I have a 1999 Dodge ram 3500 2wd with nv4500. I get a bad vibration at speeds above 55mph it all started when I put a set of old used tires on it. So I thought it was the tires, I had them balanced multiple times, tried balance beads these all changed the vibration one way or another. Changed bead amounts from 3oz all the way to 10 oz. I've done u joints, carrier bearing,tail shaft bearing all with little to no effect. The vibration feels like it's right under my seat and or towards the rear end. The shifter handle will shake badley when I'm on the highway at 55-70mph. Its intermittent it will some times go away for 30 seconds or some then slowly come back and start shaking like a *****. Acceleration and deceleration seem to have no effect on making the vibration worse or better when it is happening. Also I will mention my rear diff has a spun bearing on the ring gear side and I recently tried putting a new bearing on but that one slid right onto the shaft as well. I just got a set of brand new tires about a week ago and thought I had fixed the problem hopped on the highway got up to 70 and it was smooth as glass. Only went one exit so didn't get to go for long. The next day on my way to work the start of the highway was smooth then it started to get worse the longer I drove. It has always seemed to make the vibration worse the longer I drive. Sorry for the long winded post there's a lot of other details I could add but im at my wits end ive tried everything.

Have you checked the wheels for being true?

Have you pulled both driveshafts and had them checked for true and balanced?

Have you checked both front and rear wheel bearings for any sloppy bearings?

No slop in the front or rear wheel bearings, wheels spin true, have not had the drive shafts balanced. This all started when I installed those 10 year old Firestone transforce at tires a few months ago. I figured it was a bad balance so I had town fair tire balanced them, after being balanced I immediately got a horrible brake pulse if I stopped 60-0 by the time I was at a stop the rear end was about hopping off the ground, removed weights and it immediately stopped. I didn't mention that it was only rear tires that got those Firestones, front got brand new tires and has always rode beautiful. They balanced again and it was better but vibration still came and went. That's when I swapped for balance beads it again got a little better but not great. Ended up changing the amounts of beads numerous times slowly increasing which made it slightly better. I now have brand new tires on the rear and problem is still there. Like I said in first post new u joints, center support bearing, tail shaft bushing. Which the tail shaft bushing helped quite a bit for a little bit and the vibration slowly came back and my bushing was worn again with slop in the slip yoke.just replaced bushing again today and vibration still present

Would I be able to run the truck up to speed first with axles removed in the rear, then with the tail end of the drive shaft removed then with the whole drive shaft removed to see if the vibration goes away when wheels aren't spinning, then when diff isn't spinning then when back half and front half of drive shaft aren't spinning? Then I could narrow down what's actually causing this

2 minutes ago, daav544 said:

Would I be able to run the truck up to speed first with axles removed in the rear, then with the tail end of the drive shaft removed then with the whole drive shaft removed to see if the vibration goes away when wheels aren't spinning, then when diff isn't spinning then when back half and front half of drive shaft aren't spinning? Then I could narrow down what's actually causing this

That would work, just be sure to be on stable ground like asphalt or concrete. I wouldn't do this on dirt. Yes, you are correct if you pull the shafts in the rear axle, yes, then it's just the driveshaft. Stuff a rag in the axle tubes, it might push gear oil down the shaft ends while you are running the driveshaft. It's a good idea, and I'm waiting for the reply.

Edited April 20Apr 20 by Mopar1973Man

I can remove just the rear section of my two pieces drive shaft too right? So I'll test without axle tubes first eliminating wheels and tires. Then with back shaft disconnected eliminating differential. Then if possible remove front half of drive shaft so it's just the trans. I recently did main shaft shims since it was out of spec and I could move the shaft up and down a little. Counter shaft needs to be done as well, should have ordered the shims for it at the same time as the main shaft but I wasn't expecting that

Smooth as glass with axles removed, so it's tire, wheel, or drum and or wheel bearing issue id say

Now to figure out which side or both sides? Assuming rear axle. How about the from axle?

Ran it for quite a little bit to the point where the coolant temp got a lil above 190 so I stopped. Very minimal vibration, some but not anywhere near what it's like while on the highway at the same speeds. The amount I was feeling while at a stand still sitting in the cab was what I'd consider normal if I was cruising on the highway in this thing. When the vibration happens, door panels are shaking, side mirrors become blurry and useless, shift handle vibrates like a sob. I really hope that ive narrowed it down.

