Drive Shaft Vibrations Solved Step-by-Step

I replaced mine with a custom D/S and it fixed most of my problems. Now I'm working on the startup vibe (<20 mph).

 

My custom one piece rear shaft eliminated all of my driveline vibrations. No more shudder at take off, no more shaking when decelerating and smoother than ever at speeds up to 80+ mph.

It did, however, make the tire noise and vibrations a lot more noticeable at certain speeds though. But that’s to be expected with aggressive tread and aging tires

 

Hey all. Been working away at this for the last 3 weeks and finally have come to a point that I like. Wanted to share my thoughts after endlessly trying a bunch of things. Basically I concluded to DO what the OP says: [reduce pinion working angle to less than 1 degree (angle shim if necessary), work the carrier bearing spacing until there's less than 1 degree working angle between front and rear DS (or just shim until no more vibes)].

I had the initial vibration from 25-30mph which would go away in 4HI. I immediately installed the ECGS bushing and eliminated that vibration. The front was running Bilstein 5100 at the 1.75" setting with stock springs at the time.

I then installed OME 887 front springs at the 0 setting netting 2.5-2.75" front lift. No vibrations from the front.
I installed the Headstrong progressive AAL on the rear and with 3rd gen leaf springs, and kept the overload leaf. Also installed the OME carrier bearing spacer at the same time. Immediately after installing, noticed pretty serious vibrations; take off vibrations, in addition to 20-30mph vibrations, and a 67ish mph vibration. Removing the OME spacer seemed to help so I then made 1/8" steel carrier bearing spacers (rather than the 3/8" thick OME) and it seemed to help minimally however most vibrations remained.

Bought a magnetic angle finder and found out the working angle of the U-joint at the transfer case was about 5 degrees. The working angle between the front ds and rear ds (since it's a 2 piece) was within 0.5-1 degree, and the rear was about 2.5-3 degrees. Initially, I was surprised at the working angle between the transfer case and the front DS, and by everything else I read online, was supposed to have this angle close to 0. Since I can't manipulate the transfer case, and the carrier bearing already had no spacer, I was frustratingly thinking that this angle could never get close to 0.

Since I found the rear u-joint working angle was about 2.5 degrees, I bought and installed the 2.5 degree shim underneath the rear leaf pack. This immediately helped with the vibrations everywhere EXCEPT the take off vibrations. So I knew I was onto something big here.

I decided to move forward with replacing the carrier bearing and u joints (Spicer all around). Installed the DS and was hoping the take off vibrations was due to a bad joint / bearing. Upon driving after the replacement, take off vibrations were still apparent. Out of desperation, I flipped the carrier bearing to get the front DS and the transfer case u joint working angle closer to 0. It got me closer to 3.5 degrees, however take off vibrations were arguably worse.

At this point, since I knew if the combination of vibes and angles had some sort of parabolic relationship, I decided to throw the OME carrier bearing spacer back in, and reset the carrier bearing to it's OEM position. Immediately, the take off vibrations reduced to a very slight instance. This was finally it. I took the angle finder and measured all the working angles. Effectively, the working angle at the front transfer case is the same as what it always was, however the working angle of the 2nd u joint (at the carrier bearing) was about 0.5 degree and the rear was close to 0.5-1.

Just for fun, I installed my 1/8" steel spacer on top of the OME carrier bearing, and the take off vibration is now almost unnoticeable. The working angle of the middle u-joint is now close to 1.0 degree and the rear is still 0.5-1.

I'm going to ultimately try a 3 degree spacer, and only have the OME carrier bearing to see if that combination nets me the best results. For me and my truck, it seems making the working angle of the 2nd and 3rd u joint (everything but the transfer case U) to <1 degree working angle (as close to 0.5) was the best bet. This is pretty much inline with the OP but it seems like the best course of action is to figure out the working angle of the rear, shim accordingly, then work the carrier bearing.

 

I tried all of that on my truck. Except I used single fender washers to try multiple different carrier bearing spacer combinations and I never bothered to replace the carrier or the u joints. I managed to get to that same point where the angles were very close to what is recommended but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get rid of the take off vibration. And that was the one that drove me insane. I could live with the slight vibrations when decelerating (between 25-30 mph) and I’d all but cured the higher speed vibrations, but that damn take off vibration was the worst. And it wasn’t until my OEM carrier bearing crapped the bed that I broke down and bought a custom one piece rear shaft. And let me tell you, from the moment I drove out of the shop after that shaft went in, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier with my truck. No more take off vibration at all, smoother than the truck ever was, even stock. And if I could go back and do it all over again, I’d have had the custom one piece ready to be installed from the moment my rear lift went on. With as many problems Toyota has had with vibrations on stock, non-lifted trucks, ditching the OEM two piece design is the best way to eliminate the problem for good. Just as adjustable UCAs are highly recommended for any front lift over 2” I think a one piece or custom two piece rear drive shaft needs to be a strongly recommended requirement for any rear lift. My new drive shaft cost me less than a set of aftermarket UCAs and not having to ever deal with the vibrations would have made it all that much more worth the additional cost.

