On a road trip, moving west and have another couple days of driving to go and last night some vibration started.

The vibration is enough to go throughout vehicle and only happens over 25mph/40km; unless it is undetectable before then. When off the throttle, the vibration is barely there or not at all.

Not long before this, I happened to need to fill the differential with 75w-90 gear oil because of a small tick that occurred in sync with rolling. It was a little low (it did not drip when I took out the plug) The tick seemed to stop after filled.

Talked with local shop and he’s going to balance the wheels tomorrow; alas, I do not think this is the problem because vibration stops after I’m off the throttle.


What I’ve done so far to find cause of vibration:

-left/right turn lock and found no clicking for cv joint

-put up the front, spun tire/driveshaft and wiggled u-joint and it seems solid.

-driveshaft appears solid

-The vibration happens the same way no matter what gear I am in.

So, if it is not a balancing with the wheels, I’m thinking it might be:

Wheel bearing? But there is no grinding.
Engine mount?

I don’t see any symptoms beside the vibration, so everything seems like a costly & laborious shot in the dark.

I did not try to put in difflock to see if it persist, mostly cause I do not want to cause more damage if it’s serious.

Any help or other ways to rule other problems out would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Engine mount or transmount is an easy place to look, how severe is the vibration? Does the vibration change significantly based on load? I am thinking broken flex plate, or torque converter.

 

Mounts are good.
I’m in not way qualified to truly diagnose but It doesn’t appear to be the flex plate.

There are no issues what so ever with shifting or gears slipping. No grinding noises.

Went ahead and engaged the differential lock as well as putting it in Low and the vibration weakened to like 80% but undoubtedly still there in the same fashion.

Now I’m going over simple things like loose lugs, damaged chassis…

Will get wheels balanced tomorrow at local shop and ask about anything that may seem evident.

Updates on the way.

 

Its mild but not weak I haven’t pushed it past 45 to see if it would subside. It definitely appears to be the front end, too.

 

I had something very similar to this and it ended up being my front driveshaft was about to let go- thankfully I caught it just in time. It might be worth your time to take out the front shaft and give it a good inspection, one of the bearings in mine was totally dry and was basically disintegrating. The biggest tell for me was it only happened once a certain speed had been reached and only when under load.

 

Hey all,

Turns out one of the universal joints busted. Replaced it today and put back in place; however, before tightening to the 35 ft./lb spec, it started pouring. Way too much rain. I should probably oil or wd-40 the surfaces to repel water and wipe away before tightening, but it is a mess of water out there!

So, we’ll see after tightening if that was, in fact, the reason behind the symptoms. Another update coming soon.