Drive Shaft Vibrations Solved Step-by-Step

Thin to front.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks for your work on this, I was close just from playing with it but was getting frustrated because small changes in angle make a huge difference. Something I might add, that any auto parts store carries shims. A pack is about two dollars and I had two packs laying around from a jetski motor install. They work great for this because they go from 1/8"-1/32" and allow you to dial in your carrier bearing angle/angle1. Oh and yes, I just made an account to post a thank you!

 

Sub'd

 

Just put dakars on a reg cab one piece drive shaft. I'm guessing I don't need an angle finder to see this is beyond 6 degrees.

 

Sub'd for future reference

 

Need to investigate... Installed my AAL and now I get a vibration right at 20mph when accelerating or decelerating.

 

I would bet that your angles are off.

 

Hey guys, I know im a little late. I read 25+ pages of this thread along with all the other discussions regarding this.
Thank you so much for the help, you guys are badasses.
I have some info on how i fixed mine for you guys if it could help anyone at all, i know i went through the ringer trying to figure it out as im sure most of us have.

TscotR214, badger

You both deserve some sort of freakin medal. Thanks for all the info and wisdom.
Tscot went so far out of his way to help everyone, im sure its been read by thousands by now so we all owe you.

The vibration problem started for me after replacing my center u joint (2010 AC TRD sport 6 spd)
I was having a slow popping sound when I decelerated and sometimes while turning or accelerating. or both.
Anyway, I check my u joints one day and sure enough my middle one was just falling apart. There was so much play in it, thankfully caught it before it pole vaulted me into the sky.
I ended up swapping it out with a Duralast U joint from auto zone.

Reading all the threads with hints and tips from TW about this process definitely helped and I managed to get the job done.

Or so I thought...

I felt a small vibration on deceleration from hwy speeds, after feeling no vibration at all in my truck in anyway before any of this. Even when the U joint was about to explode there was still no vibration just the popping when i would slow down/stop and sometimes on accel.

So of course I was super pissed at myself and kept thinking of where and what i did wrong.
I spent so much time marking my driveshaft perfectly to line it back up, and it all fit back in so perfectly. I knew it was too good to be true.

So I look into all these things and spend all this time taking my driveshaft off making sure no debris got in there and checking the u joints and whatever you can think of.
Then came the washer post, good ole number 6 on the first page.

I did that exact same thing, i bought a handful of washers, brought my impact and a socket and just started driving.
I could instantly tell a difference. I ended up having two 1/8 inch washers on the right side of the carrier bearing and one on the left (if this is not a good idea please someone smart and wise tell me as I am definitely a rookie).

The vibration problem was essentially gone, i felt it here and there maybe, but not often
Then it started vibrating around 65+ and the terrible 30-45 zone we all dread.

I arrive home after a very frustrating day of washer combinations not working and then inconsistent vibration at all sorts of different speeds and RPMs.
About to just go insane
I look under my truck one more time while i still have sunlight and notice that one of my u joint retaining clips is almost flush with the end of the yoke (its the yoke that the u joint fits in to right? some of my names are mixed up, i just know what they look like).
so i go inside and grab a strongish type C-clamp and a pair of pliers.
Take the retaining clip off and put my clamp on that u joint cap

SLIP

The bastard cap slides down I swear an entire 1/4" (maybe less, i was just in disbelief)
I check all my other u joints out and make sure the caps are all completely on there

Start my truck up, drove around for the better part of an hour and felt ABSO-FING-LUTELY NO VIBRATION AT ALL

AT ANY SPEED
IN ANY GEAR
AT ANY RPM


PSA
check all the caps on your u joints. if you havent pushed them or beat them or squeezed them or whatever
if they are loose at all, it will cause your whole shit to shake
I feel so stupid and embarrassed, I swear I got them all on there super tight and good. I think I just got slap happy that it was all about to go back together and that one cap must have missed one or two extra hammer swings.
So just double check your u joint caps when dealing with the vibration.

Again, Tscot I couldnt have done it without your help so thank you so much. I mean sending guys shims and kits and money and washers and just being a badass human man for real. Faith in humanity restoring haha.

