Hi all, I'm new here, been searching all over the internet for a possible reassurance for a problem I'm having with my truck. I have a really bad vibration coming from my truck when I get above ~60 mph that seems to come from the front end. I've had a local shop and a Dodge dealership tell me that both of my CV axles are shot, along with the left tie rod end. I just don't understand how those could lead to the vibration at only high speeds. Also, how hard would it be to replace those on my own? I've seen videos of guys doing it with relative ease.

And another issue I'm having is with my transmission. After I had it diagnosed at Dodge for the CV issue, I took the truck out later that night to go get some dinner, and reversed out of my driveway fine. But, when I went to put it in D, the column shifter wouldn't go past R. And when I put it back in P, it made this gear grinding noise that stopped after a couple seconds and it would stay in park. Well, my dad was toying around with it I guess and managed to get it free and it'll drive now. The only problem is that it shifts very erratically. It wants to rev all the way up to nearly 5k rpms in 1st and 2nd before it will finally go in to the next gear. What could be causing all of this? Should I go get a fluid change to see if my filter may be clogged up? Or could it be something more serious?

Thanks - Josh

 

No ideas on the trans issue, but as for the vibration in the front end, either replace those cv shafts asap or just pull them out. The higher speed caused the cv shafts to turn very fast, and the centrifical force coypled with the slack in the shot joints, they buckle at the joint and just flop around. if you dont fix em fast, the flopping cups will completely destroy the splines on the stub shafts going into the dif. Then the real fun ($) begins. Trust me, just resolved this issue this year. It was a needless fix, as the cv shafts are not very expensive and much too easy to replace to let them destroy the stub shafts. Good luck

 

Oh, and I just jacked the truck up, pulled the tire off, took the nut off of the shafts, pulled the brake caliper and let it hang (gently), pipped the upper ball joint loose, and they are super easy to replace, if youre doin just the shafts. Just need a jack, ratchet and sockets,or air tools, if you have them, and a pair of pliers to get the cotter pin out of the end of the cv shaft, oh, and I used a bfh to persuade the spindle to let go of the upper ball joint. Super easy

 

That makes sense, because I've gotten underneath my truck and the inboard part of the CV joint where it meets the diff is loose and can be pulled back and forth easily.