Driveline Balancing with Hose Clamps

[plcfcng]

When I was at UTI Universal Tech Institute 30 years ago I remember my Drive Train Instructor talking about balancing a Drive line with Hose clamps. I never did it until yesterday. 2001 4Runner Sport had a vibration at around 68 to 78 Mph. It was a fine vibration unlike the one you get from a tire imbalance. So I jacked the rear wheels off the ground and spun the tires to 78 mph making note of the Vibration I actually had the wife run it up to 78 mph so she could feel the vibration. (Be sure to turn off TRAC and chock the wheels) I went under to the drive line and marked the drive line at the caps 1 threw 4 as reference. I placed a hose clamp with the screw part of the clamp at the camp marked 1 and had the wife run it up to 78 MPH at each of the 4 positions telling me which of the 4 points was the best. After finding the best position I moved the position to half the distance in either direction to find the best spot. After finding the best of these I added another clamp next to the one and moved them equal distances 1 inch at a time to see which was best. After doing this all of that fine vibration was eliminated. First ensure that your U-joints are in good shape mine were bad I had replaced them a couple months ago some had actual put in a set where the clips were to small allowing the cross to shift after replace the joints it helped but using the above balancing method eliminated the rest of the Vibration.

Items needed:

1. 2 3 inch hose clamps
2. a way to trim off the extra hose clamps I cut them off even with the screw head.
3. a way to mark the driveline I used a silver Sharpe.
4. Jack, Chocks, Stands

Note: Be careful around those spinning tires as bad thing can happen if the catch you as you really don't need to be close to them when they are spinning. There are a few Youtube videos I tried marking the driveline while it spinning but found that of no use. The trial and error was much safer. Good Luck to all hope this helps.:loco:

 

[JWaldz]

Great tip!

This reminded me of the good ol' high school days of placing large zip ties on our buddies' driveshafts lol. Watching them drive off, when school was out, only to see them quickly slam on the brakes and jump out with a huge wtf face was priceless! I'm fairly certain we got a couple people to actually take their car to a mechanic :rofl:

 

[BostonJon]

When I was at UTI Universal Tech Institute 30 years ago I remember my Drive Train Instructor talking about balancing a Drive line with Hose clamps. I never did it until yesterday. 2001 4Runner Sport had a vibration at around 68 to 78 Mph. It was a fine vibration unlike the one you get from a tire imbalance. So I jacked the rear wheels off the ground and spun the tires to 78 mph making note of the Vibration I actually had the wife run it up to 78 mph so she could feel the vibration. (Be sure to turn off TRAC and chock the wheels) I went under to the drive line and marked the drive line at the caps 1 threw 4 as reference. I placed a hose clamp with the screw part of the clamp at the camp marked 1 and had the wife run it up to 78 MPH at each of the 4 positions telling me which of the 4 points was the best. After finding the best position I moved the position to half the distance in either direction to find the best spot. After finding the best of these I added another clamp next to the one and moved them equal distances 1 inch at a time to see which was best. After doing this all of that fine vibration was eliminated. First ensure that your U-joints are in good shape mine were bad I had replaced them a couple months ago some had actual put in a set where the clips were to small allowing the cross to shift after replace the joints it helped but using the above balancing method eliminated the rest of the Vibration.

Items needed:

1. 2 3 inch hose clamps
2. a way to trim off the extra hose clamps I cut them off even with the screw head.
3. a way to mark the driveline I used a silver Sharpe.
4. Jack, Chocks, Stands

Note: Be careful around those spinning tires as bad thing can happen if the catch you as you really don't need to be close to them when they are spinning. There are a few Youtube videos I tried marking the driveline while it spinning but found that of no use. The trial and error was much safer. Good Luck to all hope this helps.:loco:

Glad you got it fixed but jesus that sounds pretty dangerous what you were doing.

 

[Mark_BC]

Good idea. I wouldn't feel safe on jackstands. I'd have to put the rear axles on wooden blocks. Actually the safest way would be to just go out on the freeway 4 times in between the different clamp positions. Would take a lot longer but would be totally safe. Actually you could just adjust the clamp every time you go out normally so it might take a week to narrow it down to the right position. Or if you're doing a longer section of freeway, stop at each exit and pull off to readjust the clamp.

 

[plcfcng]

You are no where near the wheels as they are spinning, with the exception of marking the driveline as it is spinning. As I stated that was of no help to me and felt the other method to be safer and more effective. As I stated before the front wheels are chocked. If you place the 4Runner on jack stands and can not move it by pushing it while it's on stands then it won't fall off the stands when you spin up the wheels then it is safe to proceed. If you are worried about the stands not being stable just take a hammer and hit the base of the jack stand after letting the jack down You can see, hear and feel when the stands have proper contact with the ground.

Yes you could take it for a drive each time but there were about 8 different adjustments to the clamps that had to be made that's alot of trips to the freeway and getting up to 70 to 80 mph. So the next time your wheels are on stands and pointing in a safe direction start the car and spin it up slow to see how safe this feels. If this is something you don't feel safe doing then there are other methods to balance a driveline but I'm sure there are some that may find this useful. Weather this can be used on a front driveline I am unsure maybe someone else can expand on that. :snacker:

 

[Bad Luck]

Good on you for doing it yourself, but this is something I'd rather get done by a professional with more accurate equipment.

 

[weekendclimber]

You are no where near the wheels as they are spinning, with the exception of marking the driveline as it is spinning. As I stated that was of no help to me and felt the other method to be safer and more effective. As I stated before the front wheels are chocked. If you place the 4Runner on jack stands and can not move it by pushing it while it's on stands then it won't fall off the stands when you spin up the wheels then it is safe to proceed. If you are worried about the stands not being stable just take a hammer and hit the base of the jack stand after letting the jack down You can see, hear and feel when the stands have proper contact with the ground.

Yes you could take it for a drive each time but there were about 8 different adjustments to the clamps that had to be made that's alot of trips to the freeway and getting up to 70 to 80 mph. So the next time your wheels are on stands and pointing in a safe direction start the car and spin it up slow to see how safe this feels. If this is something you don't feel safe doing then there are other methods to balance a driveline but I'm sure there are some that may find this useful. Weather this can be used on a front driveline I am unsure maybe someone else can expand on that. :snacker:

Wait, you've got a car, on jack stands, with the wheels going 70+ mph while you're underneath it? #darwinawardnominee

 

[BostonJon]

Wait, you've got a car, on jack stands, with the wheels going 70+ mph while you're underneath it? #darwinawardnominee

While in very close proximity to a spinning driveshaft.

Gives me anxiety just thinking about it.

 

[3bears]

boy is that old school. we used to do that ( hose clamp balancing) back in the late 60's early 70's
however we would do it with a car on a lift

 

[plcfcng]

Well if I had a Lift I would have put the car on it. If I have to do it again for someone else I would do it by placing the camp in the #1 position while the car is off and keep moving it to the next positions ect. So I would not be near a moving driveline live and learn. When I did mark the moving driveline I did it entering it from the rear bumper and exiting the same way. The most important thing is to be safe and think things threw before you do them. While not for everyone I am very happy with the results. The drive line is a aftermarket build so I don't know why it's out of balance maybe someone before assembled it different then the builder. I feel I am way ahead, 4 dollars for clamps 1 hr work as apposed to a much larger bill for having it done. As for the quality of the work all I can say is it doesn't shake at all at any speed or at least my buttt can'nt tell the difference.:laugh: