Symptoms (they may or may not be related considering that I have had problem 2 for a while now but 1 just started):

1) The steering wheel has started to pulsate back to center while turning.
2) The truck starts to vibrate in a pulsating way when going over 55 mph.

I did some research and I have come up with them being possible u-joint issues. I do not know a lot about u-joints so I was hoping someone could chime in to help point me in the correct direction. I've heard there are two types - axle u-joints and drive shaft u-joints. I am not sure which would case these problems to occur.

Any experienced input would be very helpful. Lift specs are in my sig and I do have an SYE if that matters at all. Thanks.

 

Drive shaft joints are not affected by steering being turned .

 

That is what I thought for steering but for driving on the highway I figured it could be a possibility.

 

Easy diagnosis remove shaft and drive.

 

Can I drive with the front drive shaft off or will the yoke come flying out?

 

Yokes are bolted on.

 

K, I will give it a shot Saturday when I get to work to see if it changes the high speed vibration. Thanks for the input. Any ideas for the steering issue?

 

Could be the u joints on the axle shafts

 

I just lifted the front end in the air and felt for any play in each axle u-joint - both were solid and didn't have any play.

Track bar is tight and I have 1-ton UTK JCR steering that was installed last year that is all tight as well.

I think it may be time to change the power steering box based on the steering vibrations. Any thoughts on this or anything else I can check? I am going to remove the front drive shaft and drive home without it to see if that rids of the driving vibrations.

 

Update to an old thread:

I removed the driveshaft a while back and drove it home - it felt much better. Little to no vibration like before. Now I am wondering, is it my driveshaft that is causing the issue, or the transfer case end that it bolts up to? Could it be that my front driveshaft needs to be rebalanced?