Drive Shaft Vibrations Solved Step-by-Step

Ok im not good at this kind of stuff so here goes! Here are my numbers so what do I need to do? I have a 2.75" front lift and a 2" back lift. I have already installed the carrier bearing spacer, and I ordered a 3 degree axle shim. Any advice is very welcome!!!

 

I guess this post is dead. Anyways took the carrier bearing out and just vibrations around 15 mph slowing down. I guess this could be the carrier bearing adjustment? Kind of wierd cause i did not install the leaf shim after a 2" rear lift.

 

If you read through this post, there are about a hundred different opinions about how to fix vibrations.

From a technical point of view, what you want is the angle on two adjacent u-joints to be equal (or opposite) and third one to be at 1 degree. Or simply put, if the u-joint angles from front to rear are A, B & C, you want
A + C - B to equal zero, or close to it while minimizing A + B + C

I have 2” lift in back and what worked for me was a 2.5 degree axle shim combined with flipping the carrier bearing upside down and still using the OME spacers to reduce angle at the transfer case. This places the middle of the center bearing about 1/2 inch higher than stock to reduce angle A while increasing B to match A.

In your case, you should go ahead with the 3 degree shim then play with different shims at carrier bearing until angles at u-joints A and B are equal and then reassess if you need a larger or smaller angle shim at the axle to get a 0.5 to a 1.5 degree across the last U-joint at the differential. Don’t be afraid to flip the carrier bearing upside down first and start shimming from there. If you need more than 1” of shims, then flip the carrier bearing right side up an continue shimming down.

Everyone’s setup, including amount of weight over rear axle, is different so what worked for me may not work for you.

 

Ok so I was doing the measurements wrong. Im just looking for a solution not a sarcastic answer. Im thinking I need a 2 degree axle shim turned backwards. What do you think?

 

I haven't tried it my self yet. Asumming you measured your angles correctly, try the method in post #34. The one that is inline with the toyota specification. This is the one I'm going to try. Good luck!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...olved-step-by-step.244535/page-2#post-5889063

 

So I did the measurements again this time on level ground. I wanted to find the correct axle shim size. Front pinion angle 5.59 rear pinion angle 5.94 +\- .3 front pinion zerod to rear pinion 0 degrees to .3.
Looking at this my pinions are very close. 1)Tcase to Trans versus rear pinion angle .34 2)T case to Trans operating angle 6.81 3)CB operating angle Front drive shaft 6.81, Rear drive shaft 10.15 difference 3.14 4)Pinion operating angle 11.21 5)Direction pointingpointing up

What next?

 

@Duke4x4 , you get your vibe fixed?

 

Not yet im currently fighting it out with Toyota.

 

@Duke4x4 any luck with your vibes and the dealer?

 

Stupid Question #247 How are you all adding in the axle shims? Are you removing the leaf packs completely from the truck and adding the shims that way or are you using some sort of a short cut? Like jacking up the frame and dropping the axle a bit?

And by the way.... No one said there would be MATH involved when I bought my truck!

 

I’m going to be putting some 3° shims in tomorrow and plan to jack up the rear till tires are just about off the ground, then loosen the u bolts enough to get the shim in.
That said, I bought the shims off of Headstrong and they are slotted so I only need enough space to slide them in. I think the center bolt head is big enough to still stay in the recess. The plan is to only go as high as I need to.
Here’s what mine look like so I can probably get away with out disconnecting the shocks. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

Added in the shims but have not driven it yet. Depending on your shims and comfort level will change what you to. I ended up removing the front u bolts and jacking up the leaf spring from the front. The shims are just a little too wide to fit between the u bolts. Which is good, I’m pretty much not concerned about them sliding out.
I jacked up the front of the leaf just enough to fit the shim in there. If yours is not slotted and only has the hole you’ll need to go up higher. I also removed the brake line bracket on the leaf spring just to be sure it didn’t stretch.
If the vibrations are gone I’m going to end up getting new u bolts. Even though I have locktite and locking washers, there is only about 1 thread showing on each bolt end... or I’ll get new bump stops and a flip kit. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

Gotta give you the innovation award for getting the shims in that way.

I went the other way when I installed mine and completely undid my U-Bolts and disconnected the shock ( one side at a time) to get mine in and then spent a good 5 minutes trying to get the center pin to line up again with the centering hole when I put it back together. If I were to do it again I would add a paint mark on the spring and axle to show where they should line up to the centering bolt
bolt.
There was a few tense moments with the brake lines so I like this alternate approach as having less chance to stretch the brake lines when lowering the axle.