• The diff was spinning and everything seemed pretty manageable in my eyes from what I've been dealing with I'd be in heaven if this was the amount of vibration I had all the time. One thousand times better than what I feel come and go on the highway. Feels like when the truck smooths out for a few seconds before it starts vibrating again so I really hope I have narrowed it down to tires and or brakes. A while ago I spun it up on jack stands with tires on and without tires on and it vibrated more without tires on just brake drums and lug nuts on. Tires had balance beads in them at the time. They have beads in them now as well. Possibly my drums or something? And the balance beads helping balance out the drums at points ? Could something have broken in the drums and be spinning around in the drum throwing it off balance and sometimes not?

Id assume axle is fine, I'd like to think it's these brakes, they need replacing anyway

I'm about at my wits end with this thing Just when I think I've fixed this issue it comes back every time. Do I've found that the vibration usually doesn't start until I've gone a few miles on the highway (things fully warmed up idk) but on cold mornings seems to bee smoother for longer. Yesterday I removed all the rear wheels after noticing when running the truck on jack stands the driver side had two pretty noticeable out of round tires I took a sharpie as it was spinning and brought it close to the tire untill it started marking the high spot. Rotated tires 180 degrees on the rims and high spot not as bad but still in same location as previous markings so I don't believe it's the rim. I also run balancing beads they worked beautifully on my fronts before I purchased my rear set so I used them on the rear. Another thing I should mention is over the course of the past few months I have tried different amounts of balance beads starting at 6 oz going all the way down to two ounces and then back up all the way to 12 oz in each tire each time had some effect to the vibration. The thing I don't get is the temperature relation and or distance traveled having an effect first start in the morning and jumping right on the highway the truck will ride smooth for three or four exits or so and then the vibration starts coming on. Seems to be completely speed related between 55 to 80 or so. Below 55 the truck rides great and once in a while I'll find a sweet spot in between 55 to 70 where it seems to be a little smoother and or vibrate less. This whole ordeal started months and months ago when I put a new to me set of tires on the truck the tires were old with some dry cracking in between the treads but nearly New tread depth. I now have a brand new set of lexani terrain beast a/t 235/85-16 tires on the truck. But I'm a little curious about is when I originally put those new to me old tires on I had tried getting the brake drums off and had been banging on them not crazy hard but still banging on them. I just did a set of pads a couple of weekends ago and cleaned up some of the scaly rust off the drums yeah I should have gotten new drums but at 170 bucks a piece they're a little pricey. With the new pads in and lug nuts holding the drum I spun the drum as I was adjusting the star wheel like you do and trying to get it set where it has a light drag I noticed that once I got it where the pads started touching I left it and as I was spinning noticed there's a tight spot where it grabs more than the other three quarters of the rim still able to spend the drum by hand but definitely a more noticeable drag in one section of the drums. Could the issue possibly be drums this whole time the truck doesn't have any pulsing or vibrating while breaking could they have corroded enough over time and flaked off enough scale to be that far out of balance? Could me banging on the drum have messed it up? The fact I can hop on the highway and it will ride very smooth for a little bit until it warms up really throws me off. If I get in the truck at the end of the work day and hop on the highway the vibration is usually as soon as I get up to speed sometimes a little longer but it always rides smoother for longer when the truck is completely cold from overnight. The vibration feels pretty much identical to what it did with the old set of tires could both sets be out of round? I'm really starting to pull my hair out though it's been months going through this, changing everything, u joints, tires, amounts of balance beads, carrier bearing,tail shaft bushing, I even I even pulled the extension housing off my nv4500 and shimmed the main shaft because the shaft had some play. Sorry for writing a novel but any input would be much appreciated

