Any downsides to a single piece drive shaft?

Oh cool! What is the double cardon coming off of?

Here's a stock 2nd gen rear driveline, what's left anyway.

 

What's a DBCB?

 

What the hell did you do?!?!

And I believe the double cardon is on the transfer case side.

 

I'm running about 4" in the rear, and I have no vibes with 1/2" carrier spacer, and 3* leaf shims. Yes I have pulled my shit apart many times to get it right. But it is now smooth as glass. New shaft is big money.

Another option is to add a Double Cardan joint at the T-case, then you only have to match the angles of the rear section of the shaft.

Also, you could have a worn carrier bearing.

 

Sorry I should have clarified, I know which side the DC is on I'm wondering where the part is coming from since it is not on the driveshaft stock, at least the longer section. Maybe it's already on the short side before the CB but not likely. Like does it come from a tundra etc.. I know nothing about 2nd gens really so I'm just trying to understand.

That's not mine that was a local member after getting wrapped up on an obstacle at slick rock.

Double cab chort bed? Lol maybe he meant DCCV double Cardon constant velocity.

 

YUSS

 

I think I'll be removing the drive shaft and going for a longer drive in 4WD HI (or FrontWD HI) to see if it still is having trouble. I was driving around today and thought "wheel bearing....hmmm" so it would be nice to rule that out.

 

Not suggesting this is the answer to your vibe issue but before I tightened the rear u bolts (leafs to axle), we started the truck and I had a friend hold the brake and put the truck in drive. You could see the driveline flex a bit and then I torqued 'em down (while the truck was in still in drive). So far so good. This helped more than any adjustments, measurements, shims, drop kits, bearing, etc....

 

That's a very interesting idea. Essentially, with the axle not 100% bound to the leafs you let it idle/rotate the shaft and place it where it needed to be and THEN tightened it down? Am I understanding that correctly? If so, that actually makes a fair bit of sense to me. It would certainly take some careful execution for safety's sake.

 

Yes, we are on the same page. Not having everything locked tight when put in gear allowed the drivetrain to settle to where it should be. I was surprised the amount of flex/torque there was. For safety, we did block the front wheels and obviously this is a two man job. I have done a fair amount of NON safety things in my day but this one was pretty simple.

 

Sub'd

 

Thread revival.

This technique has me curious and slightly confused. Could you not accomplish the same thing with the engine off by setting the parking brake, putting it in 4WD, and letting it "roll" backwards or forwards slightly on just the front wheels until the driveline slack between the front wheels and rear brake shoes is taken up? Or does it actually have to be spinning when you torque?

 

Your idea may work, just having a hard time visualizing how the drivetrain will react when doing this method. When I did it, the driveshaft was not spinning but when you put the truck in gear, the torque flexed the transmission and drive shaft which seemed to settle the rear end in proper alignment and then tightened to the leafs to hold that alignment (truck was still in drive until all nuts were tightened/torqued and all 4 wheels on ground under its on weight). You could lay under the rear and have a friend put your truck in drive (holding the brakes of course) and see how much torque/flex actually happens between the tranny, shaft, and rear diff. Similar to when you start the truck and first put it in drive, while holding the brakes, you feel that little movement of everything tightening up. After doing this, there is less feeling of that tightening which I assume is less binding up of the drivetrain = no vibes. Watching videos of axle wrapping problems gave me the idea, seeing the amount of output torque, if you tightening everything when lifted in air, how to do you know where the proper pinion angle of rear axle should be in relation to the leafs....by doing this, figured the truck would settle itself where it needed, or at least close enough to eliminate the my vibe issue.

 

I just replaced my OEM two piece rear drive shaft with a local, custom built, one piece shaft. My truck is lifted 2” and I’d been dealing with driveshaft vibrations for the 25k miles or so since the lift went on. I tried 3° shims, various CB drops and a CB flip plus various drops. I used an angle finder and did all the math and never could find the right combination that completely cured the vibrations. The U bolts were tightened to spec around the axle and all other sources of vibration were ruled out. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and my OEM CB gave out. It was squeaking in reverse and at low speeds and I could feel the slop in the driveshaft as my vibrations had gotten much worse. So instead of buying a new CB and still having vibes I opted for a new one piece shaft. It’s thicker than the original two piece as others have mentioned but all of my driveshaft vibrations are gone. The shudder I used to feel at a slow takeoff (more pronounced on an incline) is gone and the truck is smooth from 0-70+ mph. I paid $450 for the new driveshaft locally and I had a friend of mine install it while I was out of town on a business trip. I know the driveshaft shop reused as much of the OEM stuff as they could (flanges and slip yoke) but I’ll need to crawl up under the truck and snap a picture sometime soon to get more details. And either way, going with the one piece shaft was by far the best decision I’ve made since I lifted the truck. Now I just need to order that ECGS needle bearing replacement and I’ll be completely vibration free when driving in 2WD. I guess I should also add that I do very little off road driving and when I do I’m rarely crawling over anything that could destroy the driveshaft.

 

agree 100%...1pc driveshaft is the best way to go when lifted. If this would not have worked, I would have installed one also. You'll be happy with the ECGS needle bearing, it did eliminate my front end vibe.

 

My decision to go one piece versus adding a double cardan to the OEM two piece was mainly driven by the bad CB and the ridiculous replacement cost of the CB ($390 for an OEM replacement). I’m sure maintaining the two piece design that Toyota intended would be the most ideal scenario for many of the same reasons people have already mentioned but for me and how I use my truck, the custom one piece for $450 made the most sense. I’m not at all worried about ground clearance and I don’t mind the larger diameter of the shaft. The local shop that made the new driveshaft even told me that with my minimal lift (3” or less) they weren’t concerned about the length of a custom one piece rear shaft. And seeing the amount of commercial and hardcore off road truck shafts they dealt with on a daily basis made me feel good about their opinion.

And as for my front vibrations I’m actually in a crappy maintenance situation right now with this truck... I bought it as a one owner used vehicle, with just over 58k miles on it. I lifted it and put on brand new 265/70/r17 BFG KO2s at around 65k miles and almost immediately after the lift I could feel the needle bearing vibrations in the front (they would go away any time I put the truck in 4H) as well as the rear driveshaft vibrations I fought so hard to remedy. Now, with the smoothness of the new one piece rear driveshaft, the front vibration is much more noticeable when it occurs (it doesn’t happen all the time) and in addition, I can hear a nice steady hum and feel a slight vibration coming from the front wheel bearings. I can feel that in the front floorboard at about 65-70 mph on the highway and since I just had the tires rotated and balanced and I’ve got just over 90k miles on the truck now, I’m not at all surprised one or both of the front wheel bearings is starting to go.

I’m doing my research on wheel bearings right now and I’ll likely order the ECGS needle bearing replacement and the tool needed to do that job very soon. Once I get all this stuff sorted out my truck is going to be smoother and quieter on the highway than it has since I bought it. I’ve grown so accustomed to random vibrations and noise that I won’t even recognize my own truck at that point.

 

You can get the oem cb replacement for about $75 through splicer which is the same as toyota. Even has there toyota name stamped on it

 

That’s good to know but doesn’t matter now seeing as I don’t have a CB anymore. And I still wouldn’t do it any differently as I couldn’t be happier with the new one piece rear shaft. That and I got brand new U joints with the new shaft too which makes me feel better about the long term since I can now keep track of when and how often they are greased. I couldn’t say the same thing about the OEM U joints...

 

I'm rocking a woody too. Just hope I don't candycane mines while wheeling

 

New to the game...I’ve got the carrier bearing shims. Where do I get the leaf shims and where do they go??