Hope this helps someone! I couldnt hold this in, i came home instantly so I could spread the word. I know the stress on me was insane. Always afraid something is gonna fly through the floor board or into the dirt. Definitely will sleep a little better tonight.

 

Not sure who all is still subscribed to this but I wanted to see if anybody has a digital angle finder they'd care to let me borrow or buy for less than the $20+ I see them for on Craigslist? I'm in the Southern CA area and am pretty flexible on where/when I could meet. Yes, I know they sell them at Harbor Freight & Craigslist, but in my 30+ years I've never needed one so I'm not sold on spending much for one.

Edit to add: Or has anyone had much luck doing this with their smart phone?

 

Tomorrow I'm going to try to take another stab at measuring my current driveline angles, but I'm a little confused on one thing, although I think I already know the answer.

When you say "pinion down" does that mean the front of the pinion flange angled slightly towards the ground?

I installed AP expos and my understanding is that shims are not supposed to be necessary for them, but last time I checked my angles the Tcase flange and pinion were effectively 0 deg to each other, but then again my measurements didn't make any sense since I got .6 deg from the 1st shaft to 2nd and 6.7 on the operating angle of both tcase and pinion u-joints, so I must be getting something wrong.

 

One thing, the packaging on the HF finder is super easy to reclose, so I'm sure you could buy it, use it for a few days, and then repack it and return it.

 

Ok guys, my rear differential has a 6 degree angle and I think this is what is causing my vibes (35-40 mph). With it being 6 degrees, should i try to find 6 degree shims? I have a 4 inch spindle lift up front and 1.5 inch blocks in the back. I was hoping I could just get 2 inch blocks with a taper. The degree on the first and second pieces of my drive shaft are almost identical because I tried the washer method and I am still getting vibes so i'm fairly convinced the vibes (take-off, 35-40 mph, and slowing down) have something to do with the rear differential being at such a bad angle.

 

alright i need help from the drive line people.

2011 dcsb trd sport 6 speed with 41k miles Lifted for about 18k miles

I have a 3 inch lift in the rear with dakars installed with one overload leaf removed. in the front i have 2.5inchs of life on fox 2.5 coilovers.
I have been having the stupid vibrations/drivelinehowl from 35-40.
I have tried tire balance and rotations alignments, Front diff needle bearing from ECGS which helped.
I had the OME CB drop just slapped in there which made no difference, then i added just 3 degree shims which seemed to maybe help.
Then i used washers on the CB drop and it seemed to get a tad better but still there.
So i got the angle finder and it still doesnt make sense.

I zeroed the angle finder off the transfer case shaft flange using a piece of flat bar.


First measurements with no shim in was 4.0 degrees a the rear differential


This was with nothing in the CB also. - vibes the worst

Next i added the 3 degree shim as i figures it would put me within 1 degree.

ya that makes sense......even further off from pointing at each other? This was with the pointy end forward.





Then i added a few washers to the CB



this seemed to make it a touch better but really not that great.

Am i missing something?

 

I don't yet have any numbers, but I had pretty good success today dropping the carrier bearing about 3/4 in. Put a 7/16 nut stacked with the drop spacer. Don't have an angle finder, as cheap as they are I will soon. But much improved on the vibes! Only slight at 5-8 mph. Smooth at all other speeds to 80mph. I can live with this I think till I get my one peice. One thing...I DID find my u joints full of air. The dealer assured me back when it was under the two year free maintenance they greased all zerks and like an idiot I believed them. Truck has 13,000 on it and I wonder about the u joints now. I'll probably get some and keep them till I need them.

 

I gotta get my "vibe head" back on. Been away from it for the winter.
@gordi
You are going to want to check the angles of each shaft also. They are all thrown into the mix.

 

So the working angles are what I'm supposed to be checking?

 

That is what I have been finding to give an accurate read of what is happening.
I will have to pull out my numbers sheet. I was trying to track every adjustment I made and calculate what the hell was going on.
Will get back here and give you what I had found. It isn't perfect, but it did get better.

 

Ok cool. I'm thinking one piece drive shaft soon lol

 

Think that is where I am heading too.