I drove about 130 miles in the morning, then after a few hours I left for work and I noticed a bad vibration as soon as I got up to about 10mph. anything over about 30 is really bad. Tried in low gear and it is about the same (lower speed tho) I have heard some clicking in the past but it comes and goes. Is it possible I have a u-joint issue? Usually I hear them squeaking at low speeds but not this time. seems to be bad when power is applied. shifting into neutral makes it go away (sort of)

Have not had the truck too long and it was around 15 degrees(F) yesterday with blowing snow so I didn't crawl under. I'll have to hijack my neighbor's driveway as I don't have one, or even a garage and will have to do some snow shoveling first. about 130K on the truck,
Any thoughts before I start digging??

 

Sounds like a U-joint to me. squeaking was like a hamster wheel at slow speed, right?

 

Never squeaked at low speeds...

Hard to convince myself to jack it up and crawl under after 1 1/2 hours of moving snow, and the temp only got up to 20 degrees.. maybe tomorrow as the temp is supposed to hit 33... I am so tired of this winter, even with the sleds waiting on the trailer, I need a truck to get them to the trails...

 

Got my head under the truck for a peek at the front drive shaft upper u-joint almost through the cap on the transfer case yoke. I dropped it off at a repair shop. too many fires to put out. My son's Grand Prix caught on fire this morning and melted the motor/front end. Just not a good day...

 

Wow, I would say not a good day!

 

It got better. The shop I dropped the LR at called and said I need a new front drive shaft and they don't know where to get one. They said I should pick up the truck... Sods like they make too much money to turn down a good repair!!

Guess I will be laying in the snowbank removing a driveshaft.....

 

Sounds like maybe they did you a favor. Places that don't want to make easy repairs or say the whole shaft is no good make me leery. Unless the flanges or yokes are broken it's probably just a matter of installing two $20 ujoints.

 

You can get along without a front driveshaft, if you have to. I believe you need to put it in diff lock (high) though, Otherwise the front driveshaft stub will just spin since it has the least resistance. Someone should chime in. There is stuff in the archives about this.

 

Thanks. I have done that on Ford trucks to get them into the shop I worked at years ago. I am guessing the driveshaft might be OK, just really didn't want to jack it up and crawl under the truck in 20 degree weather and snow on the ground. I hear we are expecting blizzard conditions tomorrow and colder weather after that.

 

As long as the slip joint is not sloppy it is straight forward, be sure the nut is tight on the Transfer case flange, been told by a rover tech they are found loose often ???