Driveshaft woes

danoid · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 8:07 am

Hopefully this story can help others diagnose those odd noises and shakes these vehicles are unfortunately prone to.

The first symptom was an odd high pitched squeak backing out of the garage. It was…
only in Reverse,
pulsing in time with vehicle speed,
only moving (in either direction) – if you were rolling forward it would start immediately if you shifted into reverse,
if you shifted into Neutral while rolling in either direction it went away,
not related to the application of the brakes,
only if the car had been sitting a few hours.

This went on for almost a month.

The next symptom was a sound at freeway speeds. Sounded like a punk Honda with no muffler was driving next to me. Except no one was there. This went on for only 2 hours before the next symptom appeared.

The final straw was a violent shaking at 25-30 mph. My calibrated gluteus maximus told me it was coming from the rear of the vehicle. This one was independent of braking, coasting, or driving. If you shift into Neutral it improved, but didn’t go completely away.

My thought was driveline. So when I got home I put on the old sweatshirt and started crawling under. Imagine my dismay to find the front axle soaked in oil. My dismay increased when I found out the Mopar price of a new front axle. $1800. (Yet for some reason the price of the 3.55 ratio was only $1000 – gouging anyone?)

Lacking any fast alternative (I didn’t want to drive it and increase the damage), Libby went to the stealership.

The short story was – no explanation for the front axle oil, a new rear driveshaft, and $250.

The violent shaking, ‘Honda’ noise, and squeak are gone. I haven’t had a chance to see if that bump after you come to a stop and let off the brake has improved.

After reading other recent posts, it's likely that only the u-joints were the main culprit, however if the bump after you come to a stop is improved, the extra cost of an entire new assembly is OK by me.

dritchie · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 8:29 am

Now you just have to find where that oil came from....always something isn't it.

DAve

kccrd · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:35 pm **Posts:** 267

That bump when you stop might be the right motor mount mine used to do that until I had that motor mount tightened no problem in 3 years and 110k.

007husky · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 2:50 pm

Same here, random squeaking started one day only when i n gear and only when power was applied to the truck (reverse or forward), i crawled on the side of the jeep and let someone drive it next to me ( i trust my friend and he needed A LOT of encouraging to convince him to drive it next to me, such a pssy cat...).
noise was coming from the back. Sprayed some lube on the rear shaft Ujoint, noise went away... fast diagnosis => new Ujoints. or In my case, new shaft (wich comes fully preassembled for 200 bucks.. hasn`t arrived yet) since i have no space to work on my truck.

bugnout · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 4:45 pm

kccrd wrote:

That bump when you stop might be the right motor mount mine used to do that until I had that motor mount tightened no problem in 3 years and 110k.

Could also be the drive shaft. Need to grease up the slip yoke while you have the ds out.

Big Montana · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 7:57 pm

My shaft was replaced awhile ago after trying to pull a friend out on ice (my road turns to a solid sheet of ice because there is no crown). I shifted from 2wd to 4wd and I didn't realize the wheels were spinning on the ice. The turque must have screwed up the drive shaft. During the week after the event, it made the same noise. I thought a tire lost a balance weight or something. I don't know what the oil is all about though.

My rear shaft is just now starting to make that bump noise/feeling that everyone is talking about. I need a few things off of moparpartsamerica.com, so I think I better buy the CV joints.

Driveshaft woes

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