Drive Shaft Vibrations Solved Step-by-Step

Sub'd

 

ive had vibes at 35.....but i felt them through the pedal/floor so it was front diff related. Had toyota replace my diff. Some people with lifts have this problem with lifts causing wear on the needle bearing. you can check if its diff related by going 35 and turning on 4hi to see if it goes away. if it does, its related to your front diff....

 

Interesting on your diff. My vibe is pedal related and I can feel in steering wheel too. It does go away in 4wd regardless of speed. Curious Is your truck lifted or stock? Also went to the dealership and measured a 2014 dcsb sport and got the following angles:
Tc zeroed
1st 3.3
2nd 3.7
Pinion .8 up

So it does appear that my Pinion needs to come down from 1.9 to better match angle of tc.

 

Im so freaking confused by all this

I read quite a bit but Im just not quite sure the driveshaft is my problem. I never used to have vibes. Then i bought new tires and it was still fine. Then i bought new rims and it was still fine. 3k later i rotated and balanced and the vives were unbearable! The shop said one of my tired is messed up (I call BS) and needs to stay in the back. They swapped it back and it went away. as time has passed, i now get vibes weather that wheel is in front or back doesnt matter.

The intensity changes from day to day or even within the same drive. I could go 10 miles no vibes then all of a sudden Bam! They start. Always between 50-70mph. Usually closer to 49-56mph though.

But here is the kicker.... they almost always vibe only during breaking! No, it is not my breaks or rotors. I have replaced both and no change. Unless they can warp with 1 decent break and then go back in place overnight lol. I have NO vibes until i break decent like on a freeway coming upto traffic. Then it "may" start slightly vibing during acceleration but still typically only during breaking.

Only time it vibes during acceleration is if i move that 1 tire/rim to the front.

Im so lost. Makes no sense.

I have 09 DCSB with TSB leafes in back and 5100's all around set at 1.75 up front.

 

lifted 3" even thought cv angles were not bad, the needle bearing was getting worn out from the tech's inspection. They put it on the driving rack and found the vibes to be strongest at the diff. if it goes away in 4hi, its a front diff problem, luckily my drivetrain was underwarranty so toyo replaced it. vibe free now.

 

Ah very good. I know i have a tire or rim issue so thats a given but the shutter while breaking had me stumped. A suspensión issue would make sense. Wonder how i could diagnose different parts. ... Probably can't huh? Oh well good excuse to get Icons

 

Could a worn rear suspension part cause a deceleration shutter at all?

 

Subbed

 

So a little more detail to my situation... a few days ago when i first posted in here my truck was driving like a champ. No shutter. Next day on the way to work it started slightly. Today on the way in it was so bad i seriosusly thought my wheels were about ti fall off. Same day on the way home it started slightly then went away again. It is completely random and intermittent. Im so lost!

Sometimes its between 50-55 other times its 60-65. Intensity amd frequency is constantly changing with no correlation to temperature or drive time. It will start and stop in the same trip or get better and worse in the same trip.

Most often its all good until i apply breaks at speeds over 65. The wobble starts and then either only vibes during breaking or decel or may start wheel shimmy even under acceleration.

Sometimes its so bad i can feel the seats and pedle vibrating and then i break and the steering wheel will wobble uncontrollably. Then the next trip itll drive great again.

Getting so fed up with this. Im getting worried that the vibe will cause problems and abnormal wear on other parts and risk a critical part failure when i least expect it. I check air pressure consistently and maintain them together.

Any visual inspections i can do myself to start narrowing things down??? Any help would be greatly appreciated on this.

 

Excellent Post there DD .

There are many helpfull shops out there who deal with vibrations every day and know exactly whats going on just by road testing your vehicle . Dont be afraid to ask these guys if they would mind taking your truck for a quick ride to assist you in figuring out what the problem is . Call them and ask how much a road test costs and they are going to tell you its free . During the road test , tell the technician you are simply looking for a second opinion . Now if you visit 3 different shops and they all say they beleive its warped rotors , seized universal joints , or a transmission shudder per say , at least you have 3 professional opinions and it didnt cost you anything other than your time and a few minutes of the technicians time .
Just sayin

 

