Driveline vibration Tsb out

ok so your saying that the drive shaft angles up from the pinion (the overall angle on the top centerline is less than the overall angle on the bottom centerline)... this is a POSITIVE degree measurement. which is within spec... it is not a negative measurement like the dealer measured.

 

Good to know. I'll be going there if I get the time to do so.

 

one thing to note

'standard Toyota tool set' require a magnetic dial gauge. this TSB is the first one requiring a digital gauge.

if the tech ignores the TSB and uses a dial gauge vs the required digital gauge specified in the TSB, then it could come out wrong

 

No, actually you are incorrect. Look at the TSB again and you'll see that the formula is pinion angle - driveshaft angle = joint angle. So in my case, it's a negative number.

So after going through all of this, Camelback Toyota says I'm still out of spec for new leafs after doing the useless steering wheel damper and mounts. He even took me out to the tech working on it and we went under the truck (it was on a drive on lift) and he showed me the measurements. No matter what he tried, the joint angle was coming out to -.3 degrees which puts me out of spec. They refused to order new leafs. I left the dealer and at the first light I accelerated and guess what, massive vibes.

I halfway expected to get shafted on this (no pun intended) because so far Toyota has not fixed one problem I've had yet with the truck, and I was right. Even though I'm sure it will go nowhere, I called Toyota and opened an arbitration case.

 

Believe me they are doing it wrong. A negative angle would mean the overall angle of the pinion join measured on the top centerline is GREATER than the overall angle on the bottom centerline. which your truck is not.

They are reading the tool wrong and not measuring properly. The TSB is unfortunately vague in this area, in the instructions it doesnt say to reference anything or zero out the tool what so ever.

But if you were to not zero out the tool at all it should not mater. if you place the tool on the bottom centerline of the driveshaft and say it said and arbitrary number of 45*, then as in the TSB rotated the tool 90* CCW which sets the tool back into the same orientation then measured the pinion flange you would get a measurement of around 46.5*

46.5-45 = +1.5*

Have them do this. The pinion flange, and direct bottom flat area of the pumpkin are perfectly perpendicular to eachother (90*) - you can verify this by putting the tool on the flat area bottom of the pumpkin on the and zero the tool. Then move it to the flange and it should read within a **** hair of 90*. With that in mind it becomes much easier to get the angle of the pinion.

Believe me i had a LENGTHY conversation with the ventura toyota service tech about this, which then went on to talking to corporate service techs... like stated, if the overall joint angle on the topside of the driveline is GREATER than the overall angle on the bottom, you have a POSITIVE pinion angle in relation to the leaf spring table.

 

Thanks for info, I have emailed Maita a couple of times but did not receive any response. That is a bad start for me, I prefaced my email telling them I considered myself a good/important customer as I had purchased 2 new vehicles from them and obviously I'm not an important customer. I was very happy with my sales and pricing with Maita however. I will give your guys a call, always nice to have recommendations from TW members.

 

I'm telling you, you are wrong. Look at the TSB and it will clearly explain how to calculate the joint angle. We stood under the truck with printed TSB in hand and the correct angle finder tool. My pinion angle was exactly 4.2 degrees and the driveshaft was 4.5 degrees. So, based on the TSB it would read 4.2 - 4.5 = -.3. BTW, the tech doing the work figured out on his own that the flat spot on the bottom of the diff was 90 degrees off of the flange. He tried both ways.

Print Screen of TSB

 

Your truck was on the lift when the angles were measured ?

 

Yes, on a drive on lift, not a frame lift.

 

Gotcha

 

so your overall angle on the TOP centerline is GREATER than the overall angle on the bottom centerline. Thus the driveshaft angles relatively DOWNWARD from the pinion?

Unless your springs are super saggy its not quite possible to have such an upturned pinion. What was the config of your truck DCSB 4x4?

So what your saying is your driveshaft (red line) to pinion relation (blue line) is like the lower picture.

 

No, the top picture. If you would just look at the screen shots of the TSB I attached to my above post, you'd understand that the measurements are correct. There's no other way around it.

 

One quick search online and I found this, exactly as I've stated.

 

ah got it

 

I had the TSB done a couple weeks ago. They replace the springs, the tranny mount was also done previously. The 15-20mph vibration is gone now for sure.

However in the last couple days i've noticed a clunk. Seems to be coming from the rear end but I can feel it in the floor. I can hear it pretty distinctly too. Had the wife drive around the block while I was in the backseat and my head out the window. Pretty sure it was comming from the rear. I get it when getting on or off the gas going very slow, going over a bump or in a slow turn. Almost like something is moving back and forth or side to side. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before.

I checked my storage compartments and I don't have anything sliding around. I took a peak under the truck and didnt see anything obviously disconnected or loose.

It's going back to the dealer in a couple days. But ideas of what I could check before then?

 

The thing is positive and negative is all relative to direction and how you read the tool. If you say your truck is like the top picture in my illistruation and the second pic in your attached pics, that is how toyota interprets positive pinion angle.

Go to ANY new tacoma on the lot or any used taco, they won't have the tsb applied and they all will be like your truck with the rear driveshaft angled up relative to the pinion. And if you are saying that this is a negative angle then you are saying that all these Tacoma's, 99% of them don't apply to this tsb, including my own, which by the way you are doing things would of had a -.5* angle... When in reality it had a .5 deg angle at the pinion necessitating the 4 leaf pack with the 2 deg wedge.... And what do you know all my vibes are gone. Because the trans u joint and pinion are now at opposing angles that closely match each other (~3.5*) with a center u joint at .4*. I won't get into how this now creates a 90* out of rotational phase u joints.... But at such small angles it doesn't create an issue and Toyota knows that

I'm just letting you know that I spent a solid hour and a half debating this with the master service tech, under my own truck at the dealer with my own digital angle finder as well as brand new trucks with him proving the point I am stating above, then to have a cooperate service tech contacted and confirm that I was right.

There is unfortunately alot of misinformation and assumption with this tsb due to how it was vaguely written in parts and how the charts were set up.

 

Explain the attached image to me and how it would result in a positive number based on my measurements. And why isn't this "corporate tech" informing dealerships how to properly measure since the TSB is completely backwards according to you. I wish you were correct, but until someone proves otherwise to the dealerships, I'm not getting new leafs.

 

I posted that a couple posts back regarding relative angles.... I'd suggest go to a different dealership.

 

edited: deleted