Shudder/Vibration With Load In 1st Gear Uphill

[Tsherm14]

I have a 2014 4x4 tradesman deleted with DRD tunes at about 85k miles.

I recently pulled about 5500 pounds up a steep winding hill in 1st, and I kept my rpm above 2000, but I still felt a bad vibration.

Does anyone have an idea of what to start looking at for problems?

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[watersupply189]

Check your u-joints and drive shaft.


2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, CC, 4x4

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[toyota_mdt_tech]

Check your u-joints and drive shaft.


2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, CC, 4x4

Bingo, especially the rear one.

As you load it, the pinion wants to climb the ring gear pointing the pinion angle up higher putting a tighter kink or bend in the rearmost joint.

A quick inspection, dont look for looseness, they fail, they get tight first, look for red rust as a dead giveaway.

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[Tsherm14]

Thanks for the replies.

I checked for looseness first, but that doesn’t seem to be the issue; there is some red rust.

Do you all have a recommendation on which u-joints to go with?

I’ve heard the one replacements aren’t great.

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[toyota_mdt_tech]

Thanks for the replies.

I checked for looseness first, but that doesn’t seem to be the issue; there is some red rust.

Do you all have a recommendation on which u-joints to go with?

I’ve heard the one replacements aren’t great.

Yes, red rust, it is dust/gone. Spicers are great, but no grease fittings on most (good a bad points to that). Moogs, decent, AC Delo, OE of course. But a thing on greaseable ones, which I like, the fittings in the cross create a weak spot, its a hole which is a stress riser which is where a break will occur. So keep this in mind when installing this type. Set it up so under forward load, you are pushing the zerk hole "closed" vs pulling it apart or open. Does this make sense? Lots of us pull heavy, so this is more critical them lets say a little 1500 or a compact truck hauling a load of beauty bark once in a while.

Also, the zerk will be off to one side, point it towards the drivelines center. So if its a one piece rear shaft, rear zerk points forward, front joint points backward, otherwise, cant get a grease gun on it

If you do 2 or 3 joints, use the same rule, but make sure when the prop shaft is installed, the slip yoke is phased right (mark it so you do get it out of balance) and make sure all zerks are all inline. So when you climb under to grease it, all zerks points downward/inline.

Now another option, there is a heavier duty joint, the zerk is at the end of one of the caps. You dont need to worry about the load deal, but do keep them all on the same plane too for easy greasing and anyone will know they were professionally installed.

Now some of those zerks on the end of the caps may be the small needle point type as they are not as well protected, so the needle type keeps them safe, if you dont have a needle tip adapter, you can put regular zerks in there, but if you drag bottom, better take a peek at the zerks.

I am a professional tech of many years, a type A ultra finicky type with a mind like an engineer, so anything short, I can spot a "hack tech"s work a mile away. These little things gets under my skin.

Holler if you need more help.

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[toyota_mdt_tech]

Oh, I might add, spendy, but making removing and installing Ujoints a dream is the tiger tool.

One for removal, one for installation.

This is the medium one for our trucks; if you have an aluminum driveshaft, super easy to damage with a hammer.

Great for removal



Great for installation.



Not a Tiger brand, but it works.

You can get the OEM one for remover like the Tiger one, lots less money.

Make sure it's the intermediate; small won't fit our trucks; it will fit earlier Gens.

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[Tsherm14]

Appreciate all the help, it looks like I’ve got some work to do!

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[toyota_mdt_tech]

Appreciate all the help, it looks like I’ve got some work to do!

Dont forget to follow up here after the repair, we want to know if our guessnosis was right.

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[Tsherm14]

2B9A5B53-83B2-41E4-A386-187C21A1C19C.jpg

So I asked a friend to look at the joints, and he said it didn’t look distinctly red.

They aren’t loose at all.

Would you still recommend changing the joints to solve the issue?

I don’t want to pull the driveline and do all that work if it’s unnecessary.

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[watersupply189]

2B9A5B53-83B2-41E4-A386-187C21A1C19C.jpg

So I asked a friend to look at the joints, and he said it didn’t look distinctly red.

They aren’t loose at all.

Would you still recommend changing the joints to solve the issue?

I don’t want to pull the driveline and do all that work if it’s unnecessary.

How many miles do you have on them?

If anything, I would change them.

They may feel tight by hand, but under a load might be a different story.

It may solve the issue or may not, but at least you would eliminate one of the easier fixes.

Please keep us posted, friend.


2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, CC, 4x4

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