What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

02 duramax pinion yoke balancer?

max 02

max 02

Roll the dice…
 Premium
GMOTM Winner
Joined
Sep 29, 2009
Posts
13,659
Reaction score
9,179
Location
Eckville Alberta Canada
Thought I would ask here!! Cause you guys are smart! :D

I was und my truck yesterday checking my driveshaft ujoints...found the front one worn, the rear one worn and mostly seized...not by the cups that are held on by the straps but the other way. Only way to check is by taking the driveshaft off.

Anyway the cups have been spinning in the yoke and have worn out the pinion yoke.

Here is the question...on the rear end the yoke has a balancer on it.
Talking to a driveline shop yesterday the guy there tells me he has replaced a few without using a balancer for the rearend with no ill effects.

Is this a bad idea??? :dunno:

The price difference is 231.00 for with a balancer and 139.00 with out one.
 
Dad just bought an '05 with ~285000 miles on it (IIRC, its a ton) this is interesting. Would like to know about this balancer and joints.
 
dyeager535 said:
Dad just bought an '05 with ~285000 miles on it (IIRC, its a ton) this is interesting. Would like to know about this balancer and joints.
Click to expand...

Well let me tell you that the factory ujoints are way better than the junk I put in a year and a half ago.

I used ac delco greaseable and yes I greased them but obviously not enough.:doah:

When I replaced the ujoints they were fine with 253449 thousand klms on them...got 337000 on it now and they are junk.

Going with spicer nongreasable this time.

Make sure your straps are tight...my spinning caps destroyed my pinion yoke!

My fault for not paying attention!
 
Started out thinking about something different. Finally realized I had to be wrong so I did some checking.
O'reilly's shows one in my area for about $99. But, I'm not sure its the right one. You might do fine without it, there are millions of rear ends running around without them, but GM does not shell out that much money without a reason.

I would shop around the parts houses to find out the correct price, and if its within reason, I would err on the side of caution and put on a balancer.

If you put one on without it, and it did not work, will the shop take back the non-balancer one and give you credit against a correct one?
If not, its probably not worth the gamble.
 
Balancer is there for the whole nvh thing ( noise vibrations harmonics) you may notice ice some slight vibes on acceleration and deceleration. But you will be fine with out it.
 
Just talked to anouther driveline guy... he said the factory puts them on instead of balancing the driveshaft.
So I could do without it if the shaft is balanced. Call it a day and be happy.

Not sure what way to go yet.
 
My '11 D-max has a balanced shaft from the factory and the yoke balancer. If I was replacing the yoke on it, I'd go back with OEM design. Not saying it wouldn't work without it, but mine is too new with too many years/miles to go for me to roll the dice. It may be there for NVH only, but that doesn't dismiss anything in my mind. NVH is often used as a term to mean 'They tried to make it ride nicer'. However, vibration and harmonics (VH) can do real damage on drivetrains as we all know. So for me, not worth the gamble on MY rig.
 
This what I went with yesterday...

New spicer 5-1410x U joints
Neapco strap kit 1-0020
AAM Pinion flange 26060884 With out the balancer.

Maybe a mistake with the flange...I get a slight drone when the truck shifts into 5th gear. At just before 100 klms an hour.

May need to get the driveshaft balanced. Its not bad at all, but it didn`t do it before.
 
Hmm , I just replaced my rear transfer case housing, new yoke and u-joints 07 DMAX my driveshaft was balanced didn't have balancers on anything else?:dunno: I figured it was all stock it's got a 140k on it I've had the truck 4yrs and assumed none of that other stuff had been replaced before?
 
prolinews said:
Hmm , I just replaced my rear transfer case housing, new yoke and u-joints 07 DMAX my driveshaft was balanced didn't have balancers on anything else?:dunno: I figured it was all stock it's got a 140k on it I've had the truck 4yrs and assumed none of that other stuff had been replaced before?
Click to expand...

Why did you replace the housing... pump rub???
 
max 02 said:
Why did you replace the housing... pump rub???
Click to expand...

It had a crack in the tail shaft section. I bought the kryptonite housing and brace. As far as pump rub mine had zero wear, I was surprised to see that.
 
I had one come loose on a 2003 Dodge Cummins truck I was working on. Was told not to worry about it by Zumbrota Gear.

Martin
 
Is it possible the longer wheelbase trucks got the balancer and shorter ones didn't?
 
jekquistk5 said:
My 02 Extended cab short box has the ballancer
Click to expand...

Yeah all Duramax trucks have them.

Russell was over on Sunday to pick up a transmission at my place and I took him for a ride in the truck. He figured the pinion was maybe to loose giving me the drone.

I tried to get it a bit tighter but couldn`t get much more out of it. Got I little bit and it is a somewhat better.

I need to play with it some more. If I never drove this truck before I probably wouldn`t notice it.
 
Update!

Don’t run without the balancer. 5 years later I finally got fed up and swapped it out with a new Gm yoke with the balancer.
From the day I changed to no balancer it droned 150405 klms we drove like that. Yesterday I we changed it back to stock and it is perfect again!

C9B88810-E2AB-4839-8C7B-0AD501778DA2.jpeg
 
I would have thought it would have been ok with no balancer. Probably has to do with angles and the aluminum driveshaft(assuming that's what you have).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom