It's a 2 wheel drive/4 door Cummins.. The shaking started gradually, maybe a year or so ago. Recent road trips of about 4,000 miles have made the truck pretty much un-driveable. Accelerating fast really gets it shaking. The steering wheel goes side to side..

Today, I removed the front wheels and checked the steering, ball joints and tie rods. They seem to be tight...that is, no play is visible. I checked the carrier bearing and it seems pretty loose. U-joints are tight... While I was under the truck I did notice diesel fuel dripping from a line coming off the firewall(engine) filter. Hopefully a filter change will fix that


Would the (driveshaft)carrier bearing cause it to behave this way?

oh...and I didn't check the motor mounts yet...

I have an 03 2500 4x4. I would look at the driveshaft, had plenty of problems until I changed to a one piece shaft. All was good after that. It was a factory driveshaft from a later model Ram. I wish I could remember more info on the part number and such.

John

Did you "Unload" the ball joints when you checked them??? I'd say you've got 2 possibilities.....foobared ball joints or separating tires. Driveshaft joints etc. are NOT going to make the front shake.

Just checked some websites and it seems to be fairly common. Some suggest that the driveshaft angle is off and needs to be reset and others the carrier bearing.

so.. I guess I'll be looking for a heavy duty carrier bearing.. urethane?

or this? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/tmk-hb3513/overview/make/dodge/model/ram-3500/year/2005

I thought I did.... I replaced the upper ball joints 3 years ago and have the lowers but didn't get them in yet I'm going to give it another shot tomorrow... See if I can get some movement.

From a dead stop it starts acting up... speed makes it worse.

So it is not bad like the dreaded death wobble?

http://www.kevinsoffroad.com/dodge-wobble-ram-death-wobble-causes-cures/

My '98 1500 has(had) that problem... scary as hell! the 3500..I think it's a different issue.

a drive-line issue will not feedback thru the steering wheel on your 2WD Ram. You have bad tires and or balance issues and or worn out front end parts. An acceleration vibration or shake will feedback thru the whole truck and is a different and separate issue.

Those are my thoughts also.. I'm thinking there are 2(at least) different problems

I know you guys are trying to help.. but there is one thing you are wrong about. Sometimes a driveline problem will feed back all the way to the steering. It's happened to me more than once. My '98 was the worse case in point. It started shaking-vibrating to the point of where it messed with my vision. The carrier bearings had blown up and just about everything inside the case was hosed too.


and then there was the death shake.. which I don't think was ever fixed but covered it up by going to good shocks..Monroe Sensa-Trac

The tires are 5 years old and need replaced. I just hate to buy new tires only to have them wear out prematurely.

I'll jack around on the front-end again Wednesday..

My 06 3500 4x4 lower front ball joints where wore out at 20 thousand miles at normal driving. I know you have 2 wheel drive but dodge had-has a bad issue with there ball joints. I expected at least 200 thousand miles for a heavy duty 3500 and was blown away by there use of crummy parts they put on these trucks, everything is either braking or falling off!!! Also redid trans at 40,000 miles, just a road truck no pulling.

Mine had that dreaded death wobble in the front end where you can't begin to hold the steering wheel still. It only had to do it to me once and that was enough to figure out whats wrong. I put a new dampening shock on the front drag link and it was gone. Installed shock at about 220K. It has about 230K on it now and I will need to do the ball joints this summer, along with another *^#@!%^# injecter.

I don't know about the 2-Wheel drive, but I have gotten two recall notices for my 2005 4x4, one to replace the drag link and one to replace a tie-rod end. I also have to replace my ball joints, got the parts sitting in the garage, along with the new front unit wheel bearings, just need time to replace them.

If the vibration is in fact starting from start and getting worse when sped up then you have a tire issue. Swapping the tires with the rears will at least change the vibration from front (steering wheel) to rear (seat of the pants feeling)

All it takes is a bounce of a curb and a belt shifts and its junk. With all the pot holes this winter here in CT, I am surprised my 3500 doesn't have the same issue. If your tires are worn out then replacement is necessary. Swap your spare into the mix (try swapping out the left then the right with the spare) and see if that helps.

I aligned vehicles for GM for a lot of years and that same type of issue was common with all larger trucks (2500 and 3500) because of E-ply tires. Once the tires are worn down they heat up and a good bump would send them in a bad way.

Hope this helped!
Good luck and keep us informed.
Joe

I think that's a lot of the problem.. I haven't posted in a few day so here's the update...

I ordered a new driveshaft carrier bearing
TIMKEN HB351 from Autozone(Ebay) and waiting for it to be delivered.

I replaced the passenger side ball joint..today. Pretty easy compared to my '98 SST.
Took the truck for a test drive and it stills shakes

so... when the driveline part gets here that will go on and next will be 2 new tires for the front. No reason to swap them around to check wobble-shakes because I still need tires.


stay tuned