Driveshaft Vibrations! Help!

About 5 weeks ago I had a 6 inch Zone Offroad lift installed on my truck. A few days after it was installed is when I realized I had driveshaft vibtrations around 15-18mph. After doing some research I found out that most lift kits come with carrier bearing drop spacers to correct the issue. I checked under my truck and saw there were no spacers installed. I contacted the guy who installed my lift and he said he did not see carrier bearing spacers in my kit. So, I heard good things about the OME carrier bearing spacers and ordered the kit. The kit arrived and I installed it in less than 10 minutes.....it did not fix the issue. The spacers were 1/4 inches thick. So, I contacted BDS about the issue since BDS and Zone are sister companies, they said the Zone lift should have came with spacers. They stated their spacers were 3/4 inches thick and it should correct the issue. Spacers came, they were installed and I am still having vibtrations. I’m not sure what to do now. The vibrations get more annoying every time I drive my truck, it’s more noticeable when I’m decelerating around 15-18 mph and it’s loud inside the cab. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thank you.

 

Look up ECGS bushings. That'll fix your problem, most likely.

 

Did the carrier bearing kit improve things at all? My thoughts are that 1/4” is not enough of a drop with a 6” lift. A driveline angle analysis needs to be done to find the correct measurements. Do a search and you will find many threads on this topic

 

The vibration the OP has described is not the usual symptoms caused by the needle bearing. His 6” lift is likely a DB lift which does not change the CV angle from stock, thus shouldn’t produce needle bearing vibs

 

CANCEL DRIVELINE ANGLES http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd...tion-free.html

 

Yeah I figured the OME carrier bearing kit would be for 0-3 inches of lift which I why I thought 1/4 inches spacers would have fixed the issue. Yes, my kit is drop bracket. I read the thread that you posted and noticed the guy was talking about shims in the rear, my rear blocks are already tapered which would put it at the angle the rear needs, no?

 

Maybe. Or not.

They really should be measured to verify.

 

A 2-piece driveshaft with 3 standard u-joints needs; first angle @ 0-1 degree and the middle and pinion angle equal; no carrier drop necessary. It takes 2 equal angles to cancel; we have 3 angles...



Because it's worse on deceleration and only present at a certain speed, I suspect your main problem is the pinion diving down excessively as the spring loads up. Weak springs and lift blocks do not help this scenario.

You can try correcting angles, but unless you correct some of that dive...

Does your lift have ladder bar(s)?

 

Ok hopefully I measured these right. But I got

Rear diff flange @ 5 degrees
Rear propeller shaft @ 11 degrees
Front propeller shaft @ 9 degrees
Front U joint @ 5 degrees

These measurements are with the 1/4 inch carrier bearing spacers installed.

No my kit did not come with or require ladder bars

 

And I saw the thread where the guy talked about rotating the carrier ring 180 degrees which lifted it another 1/2 inch. I figured going up with created more angles

 

These are measurements with the BDS carrier drop installed?
Your working angles are 4-2-6, front to rear?

 

Correct, these measurements are with the BDS carrier drop installed

 

You need to get the first angle down to 0-1. Taking out the drop carrier will do this; it will also increase the middle angle making it closer to the pinion angle.
I suggest removing the carrier drop and remeasure. I suspect you'll need to shim the pinion some.

With that much lift you might not be able to get the 2nd and 3rd angles at the 'ideal' 3 degrees or less.

 

Ok
I will remove the carrier spacers. What about rotating the carrier ring 180 degrees. It’s concentric and should lift the carrier bearing another half inch. I read on a forum of somebody doing it and it fixed his issue

 

See what kind of angles you get stock first. Removing a 3/4" spacer ought to get you quite a bit.

 

Alright. I know removing the spacers won’t fix the issue because it has only been a few days with the spacers on and the vibrations are exactly the same as when they were off

 

By itself, no it won't; just gets it closer to where it needs to be.
Like I said previously, you might get all your angles correct and still have a problem from your pinion diving during deceleration. As is, your working angle at the pinion is 6 degrees, stationary. What is it while diving down during deceleration? 7? 8? 9?...

 

Not to hijack, but I installed a 1” block this weekend, and this thread made me check mine.

My angles, from transfer case back are 1.8 to front half of the shaft, .3 between the front and rear shafts, 2.2 rear shaft to pinion. How would you attack that? Raising the carrier bearing would help get the front part in better shape, but would i then need to shim the nose of the rear diff up to match the two rear angles better?

It’s wierd that the front angle is so poor, I didn’t change that one, it came from Toyota that way.

ETA-I read in the other thread that you’re basically trying to make the front and rear angles opposite, and the center angle just off zero to lube the joint. If that’s the case, I’m less than a half degree off, correct? I coulda screwed up the measurements that far.

 

Ok, so I remeasured today after taking the carrier bearing spacers off and this is what I got....

Front U joint: 2 degrees
Front propellar: 6 degrees
Rear propellar: 12 degrees
Rear flange: 7 degrees

 

Shouldn't you be zeroing on the Front Flange and then measuring FP, RP then RF? IDK I measured six times and never repeated the same, somewhat close but never the same.
Maybe this from @Crom will help you.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-and-adventures.362772/page-124#post-13159960