Help! Where is vibration coming from?

Justin@DP-Tuner · Jan 12, 2012

Hey guys,

Lately I have been having this weird vibration on the floorboard. It can be felt from the driver and passenger side. It does is at all times. As soon as I start the truck I can feel it on my feet. It is almost like the exhaust is touching somewhere because it varies on sound and feel based on what RPM you are at.

I have been under there 5 times shaking stuff and looking for stuff and I have found nothing. The only thing I can feel is that part of my downpipe is touching the heat shield thing that is by the trans. Could this cause vibration in the cab?

Also, I don't know if this is related or not but sometimes when I turn the engine off I can hear and feel a clunk on the floorboard, almost as if someone was under there and tapped it with a hammer.

Any ideas?

zilla68 · Jan 12, 2012

I think I've read before that the downpipe is a huge part of vibrations. If its touching something I'd bet that is your issue.

kadeninabnitt · Jan 12, 2012

i vote downpipe mine did the same thing to me after i installed my 3 inch dp. bugged the crap out of me.

01platinum · Jan 12, 2012

I am kind of chasing the same thing right now. First time it happened a moved everything and yes the down pipe was touching the bolts on the cross member but there was something else. Fixed the down pipe problem and it continued. Only thing I could think of next was motor mounts. Changed the passenger side mount and had not had a problem for 3 yrs. Now I am starting to get a vibration in the floor board again. Waiting till I pull the motor then just going to replace both motor mounts and check the whole front end for loose or worn out bushings and other parts.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Spatel23 · Jan 12, 2012

what they said.

Exhausts can cause a lot of racket and vibration when just barely touching. Id start with it before looking any further.

Justin@DP-Tuner · Jan 12, 2012

Thanks for the replies guys. Would it be safe to remove that heat shield thing that the exhaust is touching?

TyCorr · Jan 12, 2012

JBone said:
Thanks for the replies guys. Would it be safe to remove that heat shield thing that the exhaust is touching?

I contemplated doing that and then thought that section might see 500+ temps and decided to leave it there.

I have 5" exh and its not/never was touching anywhere so it should be pretty easy to keep that from happening.

If you go and wiggle the exh and it doesnt do it, id be looking at having someone fire it up while Im laying under there. Could be the trans, transfer case, or bad motor mounts.

Oh, and good luck Jbone...

Justin@DP-Tuner · Jan 12, 2012

TyCorr said:
I contemplated doing that and then thought that section might see 500+ temps and decided to leave it there.

I have 5" exh and its not/never was touching anywhere so it should be pretty easy to keep that from happening.

If you go and wiggle the exh and it doesnt do it, id be looking at having someone fire it up while Im laying under there. Could be the trans, transfer case, or bad motor mounts.

Oh, and good luck Jbone...

Yeah it doesn't move at all when I wiggle it. Probably because it is clamped to the turbo about 3ft. from where it is hitting the shield.

I'll have someone start it while I feel around. How hard would motor mounts be to change?

Denver · Jan 12, 2012

I have the same thing going on. It's coming from my bumper.

TyCorr · Jan 13, 2012

Denver said:
I have the same thing going on. It's coming from my bumper.

Really? Front or back?

neverkickn · Jan 13, 2012

I would bet money that your truck would rust into the ground before the motor mounts would be an issue. I would keep looking at exhaust stuff. Just cause you cant get the exhaust to contact anything while moving it by hand doesn't mean that once the engine is started that it wont contact then. Look for worn spots on the pipe.

on edit: just saw where you said it is hitting the heat shield. That could definately transfer sound into the cab.

Justin@DP-Tuner · Jan 14, 2012

neverkickn said:
I would bet money that your truck would rust into the ground before the motor mounts would be an issue. I would keep looking at exhaust stuff. Just cause you cant get the exhaust to contact anything while moving it by hand doesn't mean that once the engine is started that it wont contact then. Look for worn spots on the pipe.

on edit: just saw where you said it is hitting the heat shield. That could definately transfer sound into the cab.

That is what I was thinking, but the heat shield is mounted to the frame and not to the floorboard. I shouldn't be feeling anything in the cab because of the bushings between the frame and cab.

Justin@DP-Tuner · Apr 5, 2012

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I am still having problems with this. I think I have narrowed it down to either the exhaust or the TQ converter. The reason I believe it to be one of those is because the noise starts as soon as I fire the truck up. Those would be the only two things that could make a vibrating noise that I could think of. The transmission is not touching the floor board anywhere at all, so I doubt it is even the TQ converter. The noise does fluctuate with RPM. It is worse when a load is on the truck.

I am about ready to just buy a new exhaust system and see if that fixes it since my downpipe is touching that fiberglass heat shield by the transmission. I have tried to remove the heat shield but without removing the exhaust it just doesn't come out.

You guys have any more ideas?

I would like to buy an MBRP exhaust system from a vendor if I do end up buying one. Who has the best price?

brian89 · Apr 7, 2012

My down pipe was touching the heat shield and i just took tin snips and trimmed it, then vibrated itself around to the cross member and both had a terrible vibration thru the floor and a nasty loud sound

Justin@DP-Tuner · Apr 8, 2012

Yeah, I don't think it has anything to do with the trans. When the truck is running I can feel the trans and it doesn't vibrate at all, but the exhaust vibrates like a b!tch.

01platinum · Apr 8, 2012

My exhaust is touching the cross member right and driving me nuts right now. I am getting ready to replace both motor mounts. I moved the exhaust the other day and the engine still had a vibration.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk