So I picked up a 96 4dr 4x4 with 150K on it for $1300 about a year ago, i've been slowly replacing parts to get it up to my standards, and most recently were tires.

The old tires had good tread, but were almost 10 years old and were shot. I couldn't take the truck much over 65mph with out terrible vibrations. So I didn't, well I finally got around to changing the tires, and wow, the vibration is still there.. WTF?

Now I OWN a Hunter 9700 roadforce tire balancer and have a mounting machine as well, so i know the tires are 100% balanced and road force matched to the rims.

Still vibrates at between 65/75mph bad.

So I looked at the driveshaft; OE Ujoints, none are tight, replace them anyway, vibration still exists.

I find the TSB in this forum about the vibration, and it says to deal with it...

WTF again!

So I jacked it up, spun the thing 70+mph on jack stands with front end on the ground, and at the rear end it was smooth as glass... At the tailshaft of the trans, it was blurry it was vibrating so bad, but no leaks at the seal and the tailshaft is tight.

Now what do I do? I was looking at balance masters driveshaft balancer, and/or high speed drive shaft balancing. Has anyone here done either of these?

HELP!

I'm ordering the balance master today. If it doesn't work, I'll be trying to find a high speed balance shop for the driveshaft.

After that I'll have a low mileage (165K) 96 4dr 4x4 LT for sale... (I drive 3 hours a day at hwy speeds)

 

Sounds like there`s a problem with the rear end gears or bearings..Since the truck is 4x4 ,last owner may have dogged her out.If I where you..I would have someone look at it.Don`t just take it to any mechanic.Take it to a place that works on 4x4`s and rear ends.That way they can pull the cover,check out the gears and bearings for wear.Does it make any kind of(whinning ) noises?

 

i bet the nose cone of the drive shafts inner splines or the out put splines of the transmission are worn with slack in them letting that end of the drive shaft wobble

 

Our old 2004 Silverado 2500HD had reoccurring issues with the rear driveshaft. Ultimately it ended up being a failure of the oil pump inside the transfer case not properly lubricating the slip yoke bushing in the tailhousing causing it to burn out and allow excessive slop in the slip yoke. Eventually it wore the slip yoke to the point of needing replacement. Those things are expensive.

If you pull your driveshaft and there is no fluid on the slip yoke, you have a problem in the t-case.

 

The rear Yoke is tight, and the rear end is tight. My front yoke on the driveshaft when spun looked like this...


it's not my video, but it is very similar.

I tried a Balancemaster for driveshafts from balancemasters.com and it actually made the problem worse, indicating an out of round issue. I didn't invesigate much further as I thought the balancemaster would fix it but apparently it's going to take some further digging. I'm almost to the point of taking out the rear driveshaft and running it on the front end only to see if that eliminates it...

I was also looking into the Jeep cherokee driveshaft as a fix here:

Jeep CV Driveshaft SYE 242J 231J TJ YJ XJ ZJ Cherokee | eBay

I drive 3 hours a day at highway speeds, I really need this fixed.

 

Ive been dealing with a front vibration for 40k miles now. I recently installed a rc lift and had all new bearings installed in front axle. Hubs were done 30k miles ago with no resolution to the vibration.
Im now removing axle shaft on pass side and removing axle bar and installing just the cup into axle and remove shaft from cv wheel side and installing just the cup into hub assembly to see if theres any vibration. This is my last attempt since all else has been replaced or inspected. Wish me luck. Maybe Ill have a 3x4 wheeler with no vibration.

 

I cannot figure it out. Drove with right half shaft removed with cup installed on axle and ccv cup installed on hub assembly with no resolution.

Can it be driven with half shafts removed on both sides and no harm to the wheel hub bearings?

 

i would take the drive shaft out and go have it balanced and also check inside the transfer case output to see if there are any worn splines if you can just get the driveshaft rebuilt to solve any other problems that can occur later. i would also coat the drive shaft with a rustproofing paint/coating so it don't rust like the one in the vid :P

 

Its not the tranfer case output shaft because I had the truck on stands and ran in 2wd with no shimmy/vibration. I have the 4 button so the output shaft always spins. Its when its in 4wd I get the vibration or driving off stands in 2wd/4wd.

 

I was considering just running the truck as a 2wd with the axle shafts removed with joint cups in place.