Drive Shaft Vibrations Solved Step-by-Step

So I've got really bad vibes around 20 to 25 mph AND a shudder at 9 mph. Should my drivelines vibrate when coasting in neutral? I JUST tested that today and it does vibrate when coasting in that speed range in neutral. Perhaps I may have a wheel out of balance. I have fairly new tires and noticed once that It looked like a wheel weight was missing. I could see a clean little square of rim with the exact shape of a weight. Plus I've heard talk before of Toyota rims needing a special attachment to be balanced properly.

So I'm wondering if maybe my vibes could be intensified by a wheel or even something else.

 

neutral or not, the drive shaft it still spinning so yes. Tacoma rims are hub centric so no special tool needed to balance.

 

dropped off driveshaft for "research" they are "confident" they wont be able to modify the stock driveshaft. we'll see what tomorrows phone call reveals

 

well got the call today, they can mod it... and for a pretty penny. pulled the trigger... very done with this whole process. oddly excited for it to nearly be over! Pictures + install + full results tomorrow.

 

How much???

 

700$ out the door


but at this point, I've spent hours under the truck switching out shims, dropping-raising carrier, test drives, fuel... and the nagging fear of a stack of 20 washers coming loose is quite unsettling

price includes:
new double cardon (couldn't use the one of another drive shaft i purchased ) re-phasing front shaft and a pretty much new rear shaft.


quoted ~ 900 for a complete new shaft but since the rest of my shaft is in good shape I'm just sticking with the mod.

on the plus side any future rear suspension changes will be a breeze.

 

Bacon: your vibes are driveline, but the shudder should be suspension / front end / wheel balance issues, at least that was the case with me.

Seric: not a bad price, my double cardon was $1000 for 100% all new parts, since I couldn't be without my daily driver I had to go all brand new complete replacement. Make sure your shop sets you up with the correct Spicer grease and that special little needle "zerk" grease gun fitting you need to grease the double cardon. My shop put in 100k mile u-joints without zerks, kinda a bummer, but I have needle zerks (female) on the cardon and regular zerks (male) on the axle slip joint.

Josh: that squeal could be any number of things (brakes come to mind), but there's a couple master mechanics on this site that would be better informed. Most of us on this thread are f-ing with our drivelines because we can't stand the vibe issue. Trust us, if it didn't vibrate we wouldn't touch the darn things, and at some point we give up on longevity of parts and just make the stupid thing stop vibrating, if even for just a few miles....once in a while.....oh please make it stop vibrating! If things aren't "properly" aligned the worst you'll do (generally speaking) is trash your u-joints prematurely (like a year or two earlier than expected, not like next week).

 

Does anybody know where to get one of these that will fit a 05-13 Tacoma???

 

Huh. That's to lengthen your driveline after a lift????? You PreRunner guys come up with the craziest things...... Educate me, what is that thing? Looks like any machine shop could fab that up for less than $100. Just need the right size hole saw, a drill press, the correct thickness blank stock aluminum, and four bolt holes.

 

i can see this being used on 6" + lifts - because you are yanking the yolk out the higher yo go, that could compensate...

for example i can tell the yolk on the prerunner pics you put up is at LEAST an inch further back then mine at a stop.

*edit, at least an inch before the drive line mod... i just noticed its a tad shorter and its pulling out a bit more.

 

this is me today after being very until ~ 5pm. the shop started to dick me around... wish i could recommend them... but i cant... so I'll leave it at that.

got the new shaft (pics incoming got dark on me ) Installed. Mine is also a non-greaseable double cardon.. but it looks quite robust so I'm happy non-the-less.

slipped er' in and the problem is GONE. FINISHED. KAPUT! I'm also able to run my carrier bearing flipped putting my U joint into tranny at less then 3degree! VERY VERY HAPPY.

I'm not sure but am i the first prerunner to perform this? Highly recommended. wish i would have done it from the second the problem occured. SHAME ON TOYOTA FOR NOT PUTTING THESE ON FROM THE FACTORY. we wouln't have 100 vibration threads if they did.

also, on a side note... since the day I've purchased the truck its "shook" at 70+... always thought it was the tires.. GUESS WHAT?! it was the driveshaft.. problem gone... bonus fix!



now its time!

Edit; screw it took a photo:

 

^ Did you just drop it off and say have at it? Or did you give them some measurements? I stopped by a local drive line shop today and they told me that my drive shafts where too short and they wanted to lengthen both of them (front and rear). But I didn't understand why they wanted to lengthen the front one since the length of the transmission to carrier bracket is still the same???And they wanted me to leave my truck upwards of 3 days so they could do it "right". I'm stopping by another shop tomorrow to see what they say. This makes me want to go trade my truck in I'm so fed up with this vibration.

 

^^ Get a photo of what it looks like coming out of the transmission also.

 

they had to SHORTEN my rear tube since the CV adds additional space (2-3 inches) but the front should NOT be shortened or lengthened, they did have to rotate the joint for proper phasing.. but again... no space adjustment.

But yes, i took the drive shaft in, slapped it on the table and told them what i wanted. they tried to talk me out of it, wanting to look at the truck, blah blah blah. i've done all the shimming and dropping in the world... i told them.. I want a CV installed here, can you make that happen while keeping the EXACT Same length? they said let me look some stuff up, next day got a call "we can do it, green light?" got the green light and well you can see the result above.

 

What size lift do you notice the vibrations starting with?
On my 92 I had a 4" and got a slight vibe until I shimmed the bearing. It seems like these trucks get bad with a smaller lift. I'm assuming that DCLB trucks are worse.

 

2"
technically don't believe that ANY of these trucks don't have some soft of driveshaft related vibration. i feel that 90% of "tire vibes" are those stupid joints now. words simply cant describe how smooth it is.

 

front u/join yolk + rear CV

 

Ok so >2" is ok?

 

its sooo hit or miss. you can have a bone stock truck and vibe. you can lift and start to vibe.

the problem is the stock angles dont obey the "driveline rules of thumb" so its just voodoo guess work on toyota part. if they happen to not vibe at take off nearly everyone who puts an AAL in start to... or... high speed vibe. since you cannot adjust the tranny down without getting out the saws all, your pretty much f***ed if the carrier baring drop dosent fix it. i tried 1-3 degrees and 1-25 washers. all the with same annoying vibration result. yes folks, thats 75+ times i have been under my truck to add-remove shims and 75+ test drives. my neighbors would stare at me backing in.. driving around... pulling back in... lol

or in my case... i had a high speed vibe from day 1, didn't realize it, blamed wheel balance but the take off vibes are what made me do the CV... nice bonus thats gone.

 

Good to know.