Hi All
I have been chasing/living with this issue for years. I had some vibration at 60 to 70 mph and got worse with speed. I got a leaky seal at the rear end. Fixed that then got a bad bearing in the rear end. Wound up replacing rear end entirely.
So I though MUST be the driveshaft. Removed the rusty old thing and sent it to be balanced. Also my slip joint was binding/dry but I had squirted grease and oil in there a couple of years back and it seems fine.
The driveshaft guy said the spline was OK and the U joints were OK. This was a few years ago by the way.
Anyway got the balanced shaft back and the vibration has been greatly reduced but it's still just a little bit there. Comes on around 70 and increases with more speed. I never use the truck for trips so just lived with it.
I feel it mostly in the shift lever then as speed builds it buzzes the truck.
Well I want it fixed. Are these driveshafts just whippy? Can I retrofit an aluminum shaft to the truck?
It's a 4.0 motor with standard shift gearbox. XLT with the jump seats. Pretty sure that's a 166" WB.
Any ideas?

 

I'm sure you've looked into this but how about your wheels? Properly balanced and aligned? What brand tire? My ranger came with these **** tires from Sears and all the reviews talk about how they go out of balance the more you drive on them. I was having vibration problems at similar speeds so I pulled the wheels ... one rim had 13 ounces of .5oz weights slapped on the back. 13 damn ounces. I had never seen anything like it.

 

It's a very fine vibration. You can feel it in the floor shift lever well before you feel it in the seat of your pants. I did have the balance redone and wheels checked for true though.
I have 2 used rusty driveshafts in my "cart" on ebay. I just wonder if they are OK.

 

Yea, that's a tough call. You're more than likely going to have to get any used driveshaft checked for balance anyway, or at least I would. My ranger came with an aluminum rear shaft, and the front shaft has no corrosion so my assumption is they were both swapped at one time or another.

Hopefully someone can chime in with another possibility for ya.

 

I'm having the same problem, mine is a bit more pronounced. Starts at 50 and gets worse as you go faster. My guess is I need to get my driveshaft balanced. My old one was completely shot. Check t-case yokes and front axle yokes just to be sure.

 

I guess I need to know which year trucks my driveshaft is interchangeable with. They are all fairly inexpensive on Ebay. My preference would be aluminum. Wont rust and spit off the balance weights maybe!.
But first I get to replace the steel brake lines that just let go this morning! Crap!

 

I wonder if the vibration isn't coming from the tail shaft from the transmission if its 2wd, otherwise if its 4wd I wonder if the bearing around the transfer case flange might be shot...Just spitballing ideas..

 

The first rear end went because of the very unbalanced driveshaft. The current rear is fine. It won't stay fine if I don't fix this. Again I wonder what my truck's driveshaft will interchange with.
Seems to be a difference between the 01 and 02 shaft for the 126" 4x4 standard shift. Hoping to find out here.
I wonder if I should just start a new thread.

 

OK as a follow up. First off the truck is an 02! I have only had it for about 8 years so who can blame me for not even knowing what year it is. Ya anyway..
I ordered an ebay aluminum shaft. It fit fine. Truck shook worse then before! Got a refund and found an Ebay new old stock steel shaft. Just put it on and it's fixed!
So the guy that balanced my steel shaft did a **** job even though he swore it was perfect. Oh well.
That aluminum shaft was nice looking. Burly. But I opened up the spline and it was desert dry with lots of play.
My wife keeps informing me when I am under the truck banging away that I'm not poor anymore. Get a new truck she says. But this one works. Has only 120000 miles!
Anyway thanks for the help guys