Drive Shaft Vibrations Solved Step-by-Step

Hey guys, I need some advice. I measured my TC pinion flange against the differential flange. TC flange was at 89.1* and the diff was at 87.2*. Now when I rotated my angle finder on the diff flange I had to rotate it in the direction that would bring my diff down to reach 89.1*. That would mean I would install 2 degree axle shims with the fat end forward? I mean if I installed them thin edge forward it would take my diff to 85.2*. Am I missing something?

 

Fat end forward will drop the pinion to parallel. That seems to work for some of you dcsb 4x4 guys. What vibes do you have? And what are your shaft angles? What lift? With this we can give you a little better guidance.

 

That sucks dude.... You didn't roll the bobcat I hope, or the tacoma

 

Thanks for the reply, I have vibes starting at about 40-45 up to 65. Shaft angles are exactly 1* apart from each other. I have Dakars in the back with top overload removed. Was also thinking of replacing the carrier bearing, there's a lot of slop in it.

 

What tricks have you tried so far? It sounds like you've done your homework, since you already have the shafts this close to each other. This way we don't repeat anything.

If you haven't done this....
Easiest solution first, have you tried flipping the carrier bearing and shimming down from there? Don't be surprised if you have to shim more than two degrees down after flipping. From that we can talk axle shims.

How much slop are we talking about in you carrier bearing. Can you measure it either in inches or degrees of play in the first shaft? They have quite a bit of play even when good.

 

Finally fixed my vibes too. Tom woods double cardan one piece drive shaft . Smooth as glass up to 70 where I think I have an extremely minor tire vibration. I'm thrilled. Much smoother then factory now

 

Glad it worked for you.......Still loving mine too!!

 

FINALLY solved all my vibes with this custom built 2 piece double cardan driveshaft!

 

That is great!
I strongly considered doing this but I had a bad take off shudder that I was convinced was from my carrier bearing and I didn't want to take chance of a custom 2 piece and then turn around and have to spend $$ on a 1 piece. Just curious, since I went 1-piece already, did you have any take off shudder before installing the custom 2-piece? I can't tell from the pic...did you use the same cb?

 

Take off shudder was my main issue. I had tried many combinations of CB drops and degree shims with no success. I'm running a 3deg shim and no CB drop with the 2 piece double cardan drive shaft(w/factory new CB). I considered a Tom Woods 1 piece, and it actually would have been cheaper, but I didn't want to lose the ground clearance or worry about the added weight on the transfer/trans seal.

Photo Does show the CB drop installed, but I removed it as it wasn't needed.

 

Hey ndcmack, just out of curiosity.... in your photo, it looks like your driveshaft bows to the left in the center, toward passenger side. In other words, your CB might need to go toward the driver side as much as those sloppy mounting holes allow. Could just be the light or the photo angle, only pulling a string from TC flange to pinion flange would show for sure. Folks often forget, in our shimming madness, that side to side is as important as up to down. Just an observation, congrats on vibe free!

 

I think it's just the angle of the picture, but I'll double check it. Thanks!

 

Interesting...thanks for the info.

 

Driver side fwd leaf hanger.



Pass side fwd leaf hanger.


After a long painful few weeks of trying to figure out what seems like the same vibrations a lot of us get ( I have set my drive line angles perfectly) and I still have vibrations throughout the whole truck, I once again crawled under to try to figure out what the f*#$ is causing it. Can anyone see what I'm seeing in these pictures? By the way...these are Dakars.

 

I had noticed precisely the same thing a couple weeks ago on my Dakars. Don't know what's going on, or why it's doing that. But from my experience, I doubt it has anything to do with vibes, since I have none (other than takeoff shudder, which I'm pretty sure is axle wrap).

 

I'm not sure if this could be the cause of vibration, but the fwd pass side bushing isn't centered and there is displaced metal on the inside of the bracket where the military wrap is banging against it.

 

What are your U bolts torqued at ?

 

90 ftlbs

 

Interesting

I had one of my Dakar packs walking sideways too for a bit