2004 Silverado Ext Cab - Carrier bearing replaced, now driveline vibration over 45mph.

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Dec 8, 2006
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Illinois
Today I had the carrier bearing on my 2004 Chevy Silverado replaced. This is an Extended Cab 2WD with a two piece driveshaft. This is the second time the carrier bearing assembly has been replaced. Last time was in 2016. The bearing was replaced because it was dry... no grease in it. It was putting off a raspy noise.

Two of the three u-joints are originals (138,000 miles). The third (I believe it was the center u-joint) was replaced several years back.

After the repair, we now have a rumbling driveline vibration at anything over 45 mph. Took it back to the mechanic, he double checked all of his work, says that the carrier bearing is not in a bind, he put the new one where the old one was, and all u-joints look good (no rusty dust) and are in good shape. He made some minor adjustments, with no improvement. There has been some very light occasional rumbling in the driveshaft in the past several years, but only at 75+ mph, and nothing even close to this severity now. I wrote it off as accumulating wear on the two u-joints with 138,000 miles on them.

Mechanic is adamant that the driveshaft needs to be balanced. He said he was not rough in taking the old carrier bearing off. All the factory weights are on the driveshaft. It does have a few light dents, but none are new.

I suggested all new u-joints and he told me that he'll do it, but told me that I'll be tossing my money away, and then still have to balance the driveshaft. Mechanic has been working on this truck for several years. If it has needed it, he's done it. He said that he's seen this before in other vehicles, and the cure is to balance the driveshaft.

I've never been in a situation before, where I've had to balance a driveshaft out of nowhere. I have a 2000 GMC Sierra Ext. Cab 2WD with more miles than this one. This is the first time in my life, after a few dozen vehicles, that I've ever been told that I need to balance a driveshaft.

I guess I'm skeptical about a driveshaft that all of a sudden needs to be balanced, when it didn't appear to need to be balanced yesterday.
 
I had a driveshaft balanced on my dodge dakota at 160k. It made a world of difference. I had it done at a local driveline shop, all they did was drivelines there.
I'll be doing it again on a car / truck with over 150k on it.

Symptoms was a vibration even after new u joints.
 
my 99 had this issue after center bearing replace. it started making noise 10k later as well as vibration. another mech replaced it with a oem bearing and vibration is gone
 
Bet he didn’t mark how the 2 pieces came apart when he separated them to replace the center bearing! Imagine that’s all that’s wrong with it-unless he bent something when he pressed the new bearing off and on…

He tells me that he 'marked everything' before disassembly, and reinstalled it in the way that it came off.
 
Taking the shaft to a driveshaft shop is likely the best course of action.

That's the current plan, but the shop can't get me back in until May 5th. to remove the driveshaft...and who knows how long it'll then take the driveshaft shop to work on it. The only local driveshaft shop only takes "carry in" driveshafts, they won't R&R it. It's just like everywhere else, for some reason, every business is short of employees.
 
I agree a sudden need for d/s balance seems odd.

I'd likely return to the most obvious being the problem, ie the problem occurred after a new carrier bearing. I'd suspect the carrier bearing, even if it "feels" good (you'll never simulate 45mph by hand).

Do we know brand/make/source of carrier bearing??

138k on OEM u-joints isn't necessarily much at all. They can regularly go 200k+ easily. If you do have them replaced (and I don't think you should right now) don't let anyone use greaseable junk from the local parts house. Get solid Spicers or Neapcos again.
 
The
I agree a sudden need for d/s balance seems odd.

I'd likely return to the most obvious being the problem, ie the problem occurred after a new carrier bearing. I'd suspect the carrier bearing, even if it "feels" good (you'll never simulate 45mph by hand).

Do we know brand/make/source of carrier bearing??

138k on OEM u-joints isn't necessarily much at all. They can regularly go 200k+ easily. If you do have them replaced (and I don't think you should right now) don't let anyone use greaseable junk from the local parts house. Get solid Spicers or Neapcos again.

The carrier bearing was an Anchor brand. Part number 6063. It's what Advance Auto Parts stocks and sells for this truck.
 
My shop was shaft only, no r&r on regular autos. They did everything on Semi's and dumps, r&r and building new axles from tubing there. They gave me an at their leisure completion date, no idea of date of completion, other than two weeks at the most. He said that he also needed to replace the u-joints during the process. Heavy duty greasable polyurethane sealed joints. I was planning on putting spicers myself, for $30 each joint, I was happy to have him do it.
He gave me a quick tour of the shop, and the entire work area had a dirt floor, massive workspace with dump trucks and a few other pieces of heavy equipment there. He said they fabricate their own driveshafts and spring packs there, exclusively for heavy equipment. Took my shaft as a what the heck kinda thing. Drive shaft done three days later, installed and it was very smooth at all speeds, up to 100mph.
I have never been in a truck that had a smoother driveline.

