Another Vibration Carrier Bearing Issue

I recently replaced my 35s with 37s and did the Beefed Taco carrier bearing drop to help some slight shutter problems at take off. The new tires and wheel help and fixed a bad wobble I've had. The carrier bearing helped the off the line shutter, but then a few months after I started getting a really bad vibes at highway speeds (over 50) when the tranny shifts into overdrive and there's little tension on the driveshaft. The whole truck shakes really bad, then I either let off the gas and it stops, or accelerate to put some tension on the driveshaft and it stops. If I drive around in 4 instead of drive it never happens.

So under the truck I go to find a possible cause and the carrier bearing is torn up.

I get a replacement carrier bearing slap it on along with two new u joints, one at the yoke to separate the driveshaft and the one at the 3rd member.

Test drive and no luck still getting really bad shaking when the truck has little tension on the driveshaft at high speeds and even at lower speeds now.

I look under the truck again and now the new bearing is already torn up.

I think its obvious now to say that the driveshaft angels are way off with the beefed taco bracket. My truck has a 6" pro compo drop bracket lift and a 3" body lift and 37's.

There's a gap where the shaft enters the tranny so I'm thinking I need to start with a drive shaft spacer and try some different angles with the carrier bearing after changing out the carrier bearing AGAIN!

Sorry for the long post and making yet another vibration carrier bearing thread, but I need some direction on this from fellow experts!

Any advice would be appreciated. Here are some pics of the new carrier bearing install and the drive shaft angles.

 

I had something similar on my 09 tacoma, after having no luck with the carrier bearing and u-joints it turned out to be broken motor mount. After replacing that I had no more vibration when under load.

 

It looks like your driveshaft is too short and the bearing is pulling out of the case, plus the angles are terrible. With that amount of lift your are running I would get a one piece driveshaft made with a double cardan shaft, then either shim your pumpkin to the transmission or cut and reweld the spring perches.

 

Lawls at a 6 in lift on a prerunner....

Anyways, you got blocks in the rear? Likely axle wrap causing the issue... Prerunners don't have a slip joint after the center joint like the 4x4s, so to account for driveshaft extension and collapse there is a slip yoke at the transmission, the whole driveshaft assembly moves in and out of the trans, which means the carrier bearing has to move forward and back inside of its rubber just as much as its all one fixed piece.

Now if you got blocks in the rear you have bad axle wrap, and because of the blocks the axle swings forward and back a lot more than normal, which will cause the cb to come out of its rubber like this.

 

Here is the set up manual straight from the manufacturer : http://www2.dana.com/pdf/J3311-1-DSSP.pdf

Look at figure #9

A few notes :

1. take off shudder you describe will never go away it is your axle roll under the load of accelleration from a stop. It will get a little better as you get your angles right. The only way to kill that would be to get a nice trac bar such as the ATO one : http://www.armortechoffroad.com/2005-2013-Tacoma-Traction-Bar-Set_p_344.html but it will only fit the non locker lsd rear end.

2. Your angles look really bad, not sure if it is just the angle of the photo but it looks like you have dropped your carrier bearing too far and it has created a compound angle which would explain you blowing out so many bearings. Check out figure 9 in the manual I posted the link for. With the drive shaft you have you should shim the third to match the front half of the shaft. Ultimately with a 6" lift no matter what you do it will never be perfect because u- joints are not designed to operate constantly at those angles.

3. The reason the carrier bearing has those adjustable slots in it is because your t-case output flange is not in a straight line from you third so the whole drive shaft sits slightly angled. You should use those slots to adjust the angle of the carrier bearing to match the angle of the drive shaft.

you are right about the spacer too btw....and ultimately if you want to eliminate all of this BS do as the other guy mentioned and call Tom Woods and order a double cardon one piece shaft which will eliminate your carrier bearing, eliminate having any part of the drive shaft attached to the frame and transferring vibes and the double cardon joint can handle the angle of your lift. Make sure you ask about how to shim for the double cardon shaft though it is different, you will have to shim the third to match the angle of the shaft not the t-case. That is the direction I received from Tom Woods.

 

No re gear? Your truck is pissed off at working so hard to turn those tires.

 

Those angles look terrible. I think I would look into either a single drive shaft, or put the carrier bearing back in stock location and run a dual cardan rear shaft behind the carrier bearing (and either re-position spring seats or use shims to bring the pinion angle to spec with a dual cardan shaft).

 

Dude, I'm surprised you don't have more problems running that lift with those tires. You put a 6" lift on a Tacoma, if you don't have problems now, you will down the road.

 

Subd

 

Thanks for the reply fellas. I flipped the carrier bearing over, removed the beefed taco bracket and used washer to make 1/2 inch drop and the carrier bearing angle looks WAY better now, however the major vide is still there, but only at higher speeds again above about 50 mph.

A little history, I bought the truck almost four years ago with 74K miles with the lifts already installed. Yes the body lift isn't my first choice but everything was done really well and the truck really hasn't ever given me a problem. The tires that came with the truck were junk and the wheels used spacers and were not hub centric giving really bad wobble problems. Finally got around to replacing and went with 17" method standards and 37 12.5 17 Nittos. This completely fixed the wobble and the truck has run great.

After that I decided to try and tackle the lesser of the vibe-the off the line shutter and the beefed taco bracket helped with that. Fast forward a few thousand miles and here I am with the violent shaking.

The shaking just kinda started one day. I noticed it, but then kinda ignored it then noticed it again and then it was constant. The shaking has caused a leak in the third member and pinion seal and is cracking the rubber on the trans mount which I will fix once the shaking is resolved.

The truck has 133K miles now and all's I've had to do is front wheel bearings and a few u joints. After reading what everyone has said about the angles of the third member vs pieces of the driveshaft this is just more than I can tackle. I'm super busy with work and family and will be likely handing the truck over to my brother in law to fix.

Thanks for all your time and I'll update as we move along! I'm likely to sell once this is fixed but refuse to sell the truck with such a problem.

P.S. I do have a check engine light recently that I have not yet checked. I'll do that tomorrow, but don't think its related to these vibes.

 

that carrier bearing is fucked and the reason for your vibes. replace it.