Death wobble with all new front end.

[Hipster]

THIS. When I was a kid I remember my dad's (now mine) '89 Firebird would vibrate like mad on the highway. You could feel it in the floor and you could see the dash oscillating back & forth like a hummingbird's wings.. Turned out the driveshaft needed to be balanced and a u-joint was toast.

Years later, my wife had a 1989 Town Car. It started to have a pulse type vibration between 70 & 80 mph akin to a throbbing pain somewhere on your body. Front u-joint was worn out in that case.

I watched a Ram 1500 right in front of me lose the front joint and it pole vaulted the truck straight up on it's front bumper end over end forward onto it's roof in 60 mph bumper to bumper morning rush hour traffic. Nobody got hurt but that must have been one hella O'shyt moment for the driver.

 

[Dd1994]

THIS. When I was a kid I remember my dad's (now mine) '89 Firebird would vibrate like mad on the highway. You could feel it in the floor and you could see the dash oscillating back & forth like a hummingbird's wings.. Turned out the driveshaft needed to be balanced and a u-joint was toast.

Years later, my wife had a 1989 Town Car. It started to have a pulse type vibration between 70 & 80 mph akin to a throbbing pain somewhere on your body. Front u-joint was worn out in that case.

The vibration is much less pronounced now but still there. The worst symptom of the wobbling was my wife complaining that the truck is gonna flip over I thought u fixed it, so luckily thata gone

You don't need one out from under a truck that's been moved around the yard on a forklift or dragged over stuff. Find a driveline shop and have it checked . You can't tell if it's good or not or tossed the weight off of it by looking at it. You might get lucky or not but if you put a J/y one and still have a vibration you still won't be able to rule out the driveshaft as the problem.

Would it be worth it to pull it and flip it incase it's out of phase since it literally fell out theres no way to ensure it was reinstalled the same orientation. Before taking it to be balanced.

 

[Hipster]

The vibration is much less pronounced now but still there. The worst symptom of the wobbling was my wife complaining that the truck is gonna flip over I thought u fixed it, so luckily thata gone

Would it be worth it to pull it and flip it incase it's out of phase since it literally fell out theres no way to ensure it was reinstalled the same orientation. Before taking it to be balanced.

You can try flipping it 180 degrees sometimes it does help if it's minor. If you had or were inclined to purchase a cheap magnetic dial indicator set you can jack up the rear wheels , mount the indicator to the body, spin the driveshaft by hand and check for run out in a couple places along it's length.

 

[Dd1994]

You can try flipping it 180 degrees sometimes it does help if it's minor. If you had or were inclined to purchase a cheap magnetic dial indicator set you can jack up the rear wheels , mount the indicator to the body, spin the driveshaft by hand and check for run out in a couple places along it's length.

the vibration is fairly minor now, I can feel it in the floorboard a bit especially at certain speeds when coasting , but not nearly like before. Interesting to note though right after I redid the u joints and reinstalled the driveshaft the wobble got way worse then after new wheels and balancing it went away so that leads me to think maybe it is out of phase.

 

[someotherguy]

If my driveshaft fell out it would be going to the driveshaft shop without question. I don't know why you seem to averse to the excellent advice provided here. Driveshaft balancing is not expensive, and in your case, it would be my #1 suspect. Fact of the matter is, even if the driveshaft turns out to be fine, it's pretty much worth the price of admission just to be able to rule it out.

Richard

 

[Hipster]

If my driveshaft fell out it would be going to the driveshaft shop without question. I don't know why you seem to averse to the excellent advice provided here. Driveshaft balancing is not expensive, and in your case, it would be my #1 suspect. Fact of the matter is, even if the driveshaft turns out to be fine, it's pretty much worth the price of admission just to be able to rule it out.

Richard

Pretty much how I look at it. Vibrations and harmonics can be funny. They like to accelerate wear and /or destroy the stuff they are attached to. Like tailshaft housings. You can replace your steering with all new stuff and put your old wobbly out of balance flat spotted tires back on and wear out all the new stuff in a few thousand miles.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

My 2006 Ram had it once. Warped front rotors. My 97 Express van also had it once. The tires were seperating and ballooned. Both were practically uncontrollable when they started wobbling.

 

[Dd1994]

If my driveshaft fell out it would be going to the driveshaft shop without question. I don't know why you seem to averse to the excellent advice provided here. Driveshaft balancing is not expensive, and in your case, it would be my #1 suspect. Fact of the matter is, even if the driveshaft turns out to be fine, it's pretty much worth the price of admission just to be able to rule it out.

Richard

My aversion is that my wife is going to kill me if I spend any more money. Also I prefer to do stuff myself. Also it didnt fall out completely it just detached from the pinion yoke. Was still in the transfer case and I was pulling onto the shoulder when it fell out, because of how bad it was vibrating right before.

 

[someotherguy]

Details matter, your original post says "driveshaft fell out on high way" which sounds more severe than what you just said. Still, it's a concern, and it's not something that most people can DIY since it takes specialized equipment and skills. You should at least CALL a driveshaft shop before writing off this approach.

Richard

 

[Hipster]

My aversion is that my wife is going to kill me if I spend any more money. Also I prefer to do stuff myself. Also it didnt fall out completely it just detached from the pinion yoke. Was still in the transfer case and I was pulling onto the shoulder when it fell out, because of how bad it was vibrating right before.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's not like you didn't have any warning signs. The time to save money was before it fell out on the highway. Preventative maintenance goes a long way. Be glad she didn't slap you for endangering not only her life but others on the highway.

I'll never understand people that drive their mess until it's coming apart going down the highway.