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2000 RPM Vibration

75K views 192 replies 71 participants last post by  rigger1 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I've been researching a slight but annoying vibration that I get at 2000 RPM. It happens in any mode (ECO, Tow/Haul, etc.) and at any speed but always at 2000 RPM. I can feel it in the fuel pedal and the steering wheel. Is does not do it when in park or neutral...only while in motion. I mainly notice it when accelerating but it will vibrate constantly at around 60 MPH when the RPM stays steady at 2000 RPM. At this point, I can take my foot off the pedal and still feel the growl in the steering wheel. Once it shifts and the tach drops below 2000RPM, the vibration is gone.

I really think it is the torque converter but I have been reading a lot about the 5.7 Hemi having fierce torsional vibrations. I mentioned it to my service guy at the dealership and he was quick to blame the MDS system but I can almost bet that has nothing to do with this vibration.

Just wondering if anyone has had or is having a similar vibration at 2000 RPM. Any other ideas on what may cause this? I'm going to take it in soon but I want to be armed with some info first!

Here is a post I found about harmonic/torsional vibrations...

http://www.ramforumz.com/showpost.php?p=1253642&postcount=11

I can believe it being a harmonic vibration but wouldn't it do it even in park or neutral?
 
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#74 ·
This reminds me of the 2000 Silverado I had with the 4.3 V6 and auto trans.. it had a persistent exhaust vibration at about 80 km/h (50 mph) under light throttle. Wasn't there when new, it took about 3 months of driving and hot/cold cycles to start doing it.

GM had no fix for it for almost a year, then they added some ballast weights to the exhaust system to reduce resonance, and cured about 80% of the noise and vibration. It turned out that the thinner stainless exhaust was more prone to vibration issues than the older heavier plain steel ones.

The weights looked like the engine pods on the starship Enterprise, one on each side in front of the muffler.

It seems like this is something similar, just the right combination of rpm, rear end ratio, and transmission gearing and it's there.. Aside from the change of TC and flex plates in Canada, it has all the characteristics of sympathetic resonance.

Next time I drive mine I'll see if it does it too. I think it has a faint vibration at around 1800 rpm in high gear.

I usually cruise at about 63-64 mph on the highway, which translates to 1600 rpm with the 6-speed and 3.55 rear end. I was in a hurry a couple days ago and pushed it up to roughly 66-67 mph, noticeably more noise at that speed. Dropped back down to 64 and back to quiet running.

This seems more common with the guys who have the 8-speed and 3.92 rear ends. I was talking with the shop foreman at my dealer a few weeks ago and he mentioned that Chrysler was having some issues with the 8-speed, although he didn't elaborate and I didn't press for details.

Sean
 
#81 ·
Anyone get any news on this? My dealer was just told by Star that some vibration is "normal". But they are with me and don't really like that answer. They are willing to help me by trying things to see if they can kill the cause. Should I start with dampers or just go right to a TC replacement?
 
#82 ·
I would start with dampers. mine vibrates at 2000/2100rpms. haven't been back to dealer. I work 10 hour days and don't feel like sitting at the stealership all day if I take off. I am still kinda hoping it just goes away. please keep posting as I will look into this when the weather starts getting warm here in PA.
 
#84 ·
Mine only has the issue when I'm not running my HemiFever tune. Luckily that's only when I'm going to the dealer for something.
I asked them about it at the last oil change and they said Ram is aware of it and "working on a programming change" as a fix. He had no idea when that would be.
 
#86 ·
I have a 13' 5.7 3.55 gears 5speed, and my vibration is becoming horrible, its mostly at highway speeds(60+). My hole bed shakes! you can feel it on the floor, and slightly on the steering wheel. I installed longtube headers, so my warranty is shot. Also full catback, 2'' lowering springs, and new tires so its not suspension, or exhaust. I will be installing a Protorque converter in a few weeks, maybe it will maybe it wont solve the issue, but I will return with results.
 
