1 piece driveshaft

So my double Cardin joint is bad and I can't seem to find a shop that can source the parts. I also have to replace my carrier bearing, with the cost of parts+labor I'm not too far off the price of a Tom Woods driveshaft. Am I missing something? Are there cons to the 1peice? Am I missing a way to get the D.C. Rebuilt? Help please!

 

The only negative I can think about right now is the ground clearance. If you off-road, the driveshaft bein that low and exposed isn't exactly the greatest. Other members can probably give better insight though.

 

I do off-road but no crawling or anything, i would say 95% of my off-roading is mild trail and overlanding. My suspension setup is icon COs with Dakars in the back, the vehicle is a v6 double cab, if that information makes a difference.

 

Does anyone know how long it takes them to build the driveshaft and send it out? I'm in a crunch and need my truck back on the road

 

They are going to need some pretty critical measurements from you. Go to the Toyota section and scroll to the bottom of the page. They have some common measurements there.

 

Try this. It was posted up yesterday in another thread.

"It can be done - @Dirty Pool has done the legwork and found the dimensionally correct parts for the double cardan joint.

Read through this thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/double-cardan-joint.273119/ "

Post #10 starts the procedure.

 

Thank you for the link, but still with the price difference not be too far apart the one piece driveshaft would have the advantage, no?

 

Sorry, I don't know anything about driveshafts, just saw that post yesterday & remembered it when I saw yours. Maybe someone with more knowledge will jump in here.

 

The downside to a one piece is ground clearance and strength plus the possibility of less than Toyota quality parts.
If your dead set on going that route a "re-tube" would be cheaper than a whole new shaft. They essentially cut of the ends of your current shaft and weld in a new section of tube then balance. This is the same work as repairing a bent/twisted shaft. Any shop that can't do that is not a driveline shop.

 

I don'y quite understand the need for the cardamon joint on our Tacomas, my 71 pickup had a 2 piece driveshaft and all it had was the slipjoint into the front half and a universal at each end of the back half. That truck had a 454 in it and I beat the hell out of it and never changed any of the driveshaft parts.

 

I'd look around for a used driveshaft. I've seen them for as little as $150 on CL. I bought one on here for $280.

I've also heard of people not being happy with their TW driveshafts and going back to a Toyota driveshaft.

 

The DC joint provides "smoother" operation and in most cases that smoothness can happen thru a greater range of motion (not always), that's about it.

@RangeDrive I forgot to mention, your pinion angle is presently set for the DC type shaft. A one piece uses a different scenario for u-joint angles so your pinion angle would/should be changed. This would be accomplished by a tapered shim between the spring and the axle or welding the spring perch on at the correct angle.

A used shaft is also a good solution if available.

 

Thanks for the info, as far as "less than Toyota grade parts" I don't see this as a concern, because you have to use after market parts to rebuild the double cardon joint due to the fact that Toyota won't sell the rebuild parts.

Yes I understand about the shims, thanks for the reminder though!

Right now my driveshaft is at the 3rd shop I've been to and he's going to look at it and let me know if he can source the parts and rebuild, if he can't, he also make custom shafts so I might talk to him further and look into that route

 

You can source parts - they're available from a couple shops I found when I was going through this. Any high performance shop can get them, but you'll pay way more than you would than if you buy a used one that doesn't need the dc joint replaced.

I was quoted $500 for a full rebuild by inland empire driveline.

 

Unfortunately I've looked on CL and on the marketplace here and can't seem to find a used one

 

This only applies to the later "outside clip" style DC. The Matsuba joints for the "inside clip" style are every bit an equal to the OE unubtainium joints.

 

Throw up a wtb post if you already haven't. That's how someone hooked me up with one.

 

And mine is the outside clip, so the aftermarket ones suck? Does Toyota sell guenuine ones? I'm sorry for all the questions guys, I swear I'm mechanically inclined but I'm having a hard time twisting my head around the whole driveshaft issue.

 

The jury is still out on the quality of the outside clip Rockford Driveline (USA made) replacement. I have not seen any bad press and one fellow on here has them but he also had a kid so he isn't around much.

 

You've obviously never cut into a stock Toyota driveshaft...

Thinnest wall material I've ever laid eyes on. I'm surprised they don't twist apart.

The problem is the Toyota tube is metric. Good luck with finding tube that will fit your current yokes perfect. The best bet would be to carry the yokes to a machine shop and have them turn the yokes down to a SAE size and buy SAE tubing. Problem is it likely wont be as balanced as a factory (or driveline shop) shaft. I've cut down and built a few shafts for crawlers...I've gotten very lucky and had very little vibration if any at all.