I have a Laramie crew cab 4.7l 4x4 with 49,000 miles that is having a vibration issue. I'm not quite sure when it started but I have been having an issue with the brakes for over a year now. The problems started after having problems with the dealer being unable to properly fix my braking issue. It seems to mostly be fixed but I started noticing brake squealing a couple months ago. I had recently gotten new tires installed (Bridgestone Dueler Alenza's) and they were balanced on a calibrated tire balancer. I was pretty positive that it was the front brakes squealing pretty bad when first driving off and for the first few stops. Then it would only happen sometimes when I was just about stopped. I also noticed a slight occasional vibration (not brake related) in the steering wheel that occurred randomly. It was around this time that I also noticed that I was getting a vibration around 55-65mph. My commute between home and work is mostly city streets and even on the off chance that I use the highway, the traffic is usually so bad that I am lucky to get up to 20-30mph. So that is why I didn't really notice the higher speed vibration. And it doesn't matter what kind of road surface I am on, I am guaranteed the vibration anytime while driving 55-65mph. I don't notice any shake in the steering wheel but even my passengers are fully aware of the vibration. I finally got the truck in to the dealer a couple weeks ago. I told them about the vibrations and the brake squeal. They ended up replacing a bad tie rod and determined that the back brakes drums were dirty and cleaned the drums. I was also told that I should get the tires balancing rechecked but they didn't do it. The next day when leaving work, the squeal was there still and it is definitely the front brakes. I haven't had a chance to get back out there because Mondays are the only day I have off during the week so they are usually very busy for me. I did take the truck back to the place I bought the tires and and they rebalanced all 4. The tires now have about 4500 miles on them. Also when I got the tires first installed, I was told that all the lug nuts were swollen and needed to be replaced. They again informed me that it was hard to get the socket on the lug nuts and I should really get them replaced as soon as possible. They explained that the Dodge lugs are a 2 part assembly and that crud gets in there and they start to swell and separate which will cause problems such as not being able to torque down the nuts properly. The dealer did not mention this at all. Now I have balanced tires, a new tie rod that also included a front end alignment, and the ball joints were replaced a year ago and I am still experiencing the 55-65 vibration. I saw that there was a tsb but it seems to only include 05 Daks so I don't think it wouldn't apply to mine.

Could out of round rear brake drums cause an issue?

The reason I ask this is because when the rear brakes were done last year, I was told that the new drums they were installing were out of round and had to be cut so they were in spec. I wonder if they could now be unbalanced and causing my vibrations. I also say were a few others had issues with the u-joints and wonder if this could be a problem. It is still under the extended warranty so I am thinking about having them inspect the u-joints as well now. I am really not happy with this dealership any more but I am determined to get them to finish what they started. I am limited on Dodge dealerships in the area and this one is about 10 miles away. There is another one that is about 2 miles away but they are even worse in that they treat the customer like they are doing you a favor by even talking to you. The next closest one would probably be 25-30 miles away...

And another thing I have noticed but can't quite describe it but will try. When taking off hard (heavy acceleration) from a stop, it feels like a rubbing/grinding from the rear but only until it shifts to 2nd. There is no clicking, just a strange feeling. I do have the 9.25 LD anti spin rear with 3.92 gear but I am not sure if that makes any difference. I do remember during one of my visits to the dealer over the last year getting the fluid changed but not sure exactly when. This also makes me want to suspect the u-joints.

What would be the best way to inspect the u-joints to see if they are ok?

I also saw a couple threads where the parking brake was suspect and after not using it, their vibrations dissapeared but I never even use it so that shouldn't be the problem. Also the tire place did mention the lug nut issue that the dealership didn't catch. They don't don't sell the lug nuts so I know that they weren't trying to make money on that. That leads me to believe that if there was an issue with the wheels (bent, out of round, etc...) they would have caught that as well. I did tell them about the vibration issue so they inspected the wheels while rebalancing them. Free lifetime rebalancing has come in handy for this. They even caught a nail in one of the treads and plugged it and patched that tire from the inside.

In the scheme of things, the vibration isn't like the whole truck is going to shake apart, it is just an aggravation and I tend to be rather picky when it comes to my vehicles. I do want to try and get this solved. Any other thoughts on what to look for?

 

 

Hasn't been on the forum in 2 years. If I had to guess, probably solved the vibration problem by trading it in.

 

Just because the tires were "Balanced on a Calibrated" balancer.....does not mean the tires "Road Forced" well.
Do your research. Find a business that knows how to "properly" mount and balance tires.

 

Theres quite a few threads on this. I have a vibration between 35 and 45. I tried to chase it down 10 years ago with no luck. Thinking that they may have hired some engineers from HD when they designed this truck.

 

That would explain a lot........