Terrible Vibration in 4th or 5th High

[DomUnique]

Well I finally got enough stuff fixed so I could take the new Deuce for a bit of a road test, It was delivered to me on a trailer last week, I suppose the seller new it that's why he included free delivery. Well I made it a little way down the road and once I hit about 25 in 4th it started shaking real bad and had an awful clang. I was thinking U-joints but did not notice any that bad when I was greasing them.

I pulled both front and rear drive-shafts off and can now run through the gears in the driveway. It still had an awful clanging noise and vibration once I hit 4th over about 25 mph. I found that the parking brake was rattling so I removed that, now the clanging noise is gone but it still has a terrible vibration when in High range. When it's in low range, 5th gear almost to max RPM it seems fine. I'm guessing it has to be something in the transfer case on the output side. Maybe the parking brake drum?

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[DomUnique]

Thanks for the Tip I will check those too.

As it stands I'm only pretending to drive down the road since I have taken off both driveshafts and still have the vibration when I hit 4th above 25 mph on the speedo.

 

[cranetruck]

Make sure the u-joints are "phased" correctly.

 

[jwaller]

you do not need to pull the drive shafts. just put the transfer case in Neutral.

 

[ironhorsethegeneral]

It may be a chipped gear in the transfer case.

 

[JRBAMATEX]

Check your flange connectors on both ends of the short drive shaft that is between the transmission and the t-case. Probably not a bad idea to take the shaft out out and check the input and output shaft nut tightness and shaft straightness. Turn by hand and make sure the shafts transmission and t-case turn true and don't wobble. They shouldn't but not a bad idea to check while you are there. The shaft nuts are big nuts. 1.5'' - 2'' neighborhood if I recall correctly. They should have a cotter pin keeping them from backing out but sometimes it is not present. If not then torque down the shaft nuts and put the coter pins in. The shaft is made in two peices with a keyed center so that it can slide back and forth durring installation and when the truck tourques up under load. The shaft needs lube in that keyed part. sometimes the collar that keeps the two pieces of the shaft together gets loose and this may allow play in the shaft. When you put it all back together make sure you match the ears on the flanges match.

Good luck,

 

[JRBAMATEX]

Check your flange connectors on both ends of the short drive shaft that is between the transmission and the t-case. Probably not a bad idea to take the shaft out out and check the input and output shaft nut tightness and shaft straightness. Turn by hand and make sure the shafts transmission and t-case turn true and don't wobble. They shouldn't but not a bad idea to check while you are there. The shaft nuts are big nuts. 1.5'' - 2'' neighborhood if I recall correctly. They should have a cotter pin keeping them from backing out but sometimes it is not present. If not then torque down the shaft nuts and put the coter pins in. The shaft is made in two peices with a keyed center so that it can slide back and forth durring installation and when the truck tourques up under load. The shaft needs lube in that keyed part. sometimes the collar that keeps the two pieces of the shaft together gets loose and this may allow play in the shaft. When you put it all back together make sure you match the ears on the flanges match.

Good luck,

 

[JRBAMATEX]

One other thing. If your parking break was causing the clanging noise it could be that the drum (AS YOU ALREADY SUSPECTED) is not tight on its flanges. if so then it could be wobblingand causing the vibration. The vibration may not become noticable until the shaft reaches a certian speed. I had a similar experience when I replace all my T-case seals and rebuilt my park break.

 

[DomUnique]

I did some more testing today, and I do not think it is between the trans/transfer but I will check that aswell.

When in low range 5th near max RPM it just starts to become noticable. Transfer case in netural seems fine, but once I put the transfer in High and hit about 25 on the speedo she rattles like mad, now today I put it in 5th and slowly brought her up to near redline and the vibration does seem to get a little better above 45.

I'm gonna do like you said and check the yoke nut and while I have that off I'll remove the parking drum just to see if thats the culprit, It should not be loose since when I removed the rear shaft I rattled the nuts back on just to old the drum in place.

Thanks much for the Idea's, I'm just hoping I don't have to drop that t-case out, what a chore that will be.

 

[BimmerPower]

DomUnique, and updates on your situation??