 

Where did you get the drive shaft? I'm about at the same point you were.

 

I had a local driveline shop build it for me. They specialize in commercial trucks but work on the occasional lifted light duty truck. They cut up my OEM two piece and reused as much of the stock components they could (slip yoke, mounting flanges, etc) and built a 3.6” diameter one piece shaft for me that fits inside the CB mounting bracket without modification.

If you can’t find a local place, you should be able to order one from Tom Woods if you take all the measurements and tell them all the details about your lift.

 

I must've spoken too soon. Take off vibrations are back. Might try shimming some more, but I think I'll be pursuing a quote for a one piece soon...

 

My 07' just developed a pretty bad driveline vibration at around 10-15% throttle going uphill. I had the rear leaf spring TSB done, but the rear end is stock other than that. The front end has about 1in of lift from Bilstein 6112's on the 1st clip and has been that way for about a year. I also just replaced my output shaft seal, and hadn't noticed any vibrations before replacing the seal.

Any suggestions? Should I even have vibrations with the stock rear end? Is it related to my replacement of the output shaft seal?

I'm thinking my first step is to pick up some washers this weekend and experiment with different combinations on the carrier bearing.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

Just want to say thank you all for sharing your ideas and troubleshooting on this thread- just installed the OME dakars on my 95.5 and while it finally stopped me from bottoming out, I developed a significant driveline vibe. Nothing like putting $500 into the truck and making a new problem for yourself...

Anyway, the washer trick for the carrier bearing drop worked beautifully for me and has reduced my vibrations down to almost nothing. Thanks for a quick and cheap solve for this problem!

 

Does anyone know if how much degree the shims that came with the factory/ome leaf pack of 2018 trd offroad? Mine comes with a shims but i don't know how much degree is it. I got a good angles with my driveline since I already fix it. But still have the shudder at 25-30 mph during deceleration. Do I need to put back the shims that came with the OME leaf? My pinion is currently 0.3 down.

 

While braking?

 

When letting go of gas and when braking when slowing down but not during high speed.

 

I have vibrations at all speeds except for take off and rumble strip vibes upon deceleration (breaking or not). CB has been dropped varying lengths up to 8mm with negative results. I found this pdf and it makes sense along with other info on this thread. I have my TC and Pinion parallel and my CB at 0 degrees relative to both shafts and still have vibrations... and operating angles are (from TC to Pinon) 3.6, 1, 4.6. 2 degree shims would seem to fix (A) the rear most U-joint operating angle (B) the harmonics (according to this random pdf). Will be doing this soon and will post again.

 

Where did you got this?

 

Just an update I fixed mine by installing 3 degree axle shims all vibration and shudder gone specially during deceleration at 20-25 mph.

 

i just measure my angles can someone tell me if this is ok. I get vibrations at acceleration from a stop. transfer case 0,, first shaft 4.7 ,, second shaft 4.3,, rear diff 0.1.

 

My working angles as of having a 4 degree shims installed are 3.5*, 3.3*, 1.2* from front of truck to the back. Based on those numbers I should not have any vibrations but I still have noticeable take off shudder. The first two angles cancel out, and the 1.2* at the pinion is close to zero when under load from accelerating. What am I doing wrong?!

 

During that ujoint “recall/tsb” whatever you label it, I paid for Toyota to swap my carrier bearing as well while they replaced my ujoints.
I still have vibes at 25-30 mph. Not every time, but 2 out of 5 times while accelerating in that speed range. Before you suggest it, yes, after I realized I still had it, I swapped the drivers side bearing to the solid ECGS bushing.

Still have vibes at 25-30mph

 

I have take off shudder on my truck with 3 degree shims and carrier bearing drop. when my truck is loaded down with stuff in the bed no shudder at take off and no vibrations when driving anyone have any ideas?

 

Makes me think pinion angle needs more adjusting because the CB doesn’t move in relation to truck weight