check the sway bar end links and struts. for the struts just see if it bounces more than once while pushing the front end down and for the end links lay under the truck and get a friend to rock the truck back and forth and if there is play in the ball joint inside the rubber bushings on the bottom of the links they are bad. I dont think it is a bearing because they are loud when they are going and you would definitely notice the sound. As for the steering lube the shaft again and see if that helps it i am thinking it need to be lubed again especially if you are bringing your truck through mud pits like that.


another stupid thing...are the backside of your rims clean? if there is mud on them it throws your wheels way out of balance. i know from when i had my jeep with the 15x10 rims on it if i was mudding the truck i could not drive over 40kmh until i was able to pressure wash the wheels because the shaking was so violent.

 

When my first wheel bearing went it wasnt noisy at all. But I have heard (other vehicles) that had theres go and it was.
I pressure washed the entire truck, could have missed some stuck to the top on the inside. Ill have the shaft greased when it goes in for the Plugs and oil change since they will do it for free.

 

It could be 50 different things, either alone, or worse, combined.

Its taken me a year and change to diagnose and get rid of all the vibration in my 05.

1) Tires: They are huge and heavy. The Dakota front end is very complicated, and needs well balanced tires. Even the smallest vibration can transmit through the steering wheel and into the chassis

2) Wheels: The OEM ones are almost always better because the center bore is correct. Aftermarket wheels nearly always have large center bores (the middle that aligns on the brake rotor/drum hub). The lug nuts will NOT align the wheel properly, no matter what you do, unless you get a 77.7 mm inner hub centric ring, with the outer diameter the same as the aftermarket wheel's center bore. Not everyone complains about vibration from this, but it is very very real.

3) Driveshaft: The U Joints are large and when they blow a set of trunnion bearings, its not always easy to find. You need to take them off and check them, or just replace them (they are 10 bucks a piece). This vibration is more under load, and more through the chassis than the front end, but it feels like the truck will shake itself apart.

4) Torque Converter: The lockup converter locks up in both 4th and 5th gear. It is flaky and moody. It hates old fluid and sometimes, the lockup solenoid tells it to lock, but the fluid is nasty or the filters are clogged and therefore, there's not enough flow. Feels like the entire truck is a bucking bronco at highway speeds. Comes through the steering, but is everywhere.

5) Sticky calipers: Yep, I've never had as many siezed or sticky brake calipers on any vehicle as I have on the 2005 Dak. It overheats the rotor/rotors and causes intense front end vibration, mostly at speed.

6) Alignment: These trucks have the most bizarre front end design, definitely done by engineers on crack. Too many huge and heavy parts, especially for a mid size truck. The alignment blows up at the slightest thing, and causes wierdness and therefore vibration. Caster seems to lose its marbles more often than any car I've ever owned, which causes the steering to stop centering, and the toe to get way out. This causes vibration.

7) Shocks: Basically, the front shock system totally sucks. Back to the engineers on crack. Just the worst design, and under sized dampening system of all time. Makes the 1964 Austin Healey seem like an amazing design. The front end will go into palpatations with the slightest hit if the shocks (nee struts) aren't fresh. They also last maybe a couple years at best. The rears are fine though.

8) Front Sway Bar: More crackhead engineering, mostly pertaining to undersizing the D bushings and using the worlds most expensive and cheesy end links.

As far as wheel bearings go, they have very specific behavior, as do outer CV joints. Wheel bearings almost always stop vibrating when you step on the brakes (it stops the harmonic oscilation by clamping the entire assembly), so thats easy to diagnose. CV joints also are somewhat easy, if you go into parking lot, put it into all wheel drive, then do slow circles with the steering wheel at full lock in both directions. If you have a blown CV joint (one that is capable of vibrating the truck), then you will hear clicking as the CV joints have paddles and bearings that have space.

You get the picture... There are lots of issues to tackle. I had to hack and slash through various vibrations to get it to where it is now. And I still have some errant bouncing to fix. The worst issue is that many of these problems come together, which makes it frustrating to fix. Its like Whack a Mole, fix one, then another pops up somewhere else.

Personally, I would start with a trans filter change, tire balance and alignment, plus a front end shock bounce test. Have them check the driveshaft U joints when under the car too.

Good luck

 

The Steering I greased the hell out of the intermediate steering shaft and let it sit for 8hrs (sleeping haha) and its fine.
The vibration seems to have slowly go away at lower speeds but still there are higher 115-120kph.

The Vibration is mainly the wheel to.