finally figured out were the vibration coming from. u joint on front drive shaft.

 

Whys the front shaft turning

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Or are you talkin about one of the axle joints

 

well it didnt turn freely when i when i was under the truck in the driveway earlier, i drove over 55 last night for the first time in a while and it was vibrating pretty good the whole way back from rochester to my house in farmington about 25 miles maybe. about halfway home the vibration went away for maybe 2 minutes then came back again. wouldnt the truck be hard to turn if the 4 wheel drive was engaged? i didnt think it was a big deal. the front drive shaft on my little jeep diesel spins when 4wd is not engaged so i thought it was ok

 

I've never actually checked but I would assume if the CAD was unlocked the front shaft shouldn't be turning, now you have me curious. I'm gonna have to have one of my buddys look at my shaft to see if it turns when I move

 

yeah let me know what he says. im not sure if it does or not. im not sure how the cad actually works since im still new to the dodge ram and have never had to mess with anything. i have only used 4wd maybe 3 times. the vibration gets worse when i do put it in 4wd

 

Yes the front drive shaft spins even when you're not in 4wd. The drivers side wheel is still connected to the diff which spins the drive shaft the cad just disconnects the passenger wheel from the the diff.

 

https://www.dieselbombers.com/dodge-...about-4wd.html
found this write up on the center axle disconnect. apparently i do not have one. hmmmm.d

 

I didn't even look at what year your truck was. Yes 2001 was the last year for cad.

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But your drive shaft will still spin unless you put locking hubs on your truck.

 

just wanted to make sure. good information to know. makes it a little easier to trouble shoot.

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that was it, replaced the front u joint and no more vibration. i took it up to a 100mph just to make sure

 

i took it up to a 100mph just to make sure [/QUOTE]