A year later one of the springs in my rear cracked and the truck dropped down an inch on that corner. I called him up and he said he'd be glad to make me new packs. I had give him all the information on the packs, and they made the new packs in a week. Installed them and they rode so much better than the old ones, it became a truck that could handle loads without the rear drooping. The ride was better too, but I like a stiff rear in a truck, just my preference.
 
Oh boy... Anchor products... In my non professional mechanic experience I've been disappointed in the quality of anchor products, very disappointed with their engine mounts especially. They have failed on me after 10k before, more than once. One of my never again products. Some people have different opinions of them. They also make some mounts that are not available anymore, so you get stuck with them, have to deal with the devil..
Below is a link to Rock Auto for your truck. I selected the 5.3 V8 as your engine, change all the specs for your truck.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...in,drive+shaft+center+support+/+bearing,12743

Personally, I would have all new U-joints installed, quality units like spicer. New carrier bearing assembly from Timken or other high quality rated rated brand. I'd also have the driveshafts balanced before install. If you have a few small dents and dings, *I* would definitely have them balanced. I was charged $60 for my single driveshaft balance, and $30 each for high strength and quality joints with polyurethane covers. That truck was so smooth after that at all speeds up to its max speed of 100mph.
 
Interesting, 2 schools of thought here. I'd want to narrow down the problem before throwing the kitchen sink at it.

New u-joints, new carrier bearing and a balance all at once seems like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

Anchor can be really hit or miss and IME these aftermarket companies try to "univeralize" parts, meaning that bearing likely lists for more applications than it would have OEM

I know they try to list Tacoma and Tundras together but I don't think Toyota did.....
 
Clock the driveshaft half turn.
Darn, that's a really good idea. I'd hope his mech tried that already, but who knows. His mech may be completely right about the balance, he did say he has a few tiny dents in a shaft... It just blows my mind that his mech would use such a crap part like Anchor.. Do you rag him for repair costs? Bust chops, ie good relationship, etc..? I just can't imagine the thought process of him using a cheap part when your old carrier bearing (probably the same part) failed only a while ago.

Good call on the transmission mount, I didn't even think of that.

Anchor is crap, get a Timken, a Spicer, or a Dana support bearing. Change all the U-joints, to Moog, Dana or Spicer (unavailable on RA),or Delco. Heavy duty ones available ones seem good too if some of the joints have lasted till now, but the Moog offers many sizes and heavy duty ones, greaseable, many different flavors and sizes.

At the end of the day, one could argue that the small dent in the shaft affected the balance and caused the carrier bearings to fail prematurely. Same with the U-joints, worn, vibration, failure of carrier bearing.
Whatever happens: at least get new U-Joints and a good, correctly sized, carrier bearing.

Heck, I'd ask him that if the driveshaft being balanced by a certain % doesn't change anything, would he take the bet and pay for the balance out of pocket? Vice Versa?
 
Useless trivia: about, say, 15 years ago Anchor was one of the few companies offering motor mounts that actually fit Windsors in OBS Fords like the 302 and 351W

Inexplicably most of the aftermarket was making them wrong, with the stud (IIRC) in the wrong place. They literally just could not be installed on the right? (IIRC) side. Guys discovered the Anchors from CSK/O'Reilly actually fit.

That's been the extent of my positive experience with Anchor

Like I said, useless trivia.....
 
Oh boy... Anchor products... In my non professional mechanic experience I've been disappointed in the quality of anchor products, very disappointed with their engine mounts especially. They have failed on me after 10k before, more than once. One of my never again products. Some people have different opinions of them. They also make some mounts that are not available anymore, so you get stuck with them, have to deal with the devil..
Below is a link to Rock Auto for your truck. I selected the 5.3 V8 as your engine, change all the specs for your truck.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...in,drive+shaft+center+support+/+bearing,12743

Personally, I would have all new U-joints installed, quality units like spicer. New carrier bearing assembly from Timken or other high quality rated rated brand. I'd also have the driveshafts balanced before install. If you have a few small dents and dings, *I* would definitely have them balanced. I was charged $60 for my single driveshaft balance, and $30 each for high strength and quality joints with polyurethane covers. That truck was so smooth after that at all speeds up to its max speed of 100mph.
Have to agree with Hank again, replace them all, carefully examine the shaft and get it balanced.
 
The


The carrier bearing was an Anchor brand. Part number 6063. It's what Advance Auto Parts stocks and sells for this truck.
There is your problem. Anchor makes junk. I put an Anchor motor mount in a 94 Cavalier in 2020 and I just replaced it the other day because it had already collapsed. I got two bad ones when I ordered the original one back in 2020.
 
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