Zone 4" Lifted ecodiesel eating cv axles, now driveshaft metallic slapping

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Bubkuk

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Hey, my 2018 1500 ecodiesel with a 4"/3" zone lift, 5100 bilsteins set to stock height, rolling on 35's.The lift was installed before Zone started putting warnings about their lifts and ecodiesels sadly so I am sorta stuck with what I got.
IMG_4067.JPG

The truck eats cv axles like they're candy, 4th set in 80000K on it, and 2 of them in the last 15K. I recently had one snap.
IMG_1023.jpg
I got both sides replaced, but they didn't stay in their retainers, came loose, and got really floppy.

Got this lovely video of them flopping around: Floppy CV Axle

Dealership took responsibility for not having them stay seated and redid their job.

A month of no real issues, but then a week ago, making a tight off camber right, I heard two loud pops and started hearing some rotational metallic slapping, not consistent but much more rapid then tires spinning. No noticeable issues from either cv axle this time, so I pointed the go pro at the driveshaft, diff and transfer case side and got these.

Front Drive Shaft Diff Side

Drive Shaft Transfer Case Side

Both videos I was in 2wd. In the second, I put in neutral and cost a bit, the moment the drive shaft starts to spin it can produce the noise. The only other thing of visual note is the drift shaft seems to catch, slow up, speed up or down, but in a way that maybe it's binding. No noise if I am in park or neutral and not moving. Noise is even more present if I am in 4wd.

Any ideas what the issue might be here? Hoping it's the drive shaft and not a much more expensive Diff or T-case issue. Or is this just going to be a chronic issue that this truck will eat up it's front end? :(
 

Socalramfan

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Hey, my 2018 1500 ecodiesel with a 4"/3" zone lift, 5100 bilsteins set to stock height, rolling on 35's.The lift was installed before Zone started putting warnings about their lifts and ecodiesels sadly so I am sorta stuck with what I got.
View attachment 506713

The truck eats cv axles like they're candy, 4th set in 80000K on it, and 2 of them in the last 15K. I recently had one snap.
View attachment 506707
I got both sides replaced, but they didn't stay in their retainers, came loose, and got really floppy.

Got this lovely video of them flopping around: Floppy CV Axle

Dealership took responsibility for not having them stay seated and redid their job.

A month of no real issues, but then a week ago, making a tight off camber right, I heard two loud pops and started hearing some rotational metallic slapping, not consistent but much more rapid then tires spinning. No noticeable issues from either cv axle this time, so I pointed the go pro at the driveshaft, diff and transfer case side and got these.

Front Drive Shaft Diff Side

Drive Shaft Transfer Case Side

Both videos I was in 2wd. In the second, I put in neutral and cost a bit, the moment the drive shaft starts to spin it can produce the noise. The only other thing of visual note is the drift shaft seems to catch, slow up, speed up or down, but in a way that maybe it's binding. No noise if I am in park or neutral and not moving. Noise is even more present if I am in 4wd.

Any ideas what the issue might be here? Hoping it's the drive shaft and not a much more expensive Diff or T-case issue. Or is this just going to be a chronic issue that this truck will eat up it's front end? :(

Nice looking Ram :waytogo:

Sucks going through those problems. My thought is going back to basics and tracking down when this started to happen, and was anything changed just prior?
 

Wild one

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Hey, my 2018 1500 ecodiesel with a 4"/3" zone lift, 5100 bilsteins set to stock height, rolling on 35's.The lift was installed before Zone started putting warnings about their lifts and ecodiesels sadly so I am sorta stuck with what I got.
View attachment 506713

The truck eats cv axles like they're candy, 4th set in 80000K on it, and 2 of them in the last 15K. I recently had one snap.
View attachment 506707
I got both sides replaced, but they didn't stay in their retainers, came loose, and got really floppy.

Got this lovely video of them flopping around: Floppy CV Axle

Dealership took responsibility for not having them stay seated and redid their job.

A month of no real issues, but then a week ago, making a tight off camber right, I heard two loud pops and started hearing some rotational metallic slapping, not consistent but much more rapid then tires spinning. No noticeable issues from either cv axle this time, so I pointed the go pro at the driveshaft, diff and transfer case side and got these.

Front Drive Shaft Diff Side

Drive Shaft Transfer Case Side

Both videos I was in 2wd. In the second, I put in neutral and cost a bit, the moment the drive shaft starts to spin it can produce the noise. The only other thing of visual note is the drift shaft seems to catch, slow up, speed up or down, but in a way that maybe it's binding. No noise if I am in park or neutral and not moving. Noise is even more present if I am in 4wd.