Still hunting down this vibration issued, pulled the axles out and the carrier assembly, the wheel bearings had a tiny bit of play but nothing crazy and looked fine and spun great. I tightened spindle nut back to spec. Now for the carrier. When I first got this truck it needed spider gears for the power lok. If you know anything about the power loks then you know you can't get **** for them besides the clutches. I bought a whole used carrier and robbed the spiders out of it. My carrier had spun the bearing on the ring gear side at one point in its life. So after reassembling the carrier with the new spiders I took the bearing and added some retaining compound on it and slapped it back together. Truck road great for thousands of miles like this until I put those new used tires on. So fast forward back to last weekend when I had the carrier back out bearing is about the same on the carrier, will slide off with little force but rollers and everything else looked great, no wear on anything as far as gears and bearing rolling surfaces. I'd like to rule of the diff as a possible cause for the vibration, id like to believe that with how bad the vibration is that there's no possible way it could be the diff other wise I feel like there would be some major carnage.for anything inside that rear end to make a vibration like I have it surely would have to be absolutely beating the hell out of itself to do so. Which leads me back to tires or brake drums. 🤷 I'm starting to loose my mind at this point

Anyone have any ideas on what it could be? As I said tired had visible run out when spinning on jack stands, I recently set the tire pressures on the inside dual tires to 80 psi and the outside tires to 15 psi, the outside tires for the two that had the worst visible run out after setting the pressures like that so basically the truck was running on just the inside tires the vibration lessened quite a bit but it's still there. Vibration still gets worse the longer I drive as things warm up.

Had the old tires balanced 3 times, first balance seemed good for a day then on way home from work vibration started again. Had them re balance and wheel weights were in different spots and different amounts of weight and still had vibration, actually if I did a 60-0 stop the rear end was damn near hopping off the ground by the time I came to a stop. Peeled weights off the horrible vibration under braking went away but driving vibration still there. Third balance was at Sullivan tire and same thing not really any better. I had said I want them road force balanced but no idea if they actually did. I should find a place that will spend the time match mounting my tires and getting the road force low as possible

It may seem like there is no interest here because you are not getting any more responses, but I think that we are at a loss of how to fix the problem.

On 4/19/2025 at 4:37 PM, daav544 said:

I have a 1999 Dodge ram 3500 2wd with nv4500. I get a bad vibration at speeds above 55mph it all started when I put a set of old used tires on it. So I thought it was the tires, I had them balanced multiple times, tried balance beads these all changed the vibration one way or another.

I would focus on the above paragraph since the truck was fine before the tire change.

Did you replace all six tires, or just the four on the rear? Did you replace tires and wheels, or just the tires?

Did you do any other repairs at the same time?

Are the wheels centered on the hubs?

• John

Do you know anyone you could swap tires and rims with to see if the problem moves to their truck?

So the problem started when I put new to me used tires on, had them balanced multiple times, used balance beads. Rode with them for a while and during that time I changed u joints carrier bearing, tailshaft bushing all having little to no effect. The only thing that helped more so than the rest was tail shaft bushing which I equate to the vibration being so bad and vibrating right up through the drive line that over time it wore it out a little bit so replacing made the shaking in my shifter handle a little less. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago I installed a brand new set on the rear. Fronts have always been fine btw. As I said I can visibly see some tire run out when spinning on jack stands. The only thing I did when i put that first set of tires on was try to take the drums off and check pads. I was banging on the drum with a hammer and just recently noticed that when spinning the wheel over while on jack stands there's a tight spot during the rotation where the drum will drag on the pads then get loose. Possibly from me banging on the drum I would assume. The only other variable other than that drum would be that I have a bearing in my rear diff that spun, the inner race of the ring gear side carrier bearing spun on the carrier. I have more than ideal backlash but when I first got the truck I had to do rear end work and saw that had spun, this was way before tires. And for how bad it vibrates I would like to believe that if it was cus of that bearing that diff would have exploded by now lol. The yoke coming out of the trans has slight bit of play where it slides in the trans but it's always been like that. So I kind think it's tire run out of the drum out of round. On jack stands it won't vibrate even close to how bad it does while on road which makes me think tire run out cus they would have to be on the road to vibrate from being out of round you would think. I've just spent so many countless hours and money trying to figure this out it's driving me nuts. The part that throws me off is it gets worse the longer I drive / the more things warm up

I'm going to have to say tire-related issues. That is the only material that with change as the tires warms up the rubber softens and the deformity will get worse. I've got to ask what brand of tires, what size of tires, are they on factory rims or aftermarket rims?

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by Mopar1973Man