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Old 05-10-2020, 09:15 AM   #1
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Mercedes Sprinter motorhome; intermittent 'rumble' sound

I have a 2011 Forest River Solera with Freightliner (mercedes) Sprinter chassis.
A few months ago I started hearing a rumble sound intermittently & only at freeway speed.
Now it is more frequent and I can sense it happening at lower speeds too.
I have changed the differential fluid, had all tires taken off to put quality valve stems in, rotated the tires, balanced the front tires....

Repair shops 'think' it's probably a tire going bad (there is less than 10K on quality tires and wouldn't you think if it was a tire problem, the mechanic would notice when he had the tires off to put in the valve stems?)
another theory is ball bearings - but one can't tell which wheel might have a bearing problem.
I did drive on a flat tire (one of the rear dualies) because of the valve stems being stupid, but the mechanic said the tire was fine. (I didn't feel the flat tire while driving tho)
The rumble seems to be coming from the rear drive shaft, which is why we changed the diff. but nothing feels loose - u joints are tight.

I've been told twice not to worry until the sound is constant so a mechanic can diagnose it.
But I need to sell my beautiful travel buddy, and how can I sell it with a problem like this? The recent repair shop said it would cost a thousand or more just in labor time to try and figure it out & it's probably not an expensive repair, in and of itself.

Has anyone had a problem like this? When it rumbles I can feel the vibration through the floor while I'm driving and sounds like I drove over a rumble strip at the side of the road. But it doesn't feel like it's from the tires, like when you drive over bumps or real rumble strips - that is just the best way to describe the noise.
thanks!
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:25 AM   #2
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Tires can have a belt separating and it only shows up at speed and hard to detect I'm not sure about your chassis but you may have a carrier bearing for the drive shaft wearing out.


I would take it to a good tire shop and have them pull the rear tires and check for belt separation.
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:26 AM   #3
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From your symptoms described I would agree on a tire going bad.

As to the tire technician noticing a problem there balance machines generally have covers on them to prevent small stones flying off when speed balancing.

Just my opinion.

Good luck, Terry
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:35 AM   #4
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Swop the front and rear tires. Better yet if you can borrow some tires. That would eliminate the tires. Drive line joints? Outer rear axle bearings?
Keep us posted please
Good luck
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Old 05-10-2020, 09:53 AM   #5
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The Sprinter forum discusses a problem called RSN or Rumble Strip noise, sometime cured by transmission service. A common cause is using the wrong transmission fluid.
One write-up here: https://sprinter-source.com/forums/i...threads/67748/
Have your had a MB/Freightliner shop evaluate the problem?

However--- Driving with one of the dual tires flat could severely overload/damage that remaining single tire....
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Old 05-11-2020, 07:10 AM   #6
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