Hi,

Just purchased a 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins and brought it into the dealer to check a vibration out. The vibration starts to occur about 65 mph and gets increasingly worse as I speed up. I don't feel it in the steering wheel. I is like a low hum and vibe thru the vehicle seeming to come from the rear.
The dealer says that Chrysler is aware of the issue and is working on a solution......but they have no idea???? Any experience or solutions here?

 

I've been told (but no verification) that depending on the transmission, the cummins was too powerful (is there such a thing?) and would damage the transmission. But again, no verification.

My idea would be something in the tailshaft of the transmission or maybe the pinion bearing.

 

drive shaft is out of ballance. . .DC may be working on the issue, but your money and time will be better spent at a drive line shop.

have them yank the drive shaft(s) out and reballance them.

 

the 48RE lives a good life behind the cummins, only when you throw on power adders does the tranny start to have issues. in stock form it will last, but as soon as you start pileing on the power it will break. a stock 48RE will handle 350-375 day in day out. but it doesnt like much over 400hp without a valve body and line pressure mod, over 450 is time to look for billet shafts.

now, in the first production runs of the 48RE there was a snafu dealing with a thrust brearing not getting enough oil and frying, but that issue was quickly resolved by swapping out a washer with a lubrication hole drilled in it.

 

X2. Cheap fix if it works. Havent blown a wad of money if it doesnt. I'm taking mine in to have it balanced next week. $50....

 

you would think DC of all people would balacne the driveshaft before putting it on the truck...?

 

all it takes is a solid bump or hammering down on a large load. the truck is a 2004.

then again the drive shaft could be perfect, who knows. When you have to throw money at something to try a get it fixed, you start with the least amout possible and go up from there.

 

Got the truck from the dealer and made a beeline down the the driveline shop. They had a little time and pulled the driveline. Found it a little out of balanced so they rebalanced it. They did say that there seems to be a harmonic in the driveline though. I asked if there was a solution to it and they said no. They did say the vibration should be greatly reduced or minimal now but I may notice a harmonic and it looks like DC has done a couple things to minimize it. First they put some foam someplace...can't remember where he said and second was a huge harmonic balancer up front on the engine. He did indicate that is looks like an engineering flaw that causes the harmonic. Anyway, I guess I have to live with it now. I haven't taken it out on the freeway yet to see how good or bad it really is...hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance. Thanks for all the quick feedback.

 

Well, could not wait until tomorrow. Not any better after having the driveline rebalanced. Noise and vibration starts at 65 and gets progressively worse. I did find a similar thread in the diesel cummins section of this forum. This pretty much describes my symptoms currently. Going to go have a chat with the dealer tomorrow.