If anyone has had a similar issue or has any idea what the next step of troubleshooting is your wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 2003 1500 Quad cab Laramie which has been an excellent trunk until lately. Started out with a small vibration, got new u joints and driveshaft balanced, vibration reduced for awhile but never went away. I took the truck into the dealer and it was there for three days, there recomendation: new drive shaft, four new tires, two front axles, fan clutch on motor. I am a refrigeration mechanic by trade, pretty sure that many parts have not failed on a truck with 140,000km. Three thousand dollars for nothing!

Little bit of time went by and a c clip let go in the tranny, catasrophic failure. Now have rebuilt trans and still have vibration. Feels like box of truck is shimmying from side to side at highway speed. What do I check next?

I have been reading in this forum that these rear ends are not to good, is it worth rebuilding or do I change to different one, and how can I check if this problem is in fact coming from the rear end and not something else.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, growing very frusterated and can't afford to just start changing parts.

 

Sounds like the dealer threw a lot of parts at it hoping it would be fixed. unfortunately on your dime. Is the vibration rpm or speed specific? If it is speed specific I would jack the rear wheels off the ground and safely as possible spin it up while looking for the vibration. If it is rpm specific look at rotating parts associated with the engine. Good luck..

 

Actually, the rear end is probably the strongest of all the 1/2 ton trucks (despite what Toyota advertises). It's the lousy clips on the stock LSD that are crap. Actually I'm very surprised you got this far before they caused a failure. Usually you'd see them loose during a fluid change before they cause a major failure, but not always.

Yeah, the dealer saw you coming! That's a "let's just replace EVERYTHING and make a boatload of money off this guy" deal. If the vibration is coming from the "box" area, why in the world would you allow the dealer to replace front end components?

Vibrations are the single hardest thing to troubleshoot, as it can be caused by about everything from a tire to the drive shaft and everything in between.

Vibration in the rear could have been caused by the ring & pinion being eaten away by the clips. Fixing the rear could very well eliminate the vibration in the bed...

 

is it only vibrating when rolling? i fought a vibration for 18 mo. on my 83 ramcharger. was getting ready to pull tranny when found it was the alt. causing it.at 65 mph it would rattle ur teeth out.but would also vibrate just reving the engine up.

 

Actually the $3000 dollars was just the cost to diagnose this did not include any repairs; I told them they could pound sand.

I have already tried jacking up vehicle and when I put it down on the ground and pulled it out of the garage the transmition failed catastrophically. Not trying that again!!!

Also through further research I found that this is a mojor problem that Dodge has had with these trucks and have no clue on how to fix. Many people have sued Dodge and won.

Time to buy a Chevy I guess!!!!!!!

 

$3,000 to diagnose and not fix anything is ridicules. I have been driving dodges for a long time and have not heard of this being a class problem. Do you have any documentation? Jacking a truck up and spinning the wheels will not cause trans failures. I'll agree with you, buying a chevy will certainly solve your dodge problems. Good luck..