#87 ·
this is my first truck I just got last week its a 2013 v8 hemi5.7 tradesman express with 23,000 miles on it. and a few days of driving I notice it was a little bumpy around 50 to 60 miles per hour. and then I notice that around 38 to 43 miles per hour its started to vibrate. as of right now im starting to be very disappointed in ram trucks. :doh:
 
#88 ·
I stopped by the dealership last week to get an update on a fix for the 2000 RPM vibration issue. The service advisor checked the dealer connect system and found a partial TSB. He said it looks like Ram has started putting a TSB into the system but it wasn't complete. I don't recall the exact title but is was for vibration on Hemi engine equipped 1500's. It had some parts diagrams, but the text section of the TSB was blank. So he didn't know if the that TSB was for the 2000 RPM vibration, or a different vibration issue.
 
#89 ·
2013 Ram 1500 4x4 10,000 miles
When rolling from a stop the truck seems to jerk in a way, like it's lunging, it does it wether my foot is on the brake, or if it's not on the brake and I'm just moving at idling speed. It goes away as I begin to pick up speed and I notice no wobble while driving at any speed. Just when I'm starting to role foward it jumps and jerks in a way. Any suggestions as to what it may be?? It's been doing it since we got the truck, thinking of taking it into the dealer.
I'm not getting a rough vibration at high speeds, just when I begin to role, the jolt is rough enough to shake you in the truck, almost like your tapping the brakes over and over, even though your foots not even near the brake.
I'm not sure if this is related to the issues anyone else is having but I figured it's worth a shot.
 
#90 ·
I had the same thing on my truck. For me it was the cheap 4 ply tires that came with my truck. I worked at a tire shop for 5 years and had lots of people come in with the same problem. After a lot of bitching, a free undercoat from the dealer, I paid $300 for the upgrade to the 10 ply tires and the vibration was gone.
 
#94 ·
I hope you all get your trucks running smoother. Neither my 2012 with over 26K miles or now 2014 with just over 3500 miles have ever had this 2000rpm vibration. But I'll continue to read on all your updates.
 
#95 ·
my 2000 rpm vibration is almost gone but it still there in the colder mornings. I have now picked up a thunk in my steering wheel over rougher texture roads and smooth roads with small bumps. dealer mechanic verified this, replaced the intermediate steering shaft and did not fix issue. now they just say they don't fell anything abnormal and wont try to fix it.
 
#96 ·
Hi All,

Sorry for the late reply but I think I have a pretty good idea what is happening with the 2000RPM vibration issue. I want to be clear that this is NOT related to speed of the vehicle. It's purely RPMs and how much load is on the engine. The people with this issue know what I am talking about. When your truck reaches 1800-2000 RPM you can feel a vibration in the steering wheel and gas pedal regardless of what gear or towing mode.

So I brought my truck to the dealership regarding my issue and the service techs honestly didn't even look into the issue. I got the run around. I complained to the service manager and he said there is a Chrysler field engineer that will be in the area within a day or two and if I can bring it then. I said absolutely. I met with the field engineer and he drove my truck and he said its exhaust drone. I asked why didn't I feel this when I bought the truck? He didn't have an answer. My issue was getting worse as time went by. He said drive my truck which was the same year. I could feel the same vibration but it was much much lighter and barely noticeable compared to my truck. The field engineer said this is the characteristic of the truck. There was nothing more that he could do and I felt a little blown off. Nothing was resolved.

I did a LOT of research about exhaust drone when I got home. Surprisingly most people experience exhaust drone around 2000rpms with V8's. When I think of exhaust drone I think and audible sound resonating in the cab. Well that can be transmitted differently depending on the style/build of the vehicle. So maybe I was onto something here.