I just had the same thing happen to me yesterday. My deuce has been driving great since I got it about 6 months back, and now all of a sudden after 30mph it starts vibrating like it never has (shaking the mirrors to the point where its a blur) and there is a loud clanging noise like the hood hasn't been latched correctly.

I hope it's nothing major but I did a quick check of the whole truck and everything looked fine. Anyone have any more ideas?

 

[BimmerPower]

I think I may have stumbled across the problem but i'm going to have to check in the AM (the Tonka's too loud at night for the neighbors). I took a better look under the truck and found that ALL 4 driveshaft bolts from the trans side were loose and almost about to fall out. I could spin everyone with my fingers. Could this cause the vibration/noise that I was hearing?

 

[ctmustang]

yep that would do it and is a common occurance on deuces. I would periodically check all driveshaft bolts.

 

[stampy]

I'll bet thats it. I was betting on driveshaft or yoke connection. I lost a driveshaft in my CUCV highway at 70 mph and it wasn't vibrating badly. I would line it up and tighten it down and hit the road again, after checking all the other bolts.

 

[bryan70546]

lock washers and some loc-tite will help on those.

 

[Westex]

Reviving an older thread here, I've had this noise that I can only describe as a "thrumming" sound coming from my deuce. It has an interval of every two seconds and is noticeable after about 3rd gear up. So I got under it after reading posts here, etc... and checked every single driveshaft bolt on every single driveshaft, especially the jackshaft. All were tight. This has been going on for over 200 miles, and I've been over the truck and just can't figure out what's making this noise. It's a vibration, yes, but it doesn't shake the truck badly. Truck runs and drives fine. Best I've been able to come up with....maybe it is the tires making some kind of harmonic?

 

[stumps]

I vote parking brake drum. With your drive shafts out (you said they were), try applying it slightly when you have the engine up to speed, and the clanking is a clanking. It should go away.

If it was the transmission, it would still be there when the transfer case was in low... you said it isn't. If it was the short propeller shaft between the transmission and the T-case, it should also be there when the T-case is in low.

If you can get under the deuce when it is making noise (with the drive shafts removed), look at the various shafts and see which one is dancing.

As always, chock the wheels, and keep yourself low to avoid becoming a statistic.

One other thing, unloaded gear cases are quite noisy. The gears don't have much friction holding them back, and the normal gear slop tends to rattle quite a bit. You might have to actually go for a ride.

-Chuck

 

[Westex]

Now we're getting somewhere... However, there is no 'clanking'; it makes no such noise or vibration if engine revved and just sitting there; but Stumps, you got me thinking here, this started after, repeat after, I dropped a load of water at my ranch and ran pretty much empty on to San Antonio. The gear slop may be it.

 

[stumps]

Now we're getting somewhere... However, there is no 'clanking'; it makes no such noise or vibration if engine revved and just sitting there; but Stumps, you got me thinking here, this started after, repeat after, I dropped a load of water at my ranch and ran pretty much empty on to San Antonio. The gear slop may be it.

Gear slop usually makes noises only when the transmission/differential is completely unloaded... An example is when you lift one wheel on a conventional rear wheel drive car, and run up the engine in gear. The gears in the differential will become quite a clank factory as the wheel turns a constant speed, due to the flywheel affect, but the engine changes speed a bit. Every time it shifts from the engine driving the wheel to the wheel driving the engine, you will hear the gear slop get taken up, and a clank noise will happen. The clanking sounds like a bad differential, but it isn't.

I didn't notice that this was an old thread, so I was mostly responding to the original poster's problem... I'll have to think a bit more about yours.

-Chuck

 

[badgmc56]

Why don't you just remove the small shaft between the trans and the transfer case. If the vibration is still there, everything past that point is ok. If it is gone then reinstall the small shaft with the first driveshaft to the rears out and see if it comes back. If it comes back then the problem is in the transfer case or the front driveshaft or front diff. Remove the front driveshaft to eliminate that. Do this right down the line to find out what componant is the culprit. You will need to jack the truck up and secure it to check the rear ends.

 

[Juggernaut]

My deuce also has an oscillating vibration after 3rd gear, only when in gear, either coasting or under load. The vibration does increase but not in correlation with the speed of the driveline; it only speeds up slightly. All the u-joint bolts are tight including the jack shaft. Let me know if you figure it out. Thanks,