Any ideas what the issue might be here? Hoping it's the drive shaft and not a much more expensive Diff or T-case issue. Or is this just going to be a chronic issue that this truck will eat up it's front end? :(
The CV's look like they could be hyper extended.You could try hunting up a spacer to go between the hub and axle end so when you tighten the outer axle nut it doesn't pull the splined part of the axle as far into the outer hub assembly,basically lenghtening the axle .That'll take a bit of stress off the CV joint. I had a young friend who had issues with his CV's after doing a Zone lift and he found some spacers that fit perfectly and after installing them,he had no more issues with his truck eating CV's,but i forget where he found the spacers and what they were originally for,so you'd have to take the broken hub and splined piece ,get some measurements and start looking for a suitable spacer,or have a machine shop build you some. Other option is remove the lift and go back to stock height.
You might want to look into one of these kits for your pass side stub axle.Good news is they're a Canadian outfit,so shipping isn't the clusterfluck it is if you're accessing parts from the States.What gears does your truck have?

 
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olyelr

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I dont think the diesel has anything to do with your issue…that usually causes an issue with the rear driveshaft if i am not mistaken, not the cv shafts.

Something is very odd to be damaging cv shafts like that. Definitely not normal. Not sure wth it would be though. Wheres the guru of all gurus lol @Quick_Shifter
 

DILLIGAF

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You do realize thats a 4" Superlift kit right ? ... lol... Nothing Stock about it....
 

crazykid1994

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Unless it’s a bad angle in the videos it looks like your cv axles are pointed upward which means on compression could be really working then which may be what is killing then in the first place. I would actually suggest going slightly taller to level out the cv axles. Should help them last longer. How’s the oil in the diff? that’s a very metallic reverberation like tapping with a hammer.
 

2020PW

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Quick_Shifter

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Hey, my 2018 1500 ecodiesel with a 4"/3" zone lift, 5100 bilsteins set to stock height, rolling on 35's.The lift was installed before Zone started putting warnings about their lifts and ecodiesels sadly so I am sorta stuck with what I got.
View attachment 506713

The truck eats cv axles like they're candy, 4th set in 80000K on it, and 2 of them in the last 15K. I recently had one snap.
View attachment 506707
I got both sides replaced, but they didn't stay in their retainers, came loose, and got really floppy.

Got this lovely video of them flopping around: Floppy CV Axle

Dealership took responsibility for not having them stay seated and redid their job.

A month of no real issues, but then a week ago, making a tight off camber right, I heard two loud pops and started hearing some rotational metallic slapping, not consistent but much more rapid then tires spinning. No noticeable issues from either cv axle this time, so I pointed the go pro at the driveshaft, diff and transfer case side and got these.

Front Drive Shaft Diff Side

Drive Shaft Transfer Case Side

Both videos I was in 2wd. In the second, I put in neutral and cost a bit, the moment the drive shaft starts to spin it can produce the noise. The only other thing of visual note is the drift shaft seems to catch, slow up, speed up or down, but in a way that maybe it's binding. No noise if I am in park or neutral and not moving. Noise is even more present if I am in 4wd.

Any ideas what the issue might be here? Hoping it's the drive shaft and not a much more expensive Diff or T-case issue. Or is this just going to be a chronic issue that this truck will eat up it's front end? :(
Do you have a picture that is not broke I want to see your angles
 

Quick_Shifter

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Unless it’s a bad angle in the videos it looks like your cv axles are pointed upward which means on compression could be really working then which may be what is killing then in the first place. I would actually suggest going slightly taller to level out the cv axles. Should help them last longer. How’s the oil in the diff? that’s a very metallic reverberation like tapping with a hammer.
its pretty common for the cv's on a 4" to be at that weird upward angle. Its most likely the weight of the engine making it worse. Since he has bilsteins it wouldnt be hard to dial that truck in
 
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Bubkuk

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Hey thanks for the response.

Here's the axles as they are right now.
IMG-1229.jpg
IMG-1228.jpg


I had gotten the Bilstein's a few months before I got the lift, had them set to .88" but had a bit of chatter under heavy acceleration in 4wd. When the lift was installed they were put back to their stock height.

When I had the second to last set of axles installed, it was noted the alignment was way off, a bit of negative camber, the front tires had worn way down on the inside. We tried putting the shocks to .88", got a year on those axles before the failure. There were a few creeks and clunks in the weeks leading up to the failure but trying to get into any shop around here these days is a 4-5 week wait and couldn't get it looked at before it blew up on me. Of all places it was simply backing into a parking stall, wheels totally cranked over and hit a speed bump, metallic pop.

Thinking the shocks set to something other than stock might of been the issue they were put back to stock. But given the severe complaining from the front end with only a bit of mileage, maybe it does make sense to set them back to a higher setting, maybe the 1.75" truck would be near level at that height.

The truck hasn't done any really serious offroading, lot's of forest service roads, spur logging roads, etc. My own gravel switchback driveway is worse then a lot of those.

The only notable thing I hit offroading was caught a stump with the front left wheel and it torqued the tires over all the way, was maybe doing 3-5km/h when I hit, this is what we attributed to the bad alignment and tire wear, but maybe something bent somewhere up front visually it all looks good, but it wouldn't take much to mess with the angles. That was 50,000km ago.