As we approached spring/summer time I noticed the vibration getting lighter and lighter. Of course there is the ah-ha moment. I purchased my truck at the end of May 2013. At that time the weather was extremely warm. I didn't notice a thing until about November/December of 2013. As the weather got colder and colder it got worse. At that time I didn't think about temperature as a factor as the issue was just getting worse. I brought my truck to the dealer near the end of March when the temperature was warmer but still cold. The vibration wasn't at its worst and maybe the field engineer didn't think it was a huge concern because it wasn't really that bad that day. Now that summer is here my vibration is virtually gone. Now that I'm more "in tune" with my truck I can CLEARLY feel the vibration get worse even with slight temperature changes. With temperatures 70 degrees and up it's virtually gone but ever so slightly noticeable but nothing to complain about. Around 50-60 degree it is noticeable to me now but nothing that I would complain about IF I didn't notice it before. 20-40 it's definitely noticeable. 20 degrees and below it's extremely noticeable. And with this extremely cold winter it was very annoying. Annoying to the point that I don't want the vehicle if it continues like this.

My best guess to what the issue is are the rubber exhaust isolators, frame dampers, or the harmonic balancer. All of these items and their dampening properties would change based on the outside temperature. And I can easily see how a bad batch of these items could easily pass inspection at normal room temperature.

I haven't talked to the dealer about my findings yet but after writing this email I am now motivated again to talk to the dealer. I don't know about the rest of the people out there but talking to the dealers is like talking to a wall. I don't quite understand their lack of wiliness to help people when they spend $40,000+ on a vehicle with a very annoying problem.

I'll let you know how round three goes with the dealer. If anyone else has something to add please do! This will help me and others solve our issues!

Thanks,
Lloyd
 
#97 ·
Hi All,

After re-reading some of the other posts I'm thinking about tossing the idea from the Chrysler Engineer as exhaust drone. I'm going with 2 ideas... Harmonic balancer or transmission vibration. My reasoning is that the vibration is prominent on the steering wheel and gas pedal. Someone said they changed out the harmonic balancer which resolved their issue. Since the harmonic balancer is made of rubber and metal, temperature can easily affect the characteristics and not eliminate certain vibrations that are naturally caused by the engine. OR the vibration is coming from the torque converter and the rubber isolators and dampers are less effective during cold weather.

If the person who changed out there harmonic balancer reads this please reply or send me a private message.

If anyone has more information about the torque convertor please reply or send me a private message.
Lloyd
 
#101 ·
ball park

I think you are probably the closest on this lloydjacobson. Experiencing it periodically and noting the cold weather correlation, I'm thinking it is a simple "Harmonic Resonance" with essentially, and unintentionally, the vehicle resonating at that rpm. When everything is warm particularly the rubber parts between metal parts being all soft and squishy relatively speaking, it is dampened. The colder you get, the less squishy (technical term) and the more the vibrations is transmitted to where you can feel it. And due to the nature of a vehicle and rpm moving up and down intrinsically transient unless it is right at the sweet spot for highway driving and this one is close and could be vehicle specific as in mine might not do it, but yours might as the "exact" rpm for each vehicle would not be the same. Try to chase that down as an engineer. Increase highway rpm even just a bit and it might go away along with some mpg. Even changing that harmonic thing might work for only a bit as systems tend to move toward the harmony (for the system, not you) and not away as I remember. This is all just pure speculation.

Wikipedia - "Sympathetic resonance or sympathetic vibration is a harmonic phenomenon wherein a formerly passive string or vibratory body responds to external vibrations to which it has a harmonic likeness."
 
#98 ·
I agree that at warmer temps the vibration is less prominent but still occurs. However under load it is very noticeable regardless of the temp. There is a highway nearby with about a 1 mile long hill and my truck will always vibrate the entire climb if I maintain speed / gear to hold about 2,000 RPMs. My truck was very smooth the first couple of months (even going up that hill) and I remember the day the vibration started as the whole truck started shaking (like someone flipped a switch). It did set a generic code but did not identify the specific failing components so the dealership could not repair it. I have had the 2,000 RPM vibration ever since.
 
#102 ·
I would suggest to everyone who is experiencing this vibration to possibly give TransEngineer a message. He is my first choice for driveline questions when it comes to our Rams, whether 45, 545, 65, or 8HP70's.
 
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