OK. So here is my problem. After I had my frame replaced, this past December, on my way home, from picking it up from the dealership, I wasn't even a mile away and I noticed a vibration in the front end, or so I thought it was the front end.I stopped and immediately called the dealership. Being it was a Saturday, they advised I call back Monday. To make a long story short, the shop (Toyota dealer subleted the frame replacement to a independent bodyshop)and they told me it was a tire balance proble, of which I disagreed as the problem only started once the frame was replaced. The b/s owner insisted they do a road force balance, with no charge to me. They did and said the problem was still there. Then they took the rear driveshaft out, checked it and said it was OK but the carrier (support) bearing was bad. They replaced that with no luck and told me they were washing their hands of the problem and I'd have to go back to the dealership. I did that and they advised me that my left rear axle was bent and my U-joint was binding. I questioned how the driveshaft was bent and they said that my wife, or I must have curbed the truck. I asked if the wheel had any signs of being bentor cracked and they said no. I said that if a curb was hit hard enough to bend the axle, I'm sure there would be size tire/wheel damage. As far as the U-joint goes, again I said the problem started on my way home from picking truck up for frame replacement. I asked how much to replace /repair what they diagnosed and what if after they made the repair, the problem was still there. They said I was saying alot what ifs. I went to a driveshaft/axle specialist. They drove the truck and felt it was a driveshaft problem, but would have to get it in the shop on a lift. Well, this problem has been going on since December andToyota is involved, This morning, I dropped it off at the driveshat shop. They called me and said that my driveshat was out of "phase" and they were going to take it out, check the joints and rebalance. They did all of that and reroadtested it. Problem still there. Took the front driveshaft out, road test. Still there.My question is. has anyone had this kind of problem? Would you think a collapsed motor mount could do it? Symptoms are, on a normal acceleration a rumble/vibration comes in about 20mph and goes away about 25-30 mph. Still, while accelerating, it will come back in about 40 mph and stay til about 48-50 You can set the cruise on a level road at 45 and the problem will stay there. You can feel the vibration though the column and steering wheel.I am wits end and hope some one has a suggestion. By the way, Toyota corporate called me today and said they are not participating in anything else as they already spent over $11,000 on it. The truck has 185,000 on it and is a 2001 V6,4wd automatic Extra Cab

 

just picked the truck up from a driveshaft specialist. He rebanced the driveshaft, same problem. Road tested with rear driveshaft out, same problem. Took front driveshaft out, road tested, same problem. Said he did not know what the cause is. plus side, he didn't charge me anything. What are you talking about, a drum weight? How can I tell if one is possibly missing?

 

V8Square,



First: have them check the cv's. they are spinning no matter which shaft is out.



EDIT:Its also possible that the shop that did the swap dropped one of the axles on an end, bending a shaft (or a tube, but less likely) or warping a bearing. You might check the front axle end flanges for knicks, and do the same for the rear (although I doubt the took the rear tires off during the swap). you can also put a straight edge on the tube surfaces to make sure you don't see light.



Other things to consider. (Data Dump)



If it is a drive/suspension/mount issue:

When you got a new frame, you picked up a lot of new parts. The old parts were all nice and worn in together. Your nice new frame may not be flexing the way your old one did. You may also have manufacturing issues, like your new carrier bearing bracket might be a few mm higher or lower than your original was, as well as your leaf spring hangers. Any of these things could be holding your driveshaft or pinion at an angle that doesn't work. The same goes for the front axle mounts, and remember that even with either shaft out your cv's are still spinning. You have a new carrier bearing which is good. I would work with Toyota and see if you can get leaf springs and tranny mount.



If not the above:

Have you noticed if all the vibes come around the same rpm and/or engine loading, just in different gears? It could be that the shop that did the swap tweaked something on the front of the motor, a pulley, or the balancer, the fan shaft, or any one of the accessory drives. this could cause a harmonic imbalance.

Edit2: also like DD mentioned above, worn bushings could easily cause issues too, especially when they are ripped out of one frame and shoved onto another.

 

Thanks for the info. Sean: A lot of this makes sense, especially about a harmonic imbalance. The rear springs were replaced, courtesy of Toyota, and my next step was to check for accessories on the engine. In the old days, when I was a dealer "wrench, for vibration problems from what we felt was coming from an engine accessory, such as water pump, alternator, etc. we would just take that particular belt off and go by the process of elimination. Also, I am going to check motor/transmission mounts. All along, I have told Toyota that it seems to me that there is something, what we called "grounding",with a metal to metal contact. And yes, the problem seems to occur at the same rpm/speed range.

 

Nice write up

 

nice write up, my issue is this

I have a 2006 PreRunner with a mid travel setup and I used to have a Rough Country Spacer lift (strut spacer up front and lift blocks in back) with no vibrations ran perfectly fine. Just a couple days ago I raised my driver side coilover to level out my Taco lean, and now im getting vibs when accelerating and its the worst around 40mph.

Im just kinda confused that raising the driver side CO would cause the vibs to start since I had both COs raised a little after initialy installing them. Got her aligned the next day and now Im just figuring out what to do next

 

Sounds like the ECGS kit could fix this. But I'm not as familiar with the the vibe or the fix. Someone else want to chime in?

 

i dont think that kit would solve this since he is a prerunner, no cv to play with in the front, maybe the wheel bearing.

only other thing i can think of are ball joins,checking bearings on the wheels as well as bushings.

 

exactly, no CVs hehe, wouldnt I get constant vibs if a wheel bearing and/or bushings were bad? I only get the vibrations when accelerating, ive let off the gas at 40 - vibs go away, threw her into neutral at 40 - no vibs, revd while in neutral at 40 - nothing, thats kinda whats making me believe its a driveshaft issue

 

yea i would have guess drive shaft as well but from what i read it looks like you didnt do anything to touch the rear when you leveled her off, which does not make any sense.

the least you can do is add a shim to that block lift in the rear to adjust the angle of the pinion but you said you only got vibes after adjusting the front co.