Banged up my driveshaft. Buy replacement or retube original?

Think about a tin can. It has pretty good rotational stiffness, but once you put a dent in it you can twist it apart easily. That is the case with the prop shaft since it is essentially a series of hollow tubes. That is why he can't balance. I did exactly the same thing to my own driveshaft, creating a bigger dent than yours. By the time I got my truck home again it wasn't derivable. I got lucky and a member found a used one locally for me but with out that I would have had a local driveshaft shop rebuild one for me for sure. It sounds like you picked out a competent shop to me or he would have attempted the balance.

You do have another option, Tom Woods Driveshafts, will build a single piece that potentially would be stronger than the factory as well. You can order it with double joints which will handle taller lifts, and it eliminates the center bearing. Down side is a long shaft is really sensitive to balance at high speeds, so if you have re-geared it may create more vibe than you would like.

I looked at Drive Shaft Super Store... funny the web site looks a lot like Tom Woods, wonder if they are related someway.

 

Yeah I'm in talks with Ron from DSS about making me a new rear shaft with a double cardon. I thought about a one piece but don't think I like the idea of losing the ground clearance that comes with it. Last I heard TW only makes one piece shafts.

 

Yeah, brace the stick against the truck and move the chalk in slowly, in small increments towards the spinning shaft. Once it starts to touch the shaft, stop moving it in.
-If it’s really bent the chalk will only leave a mark on part of the shaft.
-A continuous ring would normally mean the shaft is pretty straight at that point. Check a few spots/shaft.
(It’s really just a poor-mans-fast-and-nasty deflection gauge)

FYI- It’s not an exact science as i’ve seen perfectly straight shafts that are out of balance and i’ve also seen slightly bent shafts with no vibration.

 

Yup basically what I was going to say.. A cardboard roll from paper towels or something like that. If its bad enough to see the runout with your bare eyes (no chalk test needed) Id be a little skeptical of it handling a lot of torque.

 

OK. It sounds like the local guy is fairly honest and knows what he's talking about then. Now I just have to decide if I want him to rebuild mine or order a double cardon from DSS. I didn't have any vibes before the damage with the lift installed, so I'm afraid I'm trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist by introducing the double cardon into the mix.

 

If it aint broke dont fix it

 

A dented driveshaft would have a lot less torsional strength. It's like trying to twist a perfect soda can, then denting the side and twisting it again... more likely to collapse after being dented.

I can see why they wouldn't want to just rebalance it.

 

My thinking too.

 

Only glimpsed at the first few posts, but I
wouldn’t drive on a shaft that was bent or out of balance at anything over a few mph due to damaging the t case or diff bearings and seals. So even keeping the damaged one as a spare isn’t very useful imo. Not to mention the hassle of toting around a spare shaft...

 

I'm seeing double.

 

Great minds think alike

 

This ^

 

I dont think he would be offering that work without balancing the shaft.

 

Slim pickings here unfortunately. Keep making phone calls to different shops and nobody for hundreds of miles knows anyone who does driveshafts.

 

Tell me about it. You guys out there have all the fun.

 

Thanks! I’ll give some calls out tomorrow. I’ve found a lot of places use a website template that says they do driveshafts, but when I call they say they actually don’t. But the second one is pretty close to me, so I’ll definitely be calling them. Thank you man.

 

I paid $370 to get mine retubbed as well. They also changed a yoke and u-joint. Steep.