Ugh - a new vibration/stumble to worry about
 

Hi guys - The '95 diesel has developed a weird stumble upon giving it gas that lasts for only a brief instance - and only under a heavy start like an uphill grade. It feels like it is coming from back end.

I had my indie look things over and he said everything looks tight. With hundreds of these cars out there can anyone share some insight? It has an LSD by the way if that matters.

I've had the center support bearing do that before and hesitate upon acceleration. its kind of like a skip right?

More like a 5 or 6 'beat' vibration. Almost feels like when your tires spin out and grab the pavement in a bouncy behavior. Except this car will never be able to do that. A school bus is faster than my car :(.

Also it takes off in first gear for the last few months. Shouldn't it start in 2nd gear unless I force it to first with a hot start?

Still sounds like a center support bearing to me. A school bus shouldn't be faster. Ditch that ALDA. It's a 24v dual cam. it shouldn't be slow for a NA diesel. Also, check the Bowden cable. If it's out of adjustment the trans will shift funky aka early. should run 0-60 in 11 or 10 seconds I think. My 87 300D spun tires 1-2nd on dry pavement. ;)

I think your transmission was always a first gear start btw.

Most of these cars start in second, although a few do start in first. If you've suddenly switched to first gear starting, I would think a shorted kickdown switch would be the first thing to check. That would lock the solenoid.

Before you get too crazy with hard parts, use a tee fitting to plumb a vacuum gauge into the modulator line. It may be that you have an unusual vacuum condition.

Unless the '95 is different, the diesel tuned transmission should start in 1st.

Some do, some don't. You can't assume.

The diesels went to 1st gear start somewhere 1982-1983. The gas engines stayed 2nd gear start until sometime in the early 90s.