Tom Woods Driveshafts

Looking to install a one piece driveshaft to finally cure my f**#%% vibration and takeoff shudder. I’ve done everything. Shims, carrier bearing drop, diff drop, no shims, no carrier drop, you name it.

has anyone installed a one piece driveshaft? How many miles do you have on it? Details?

also would like to know if you had to trim the carrier bearing mount off.

 

Anyone?

 

I have one sitting at home that I havent installed yet. It arrived in the mail the day before I had to drive down south and I didn't want to swap it out the morning I was leaving in case I had an issue during removal/install.
The TW 1pc steel is a 3.5" diameter and I think theres even clearance w/ the 4" shafts people are using, so you "shouldn't" have to trim the carrier bearing mount unless you do some serious wheeling.
A few people have installed them though and I haven't seen any complaints. Theres a thread somewhere dedicated to 1pc driveshafts.

 

I got mine made to the specs / angles of my truck locally. It’s been great ever since, about 20k miles on it and I lube the fittings every oil change.
I didn’t have to do any trimming to the carrier bearing mounts.

not a good pic of it, but I took this today and you can see the driveshaft that needs paint after winter lol

 

I faught vibrations for yearsssssss!!!!! When I went from 3" to 7" I had to park the truck it was so bad!

Ive been running a one piece for 1.5yrs, not Tom Woods, I had a custom one piece 4" Aluminum made.

COMPLETELY fixed the vibration!

 

About the carrier cut, depends on the lift. Under 6", If your flexing at all, you'll need to cut most likely.

 

Had my TW 3.5" driveshaft steel in for 7 years now and no clearance problems. I do have OME Dakars in the rear of 2009 TRD Off Road 4wd DCSB.
Looks like about 3/4" between each side of the shaft and the old center bearing mount and never had any problem.
Been running it for over 100k miles.

 

I personally prefer Adams Driveshafts over Tom Woods. But a one piece is a good option for sure.

 

I’d like to order a Tom Woods, but get overwhelmed by all the options on their website.

 

Just did it within the past month, wish I would have done it when I did the OME lift years ago. Cured lots of vibrations, even some I wasn't attributing to the driveshaft!

 

lol. This was me 6 months ago. Finally... finally ordered a Tom Woods. Smooth sailing ever since.

I've regeared to 4:10, so I went with their 4" shaft. Because of that I cut out the cb cross member. No ragrets.

 

Thanks for the reply’s boys. Shall I keep my 3 degree shims that came with my Springs? I run Dakar in rear.

 

double cardan joint up front?

 

carrier bearing mount left as is?

 

I thought about doing a one piece driveshaft from TW a while back, but what held me back was the cross member. Some people cut an opening for the one piece and some don't, but it's awfully close and seems like it would hit if you carried load and went off roading. I have a 2.5" lift so that was a concern for me. To me the best option is either to have someone locally make alterations to your existing drive shaft, adding double cardan joints, or buy another two segmented drive shaft like the stock, but with the double cardan joints on. That also seemed to resolve people's vibes from my past research.

Messing around with shims and driveline angles seems to be hit or miss and can come with a lot of frustrations.

 

Anyone tried a driveline spacer? I just ordered a 1". We'll see what happens.

 

I thought you guys were talking about the other Tom Woods, but the tw police probably wouldn’t allow it. Now I’m sad, but at least I’m enjoying the sweet shaft pics.

 

Yes, they make it w/ a double cardan. And also yes, I was planning to keep the rear axle shims in place since they're meant to straighten the angle from axle to transfer case.
Just make sure you measure your own distance while it's on the truck. Mine varied by 3/4" from some others. Not a big deal since the shaft can accomodate some articulation, but it's better in the long run if it's more specific to your setup.

 

Read the info on TW site and u-joints use the same angle on xfer output and rear diff which is usually zero.
Double carden angles of the two point at each other.
You all are worry warts just get one and stop all the messing around.
As I said 3.5 shaft no problems on old carrier mount but 4 remove it.
You all have fun screwing around with the stock crap!

 

Thanks for the inputZ. Ok, so question. Do you ever load your bed down?