Drive Shaft Problems.. Maybe?

[gc_harvey]

I have a problem with my truck shaking pretty bad between 50mph-70mph. It feels as if the wheels are out of balance, but I have brand new tires and I've even had them checked to make sure of the balance. I've heard from some people that a drive shaft being just a bit out of balance will do that, but I'm not an expert mechanic or anything, so I don't know about that. I got under the truck about 1 month ago and I noticed a little ring around the drive shaft where it comes out of the transmission that looks like a wear/rub and it was about 1/8" from the little rubber boot. I looked at it again last week and it was about 1/4" or bigger. Does that sound like the bearings or seals are bad around the tranny/drive shaft? If anyone could take some pics of their drive shaft and post them on here for me to be able to compare them, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm hoping to get several pictures of different trucks so I can show it to the dealer and have it at the very least checked out, if not replaced. Thanks guys!

 

[gc_harvey]

Bump..
My dad has a 2010 Sport 4x4 with 170k+ miles and it doesn't have any of this wear/rub on it. Anyone have any input?

 

[AirborneSilva]

Maybe you can post a pic of what your talking about so people can see it and come up with ideas...

 

[Casper]

Its a 2012: you're still under warranty. Why not make them tell you where the vibration is coming from?

 

[gc_harvey]

They can't find it. I was hoping someone on here could give me some advice on it so I could tell the dealer what I think it is.
Airbornsilva I hadn't even thought of doing that. Good thinking! I'll do that this afternoon when I get a chance.

 

[gc_harvey]

I've already had it to the dealer 4 times and they replaced the front struts and that helped another issue I had, but didn't do anything to the vibration/shaking I have.

 

[AirborneSilva]

I've already had it to the dealer 4 times and they replaced the front struts and that helped another issue I had, but didn't do anything to the vibration/shaking I have.

I think at this point I'd contact Chrysler customer service to see if they can help, it's worth a shot if your dealer is just shrugging their shoulders.

 

[HolyRamBatman]

Different dealership.

 

[gc_harvey]

Here is pictures of what I'm talking about.

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Could anyone tell me if this is normal wear, or do I have a problem? Like I stated before... My Dad has a 2010 Sport and it does not have this wear. My truck has 37k miles versus his 171k miles, so I was thinking that his truck should have way more wear in this area than mine

 

[AirborneSilva]

It looks to me like it's just the yoke moving in and out of the trans, which it's designed to do.

 

[gc_harvey]

I was thinking that too until I looked at my Dad's and his doesn't have it at all. Did they maybe change the way it was setup from 2010 to 2012?

 

[AirborneSilva]

I was thinking that too until I looked at my Dad's and his doesn't have it at all. Did they maybe change the way it was setup from 2010 to 2012?

Doubtful, the only way that will move is if your pinion angle is changing, do you do some off roading or do other things like burnouts that will cause the pinion angle to change? Under normal driving conditions I don't believe that should travel that much but then I'm just a shade tree mechanic that's done a bit of 4 wheeling in my day.

 

[gc_harvey]

I have only been off-road 1 time in a year. I don't do burnout because tires are too expensive! Other than the occasional trip to Lowe's to get some lumber for work, I don't even haul heavy loads.

 

[AirborneSilva]

Sorry that was my guess but I still think there is something causing your pinion angle to change.

I'm with ya, I don't do burnouts since tires cost so darn much!

 

[gc_harvey]

I'm just concerned about the whole deal.. Truck is less than a year old and already has this on it and it doesn't seem normal. At least I have a 100k mile warranty on this part!

 

[AirborneSilva]

At least I have a 100k mile warranty on this part!

True dat, drive it until something breaks then they have to fix it... Bad answer I know!

 

[gc_harvey]

It's an accurate one, though! Haha

 

[gc_harvey]

Could a few people post pics of their drive shaft by the tranny so I can have some other pics to compare it to when I go back to the dealer? They seem to think that it's the front right axle, so they're going to replace it, but I want to be able to have something else for them to look at if that doesn't resolve my issue.

 

[Kaiser]

Do you feel the shake/vibration in the steering wheel or in the seat?

 

[gc_harvey]

Seat. It's not the wheels being out of balance. Brand new tires and I've had them checked 2 times after I got the tires.