Driveshaft "aligned"
Is it balanced/in the correct phase?

 

AAAHAAA! I didnt even think of that, thats true. But wouldnt it be felt at cruise and decel if the weights were missing?

 

Well thats wierd, tried to post in another thread and it said I do not have the priveledge to do so. hmm. so this is a test.

 

Ok, I got pretty mad yesterday. I ended up replacing the entire driveshaft as a means to an end.... STILL making the vibration.

New symptom: Leaking oil from the front diff...

 

Have you tried revving the engine with the tranny in neutral to see if the vibration occurs at higher RPMs, perhaps its engine related?

 

Mine vibrates all the time. I think it's from the pedestrians and potholes though. All you gotta do is speed up a bit more and they tend to not cause as much vibration.

 

limon32 - Yep, i've tried the engine revving. No vibreation
srozell - yeah, I have the vibration too. Up here I've noticed it's less pedestrians and more jeep drivers.

 

I would suggest that you pull the differential and inspect it for loose/worn parts, worn bearings (pinion and axle), and inspect the rear axle bearings. Move to the front, inspect the front wheel bearings.

 

I would also try putting it in 4x4 with the hubs locked in and see if it still vibrates, gets better or gets worse.

 

Ok, I think I've limited it down to the pinion bearing. Does that sound about right to everyone? Sooooooo, I think I'm just going to replace the 3rd member and give that a try. Anyone selling a 3rd member on here? Preferably cheap? Will spend more on a locked one

Seriously though... anyone?

 

limon32, you don't by chance have some totally awesome gear shop down in kenai do you? Any experience installing a locker in these bad boys? I wouldn't even know where to begin with that kind of install...

I'll bring some moose and a 3rd member

 

Heck, does anyone on here want to do this install? I'll ship it at this point

 

I'm in the process of doing the exact same process you're working on. First it was pinion oil seal(fluid leaking), rear u-joint(partially broken), hanger bearing(split boot), and now my pinion bearing. I'm swapping third members and redoing axle bearings while I'm at it finally. I did all the work myself up to swapping the third member, and I'm leaving that in the hands of a trustworthy mechanic. I'm really hoping this will be the end of rear-end woes.

 

Swim, I have never dealt with re-building a third, but removing it is easy enough. As far as a shop, i'd give Six States in Soldotna a call and see if they would work on it. I know they do a lot of drive line work, I had them work on the driveline for my Dodge diesel that Alyeska squeezed and bent. They did a great job and only charged me like $25.

 

Thanks limon, we have a 6 states here in Anchorage that I'll call first thing tomorrow. It's time to buy a locker.... ARB or Yukon Zip?

 

Ok, problem solved. $2800 later.....

New front and rear thirds with ARB air lockers
New front and rear driveshafts
New CV joints

Yep, I need a life.

 

Sounds like a lot of fun though! Who did the work? Where did you get your parts? I've been thinking about doing the same but I haven't gotten there yet because thats more than I paid for the truck!

 

Pull the rear drive shaft, and put it in 4wd and see if you have the vibrations still. If so it is not the rear driveshaft, if it goes away then it is something int he rear drive shaft.

Also I am having trouble with the exact same symptoms, and can't figure it out, and haven't had time to test the above mentioned. I am thinking my rear end is just shot after 248,000 miles, and has play in it, exspecially the pinion bearing.

 

I bought the drive shafts from Young's Gear.
New front and rear thirds were bought from a shop in California. I happen to have a friend flying up so I had him pick them up there and add them to his luggage... way cheaper than shipping. They have the 4.56 gearing in them as I had the 4.10's and hated them.
CV joints were bought at Fat's on International in town, they have a thicker boot and seem to last longer.

Here's a price breakdown on the truck

Bought it for $300
New headgasket - $97 (10 hours of my time)
Antifreeze - $30 (toyota red)
Oil, filter - $22
American Racing Rims - Used off Craigslist $80 (but he was an hour late so I got them for $20
New 31's - $725 (Firestone Destination MT's non studded)
Sold the old 235's and rims - +$300
New front and rear driveshafts - $700 (Good friend discount.... they would've been $1200)
Front and rear thirds with 4.57 and ARB air lockers - $2000
Air compressor - $130
New CV's - $130 for the pair (Good friend discount.... normally $100 each)

So I have about $3860 into this truck...

 

I am having the exact same problem which started yesterday.

A few days ago I noticed a slight vibration (different than roaring 33x12.5s) and first thing I checked was the drive shaft and pinion flange. The rear diff pinion flange was loose. So is the flange at the back of the transfercase. It was not leaking just loose. I went and got a new nut and (the PO installed 4.88s and a solid pinion spacer) re-torqued it, making sure not to over torque it. I also replaced the rear U-Joint, which was bad.

The vibration was gone, but I still need to fix the flange on the back of the transfer case.

BUT I still need to drive the truck to work. Yesterday on the way home it started vibrating under load just as the OP states. I thought I was being paranoid but it keeps getting worse. I went back and checked everything and its all the same as I left it a few days ago?

Im wondering if its the
- Transfercase/driveshaft U-Joint
- Driveshaft out of balance
- Loose pinion flange (its really not an 1/8 as much movement as when it was loose and the U-joint was bad?)

Anyone else have this problem at one point and solve it WITH OUT just replacing parts?