Drive shaft vibration? Help! - 1995.5 Tacoma w/ 2" lift

I own a 1995.5 XtraCab 3.4L V6 SR5 XtraCab Tacoma that has had a vibration problem when driving at certain speeds:

25-30mph: This is probably where it is the worst. Everything shakes.

50-60mph: Subtle humming noise w/ slight vibration. Very subtle

I have a 2 inch suspension lift, 32x11.5 BFG "All terrain" tires with aftermarket 16" wheels.

Interesting facts:

Prior to the lift, no vibration whatsoever.
Vibrates at the same speeds while gliding in nuetral (out of gear)

I searched/read tons of threads & forums discussing the issue but out of those did not come across any vibration problems with 1st generation Tacomas (hence me creating one).

Any ideas on what the problem is specifically? (i.e. tire balance, drive shaft issue after the lift, etc.?)

 

There are alot of possibillities. Tiires out of balance, out of alignment, could be the driveshaft (altered angles causing vibration). Might just be the tires. I have BFG AT and get a vibration from 50-55 and I have talked to a couple other people with these tires that also have vibrations.

 

Hey there, I have had the same problem. Still do, but am fixing it this weekend. Ive talked to many poeple, and pretty much the only cure is so get rid of the 2 piece drive shaft we have and get a one piece solid 2 joint. Preferably a Tom Woods drive shaft. But... although poeple have bought shims and shimed there rear axle up to get the vibe to go away, but alot of poeple have done this and had no change at all in vibes. So thats why im not even ganna bother with the shims, and just get a new, better, drive shaft. Tom Woods makes the best drive shafts around, everyone uses him, his site is 4xshaft.com... hope this helps ya.

And the higher speed vibe is more likely the tires like toy4life said, cause I have the same tires. But not the 20-30 mph vibe. Thats def. the driveshaft.

 

The frustrating part of this is that I chose the 2 inch lift for 2 reasons:

1. Makes the truck look a hell of a lot better
2. Did not want to have to start doing major tweaks like replacing the drive shaft and adding other support to the frame.

Ugh.

Toy4Life - I noticed in some threads that some tacoma customers have had similar issues and tried doing balancing tires approach without much result. Apparently the machines that a lot of tire places use are not that reliable and do a mediocre job balancing the tire. I forget the name of the machine that the gentleman in the forum was recommending but apparently there is a better balancing system that select tire places have that do a really good job. Heard of any of this before? Your take?

Evertaco - Any clue on what this new system (TW drive shaft + install costs) is going to run you after all said and done?

 

cant really help with the driveshaft vibration, other than tom woods drivesahfts are great.

as far as balancing the tires goes......have you tried getting them road force balanced??? this type of balancing is somewhat better than a regular computer spin balance because the machine actually makies the tire as if it was on the road, and uses adju7stments to where the tire may be moved to a part of the rim that balances the tire more correctly(im not too good at explaining things sometimes.....but hope this helps anyway.).

 

the one thing you should check is the u joints in the drive shaft because if there bad they will cause vibration at certin speeds.

 

I had a vibe and just replaced the steady bearing. 100 bucks, easy to fix. Cheap and easy, just the way I like em

 

yes the carrier bearing could be the cause!

 

Yeah same with mine. Wasn`t a bad fix. Same sound too. I was thinking u-joints for sure so I checked them with a pry bar and they were tight. Didn`t look like there was anything wrong with that steady bearing but that was the whole problem.

 

ya the ujoints usally last along time on a taco but you never know? but it is probally the carriwer bearing i didnt think of that. good call!

 

When I experienced vibration after my lift, I spaced the carrier down just under 1/2" with some washers I had laying around. Problem solved. Unfortunately this doesn't work for everyone. It is a cheap, easy thing to try though.

 

That sounds like a great idea. If i ever have that problem again I would definately try that out. Take a little bit of that harder angle out of the drive line.

 

Exactly. And, if it doesn't help, you're not out any money, and it's easy to un-do.

 

You can experiment with different numbers of washers to get a different amount of drop. I don't think you should exceed 1/2", but anything less should be O.K.

 

Chris man, you must have way better toys than I do! Good idea though.

 

Great ideas fellas (much love)! I have an appointment with the Toyota dealership this coming Wednesday to have my frame inspected for the rust problem (my frame looks great and doubt it will fail the test but better safe than sorry I guess). Even though I will most likely attack the vibration issue myself I might ask to see what they have to say about it (most likely nothing and they will try to milk more money out of me). All this vibration talk makes this conversation sound pretty funny. I just want to say it again, vibration. haha, is it Friday yet!?

 

Im learning more and more everyday about this stuff. A short but informative article below.

http://www.customtacos.com/tech/index.php?article=27

I might start here. Thanks again guys.

The other thing that I notice now is a very subtle clunk while engaging in any gear. This is actually something that has been very recent (well, maybe it has been going on for a little while but I have just started noticing it last week). I am assuming this is something that may have to do with the drive shaft/carrier bearing? Should I be concerned about this?