One Piece Driveshaft for DCSB 4x4

It’s a 4” shaft.

 

If you cut the cb mount you can kinda fab something right there to make a driveshaft loop so it’s not chopped up empty space.

 

That’s too damn close for my liking.

 

The measurement guideline PDF shows the max diameter as 3.5". You went 4" somehow?

 

It’s not ideal, but there isn’t an issue in normal driving and I wanted to run the shaft a little before I started hacking up the support in case I needed to revert. I’m gonna do some math when I get home based on max up travel to see how much upward clearance I need. I believe trimming of the CB will be more than enough.

That’s what I got when I ordered. It’s right on the invoice. I think the max applies to DS length vs diameter.

 

How did you choose Type A vs Type B? Is it dependent on your factory setup, or did you choose it based on something else? Is double cardan just "better" in most applications, or is it better for something specific.

 

I went with what they recommended. They are very helpful. Just call them up and explain what you need.

 

I was considering doing that, but didn't want to annoy them with uneducated questions. Good to know they're cool with helping us out that way!

 

I have been using TW DS for over 20 years. Never had one of his shafts fail on me. Top quality product.

 

Per TW site: "With that said. We have two options available. A conventional, 2 joint drive shaft (B type) or a double cardan (CV) drive shaft (A type). As a general consensus, the conventional two joint seems to work well in most vehicles having up to 3" of lift. In vehicles with greater lifts, the double cardan seems to work best. With a conventional two joint drive shaft you need to keep the output of the transfer case & the pinion parallel within 1 degree. To use a CV drive shaft, you will want to pitch the differential so that the pinion points directly at the output of the transfer case (maintaining 3 degrees, or less, a joint angle at the differential end). "

 

I used a limit strap to make my drive shaft loop.

 

So to address some concerns about carrier bearing crossmember clearance I took some measurements. Length from middle of cardens at the transfer case to the center of the rear diff is 77.5”. Length from transfer case to location on the driveshaft that would contact carrier bearing support is 18”. My up travel as measured from bottom of frame to top of bumpstop plus 0.5” is 5.5”. So fully bottomed out the driveshaft only goes up 1.277”. I’m still a little concerned about the brackets that the carrier bearing bolt

 

Did you have to cut the crossmember?

 

I didn’t read through all of this but did anyone mention trying axle shims? A lot of people solve vibration issues post lift that way. Try 2 degree shims. They say 1 degree for every inch of lift. My 2 cents.

 

I did tried axle shim from 2-3.5 degrees I even used Ford ranger carrier bearing, with 0 to 3 inches spacer. Vibration from 10-20 mph, 50-60 mph. My suspension from full OME 884-886 (because of steel bumper)with Dakars leaf spring to full Kings suspension. Ordered TW driveshaft trying to solve this vibration since put a lift.

 

I have not cut the crossmember. Although I will probably remove the brackets that the CB bolt to. So far so good with the single piece driveshaft. I want to get a good balance on my tires before I start trimming. I still have a slight vibration above 75. It’s in the steering wheel so it should be a balancing issue. These BFGOODRICH AT KO2s are a pain to get balanced. I took the truck up to the mountains this weekend on some easy FS roads, nothing crazy but I didn’t have any issues with the clearance.

I’m running HD Dakars so I can’t comment on clearance with people running other rear leafs. I’ve never had any sag issues even towing my boat. If you regularly hit your bumpstops I would recommend trimming before doing any driving as you may come close to contact in that case.

 

Nearly identical issues for me. I'm around 2 inches of lift with stock driveshaft. Tried the 3 degree shims, and it only helped slightly with the ~60mph vibes. Take-off vibes were just as bad as before. New carrier bearing went on two weeks ago, and I still have a big vibe band between 8-15mph, and some small ones around 60mph.

As soon as I can save the $$$, I'm going single piece (hopefully steel) from TW.

 

I looked into a new driveshaft a while back. I get some vibes on take off, but that's it and it hasn't gotten worse (yet) after driving 2 years. That cross member is what made me look at the 2-piece driveshaft with double cardan joints. I like the TW option, but for my mild lift in the rear (HS 3 leaf progressive + overload) it would cut it too close for my comfort to the cross member. I'm pretty sure I'd hit off road with the loads that I carry every weekend. I can't risk that. Sure some people trim or cut their cross member, but I'm not into messing with that. I wish the cross member was easy to remove vs the heavy duty rivets there. If I had to do it, I'd mod my current drive shaft or just buy the 2-piece DC one.

 

If you regularly are hard into your bumpstops I would worry. At some point I’m gonna unbolt the rear of the DS and see how much it would take to hit the top of the crossmember.

 

Received and installed my TW 4” diameter driveshaft. 0-20, 60-65 Mph vibration are finally gone. I have to get the crossmember out because its was to close. I did tried to take it out the crossmember in one piece but it’s too tight so I ended up cutting it in two pieces, thinking I can bolt it back in in one piece if I need to go back in two pieces driveshaft.