 

Thanks, not that I want to admit it but I tried a few different times and ways before I realized the shim would not fit between the u bolt opening.
I was just being lazy about it.
I did drive it and while the vibrations were better I could still feel them. I added in the CB spacers and will see if that fixes everything. I’ve almost got the same angles along the two drive shaft parts.

 

I have an 2006 Prerunner with 360+ thousand miles with an Automatic trans.

Here is what I did using the Harbor Freight digital gauge.

Step 1) I zeroed out the gauge sitting it on top of the can like thing that goes over the spline shaft output of the trans.
Step 2) I put the gauge on top of the 1st half of the driveshaft and got 2.4* downward.
Step 3) I put the gauge on top of the 2nd half of the driveshaft and got 7.2* downward.
Step 4) I put the gauge on top of the pinion flange (multiple times) and got 1.4* upward.

Did I do step 3 correctly? Or am I supposed to zero out at the pinion flange and then measure the 2nd half driveshaft angle?

By the way, this is with an Icon Stage 3 leaf pack, no blocks, and Bilstein new-ish 7125 shocks, no shims of any sort yet (although I did rotate the carrier bearing 180* hoping that would work - it didn't) a few days ago. Weird thing is I was running the stock recall replacement leafs with an Icon AAL and 2 inch blocks (flat) and had zero issue with vibes. Now I get the vibes at 25-30mph and I think (although I am not sure if I am just imagining it as it is barely perceptible) around 45-50mph too.

What should I do different if I did it wrong? If I understood all this 50 plus pages of discussion I need to install 1.5* axle shims and a few washers on the CB (or maybe rotate the CB back?)

 

Finally got rid of 95% of the vibrations from the 50-60mph range in my truck. It took 3° axle shims, 1 spacer per side (from my Ironman lift kit), 2 oem u bolt washers per side and longer bolts. I may swap out the u bolt washers for another plate at some point since they are not perfectly flat but I also don’t think I want to mess with it any more.

 

TscotR214
badger
any help ? Post 995 above has my details.

 

Thank you Tacomaworld community and the original creator of this post. After installing my Deaver Expedition Series III leaf packs, I had horrible vibrations. Went online and bought a bolt-in, 3 degree shim kit to correct the axle angles. While installing the shims I removed the two massive over loads from each pack because I don’t have that much bed weight at this time. I can always reinstall them as my build progresses. After the install I buttoned everything up and went for a drive. Major improvements!

However, I did have a slight shudder around 18-20mph so I went to this thread. Following his instructions I purchased the Klein Tools angle finder (for about $30), 3/8” stainless steel fender washers (qty. 14), and longer carrier bearing bolts (M10 x 1.25 x 50mm). Made measurements as instructed and started adding the washers, bolted it all together, torqued to 27 ft lb. and measured again.

After multiple times of doing this I finally found the sweet spot - qty. 6 washers on either side gave me 5.4 degrees on both drive shafts. As and added security I applied some medium strength Locktite to the bolt threads to finish out the install. Ever since, it has been smooth sailing! Thank you so much for the helpful tips in this community!

Things to note: I had previously installed the OME bearing drop kit which is around 10mm thick block from my previous AAL setup. I decided to keep this intact and stacked washers from there. The overall thickness of the block and six washers yielded a 18mm thickness. I know this will be different for others, but something to keep in mind. In addition, the shims brought my axle back into a 0.9 degree angle which made a world of difference.

 

Boy oh boy am I glad I found this thread!! Guess I get to join in on this fun! Those that have added shims with OME dakar packs, anything i should know? Advice? ect? Some are saying I need to drill? Rather not... Will the ones with the slot from headstrong work? If so, will they hold up to taking a beating? I'm sure I'll be posting my angles soon... until then... thanks in advance.

 

I got the slotted ones from Headstrong and may had any issues. With the stock bump stop and U bolts the plate can’t fall out, they are just slightly too wide to fit through them so you’ll need to take off the front UBolt to slide them in. I posted my install a few posts up.
I’ve since put a u bolt flip kit and it makes that a different set up since the bolts are on the axle (side) and not the front and back like the oem. The normal instal has the shims thin edge forward and the slots go through the bigger end so they can’t fall out backwards.
Last thing to consider, you may need a longer center pin bolt for the leaf pack, unless you know that the pin head will be enough to still fit into the axle recess after the shims in place.
Hope this helps.