Truck was also rear ended last year, but I had a drop hitch in at the time and it kept the car from going in under, just the bumper and the hitch needed to be replaced, doubt that did much damage up front.

The hitch after the hit.
limp.jpg
The extended travel axles might be the way to go, I've been having trouble finding some above a 2011 model year.

Truck gets towed back in end of the month as that metallic clunking can't be any good. Thanks again for any info that I can pass on to the mechanic to try and get this fixed.

Cheers,
 

olyelr

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Yea wow that seems like a lot of upward angle at ride height.
 

Jim BB

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when you put any lift kit in you are changing the geometry of all your shafts I.e Drive shafts coming out from tail stock to your rear diff so it could mess with u-joint and same as drive shaft from trans to transfer case and from transfer case to front drive diff and your half shaft from front case to front wheels so when you do that and don't do the math to compensate for your angle change things will wear faster or just out and out break I.e U-joints , half shafts , hanger bearings , and or seal ar all above
 

olyelr

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when you put any lift kit in you are changing the geometry of all your shafts I.e Drive shafts coming out from tail stock to your rear diff so it could mess with u-joint and same as drive shaft from trans to transfer case and from transfer case to front drive diff and your half shaft from front case to front wheels so when you do that and don't do the math to compensate for your angle change things will wear faster or just out and out break I.e U-joints , half shafts , hanger bearings , and or seal ar all above
In relation to the cv shaft angles, which is what we are talking about here, a true lift kit drops the front diff to keep the stock angles the same for the most part…as in the case here. So im baffled why they look like that, unless the struts are heavily worn/sagged maybe?
 

Quick_Shifter

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Hey thanks for the response.

Here's the axles as they are right now.
View attachment 506820
View attachment 506821


I had gotten the Bilstein's a few months before I got the lift, had them set to .88" but had a bit of chatter under heavy acceleration in 4wd. When the lift was installed they were put back to their stock height.

When I had the second to last set of axles installed, it was noted the alignment was way off, a bit of negative camber, the front tires had worn way down on the inside. We tried putting the shocks to .88", got a year on those axles before the failure. There were a few creeks and clunks in the weeks leading up to the failure but trying to get into any shop around here these days is a 4-5 week wait and couldn't get it looked at before it blew up on me. Of all places it was simply backing into a parking stall, wheels totally cranked over and hit a speed bump, metallic pop.

Thinking the shocks set to something other than stock might of been the issue they were put back to stock. But given the severe complaining from the front end with only a bit of mileage, maybe it does make sense to set them back to a higher setting, maybe the 1.75" truck would be near level at that height.

The truck hasn't done any really serious offroading, lot's of forest service roads, spur logging roads, etc. My own gravel switchback driveway is worse then a lot of those.

The only notable thing I hit offroading was caught a stump with the front left wheel and it torqued the tires over all the way, was maybe doing 3-5km/h when I hit, this is what we attributed to the bad alignment and tire wear, but maybe something bent somewhere up front visually it all looks good, but it wouldn't take much to mess with the angles. That was 50,000km ago.

Truck was also rear ended last year, but I had a drop hitch in at the time and it kept the car from going in under, just the bumper and the hitch needed to be replaced, doubt that did much damage up front.

The hitch after the hit.
View attachment 506825
The extended travel axles might be the way to go, I've been having trouble finding some above a 2011 model year.

Truck gets towed back in end of the month as that metallic clunking can't be any good. Thanks again for any info that I can pass on to the mechanic to try and get this fixed.

Cheers,
I would move your Bilstein 5100’s to the 3rd ring. If you have a crew cab possibly even the 4th
 

Quick_Shifter

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In relation to the cv shaft angles, which is what we are talking about here, a true lift kit drops the front diff to keep the stock angles the same for the most part…as in the case here. So im baffled why they look like that, unless the struts are heavily worn/sagged maybe?
The bracket drop kits are designed for the 6” kit and are the same brackets for the 4” which causes the upward angles but a slight angle up or down is completely fine
 

olyelr

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The bracket drop kits are designed for the 6” kit and are the same brackets for the 4” which causes the upward angles but a slight angle up or down is completely fine
Ahhh gotchya.


So why the heck are his shafts getting destroyed? Lol
 

Hawaii_Built

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Those CV angles look pretty suspect. I know it's a silly question, but is there any possibility the installers left out the strut spacer because they (wrongly) thought the truck already has 5100s so no spacer is necessary?

About the driveshaft... yes, BDS claims the warning was there all the time (it wasn't) and I bought and installed a 6" kit on my ecodiesel Ram. They recommended I contacted Adams Driveshaft which I did. As soon as my front driveshaft was replaced, the very irritating knock I had coming out of my front end disappeared.
 
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