Universal joint??

[Aquatek69]

Hi, I'm English but living in Stockholm, Sweden... Just a quick question, I recently swapped a car for a 1999 4x4 Tahoe (electronic buttons on the right of the steering column) the issue I have is a vibration when I move away, it quickly disappears and the car is smooth from there on.....
The previous owner said it was the universal joint after the gearbox that was worn, any ideas before I start crawling under the car?

One other thing is that the 4wd system seems to engage but no lights come on the buttons... I checked the two relevent fuses but they are ok, when I reconnect the #2 fuse there are a lot of clicks somewhere behind the dash...

Any help with this would be appreciated.
John.

 

[Aquatek69]

Hm, typical, when I started the car this morning hey presto, the 2Hi light was showing, I pressed the 4Hi button to check if everything was now working but there was a slight click at the buttons but no button lights!! after pressing back to 2Hi I am back to having zero button lights... odd...

John.

 

[wicked2000]

Mine does the same thing. Apply pressure on the plastic around buttons to see if it turns on. Mine comes on when ever it wants too. When I apply pressure mine come. Thats how i tell what setting i have it on.

 

[Aquatek69]

Happy!! after reading that I wasn't alone I popped the switches out using 3 flat blade screwdrivers, as I squeezed the box around the switches the lights came on & I flexed it into a position where they stayed on... They're clipped back in now & work... Give it a try....

John.

 

[faze]

good to hear....my lights have never come on and I had resolved to change the switch at some point but I'll monkey around with it and see if it's just a connection issue.

In terms of your vibration issue...are you sure it's not a clunk...there is a very common issue with these trucks that when you come to a stop and accelerate away they clunk...it's usually that the output shaft/yoke to the rear differential needs to be greased, ie pull out the driveshaft and grease the spines.

If it's a vibration ... is it worse the harder you accelerate?

 

[Aquatek69]

Hi again & thanks for the response, It's best described as a shudder as I move off, I have had the window down for 2 days now listening for any noises & sometimes there is a clunk & I've heard a slight tinkelling noise from the rear sometimes as I pull away. The vibration/shudder is not there at higher speeds & it changes gear easily, I'm thinking of greasing the splines as you say & opening the rear diff to take a peek, the oil change will do it good at least. I looked at the fill plug today on the diff & just know there is going to be a fight to crack it as it looks like it's never been touched there's so much s**t/rust buildup around it....
Oh well tomorrow's another day
John.

 

[TheBeast99]

don't worry about those 4x4 shift lights not being on, that's common for them to stop working at this age.

 

[Aquatek69]

More happiness!!, I just crawled under the tahoe & checked the rear diff oil level, just a little low but I'll change it anyway & take a look at the internals, The good news is that the front universal joint is slapping around, really loose so there's my problem..... I'll have them both changed this week & grease the slip yoke at the same time.......
Tommy.

 

[faze]

That's good to hear...I was putting off suggesting it might be the low gear band slipping because that's usually not great news. I haven't been inside a tranny since the old turbo 350/400 days so I'm not even sure if low gear is locked by a band in these newer trannys but, in years past, a shudder in first meant you did a tranny flush, adusted the band tension if it was adjustable, and hoped for the best.


Good to hear it is the u-joints...nice easy fix.