But I can still drive it 100 miles, take it to Discount Tire for them to road force check and nothing changes. As I pass through 60mph it will sometimes shake so bad you can see the bed shimmy in the rear view mirror. The steering wheel and the seat shakes too. If I run it up to 80 it is as smooth as any car I've owned.
In also running very good road tires. Continental Crosscontact LX20. All previous tires or wheel combos didn't change anything either. The Goodyear's on factory 18s and Dueler HL Alenzas on the 20" Ram wheels also shook randomly.
Other than the frame dampers, the other thing I'm going to try are new rear axles. I recall a TSB on 2005-2006 models regarding a shimmy at certain speeds and it related to excessive runout on the axle. I've used a runout gauge on them and they are flat but it's still worth a shot. They are cheap enough.
Professional
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 133
Likes: 4
I have noticed a similar issue on my 2008, and what fixed my truck is new RUBBER bushings all around, and I swapped my shocks out for Monroe Sensitrac's - the car style shocks that have the variable valving. It seems counter intuitive, but the softer my shocks, the less vibration I got. With the super duper stiff Ranchos, my truck rode like a grain wagon. YMMV.
