ok I need help, I give up.....

[MStudt]

Are you aware that the pinion needs almost zero angle on it or the double cardan shaft will vibrate? I'm not the first to bring this up..

The most perfectly built/balanced driveshaft in the world will vibrate like crazy if the angles at each end aren't correct.

The devil is in the details with this stuff!

This is not the issue. There's no way to adjust the pinion angle on our 4runners without replacing your control arms. This is not going to cause the issues he is having, and I'm 100% sure of that. The good thing about double carden joints is that they don't need to be set like that to function.

If this were the issue then every single person on here with a lift would be having this problem. Putting a 10mm spacer ring on the back would be enough to make it not perfect. I have 3-1/2" of lift in the back, and I have zero vibrations from the shaft.

sorry for the rant post guys, just super frustrated cause I have been working on this rig for 4 months now and its been rough.

Anyway, went to the driveline shop today and made them go on a ride with me to prove to them my runner is not driving right. we decided we are going to do a straight driveline with no double cardon cause they just cant get it right and the angle of the shaft isn't bad being its only lifted 2"..... so they are atleast trying something...

the alignment shop put the rig back on the rack for me today and we also rechecked it and rechecked it......... they cant find anything wrong so I guess im just going to drive it til the tires wear, if they don't then its an optical illusion and I bad for being such a crappy customer. anyway thanks for the help guys and go from here.

pretty curious to see if the if the straight driveline works or not............

NO NO NO!

You can't screw up a double carden shaft. If you go to a straight shaft you better be prepared to adjust your pinion angle to get it in spec. If your new straight shaft isn't set right you'll be no better off than you are right now.

Just wondering why you had a new shaft made in the first place? Put your old one back in, and replace the u-joints if needed.

Just out of curiosity. Have you checking the play in the pinion bearing, or the output shaft? I find it very strange that you're only having issues at 70+. Drive line issues are usually noticed at low speeds, and more so when starting from a stop. I've never seen drive line issues with speeds over 70. If you have a bad pinion bearing, you can replace the shaft with whatever you want, and never see an improvement.

 

[Red October]

I agree with this. I think there is something else in play here. This double cardan shaft is very forgiving when it comes to angles, you would have to get a pretty bad angle for vibrations. That would mean something else, that you would for sure notice first, would have to be very wrong.

I'm really surprised that this shop would even think of trying a single joint shaft on this truck.

 

[csp]

This is not the issue. There's no way to adjust the pinion angle on our 4runners without replacing your control arms. This is not going to cause the issues he is having, and I'm 100% sure of that. The good thing about double carden joints is that they don't need to be set like that to function.

If this were the issue then every single person on here with a lift would be having this problem. Putting a 10mm spacer ring on the back would be enough to make it not perfect. I have 3-1/2" of lift in the back, and I have zero vibrations from the shaft.

I would agree that with as long as the 4Runners rear driveshaft is, there shouldn't be a problem. The OP had given zero info on the driveshaft up to that point other than it vibrated. Gotta start somewhere with diagnosing a problem. I come from a short wheelbase Jeep background and a couple of inches of lift can make a huge difference because the rear driveshafts are so short.

He shouldn't have had to do anything with the driveshaft in all honesty.:shrug:

 

[MStudt]

I would agree that with as long as the 4Runners rear driveshaft is, there shouldn't be a problem. The OP had given zero info on the driveshaft up to that point other than it vibrated. Gotta start somewhere with diagnosing a problem. I come from a short wheelbase Jeep background and a couple of inches of lift can make a huge difference because the rear driveshafts are so short.

He shouldn't have had to do anything with the driveshaft in all honesty.:shrug:

I as well came from a jeep so I understand the short wheel base, and the issues it can cause. Even when dealing with these issues on my jeep they never happened at speeds over 20.

I do believe this is something strange going on, but not 100% convinced it's the shaft.

 

[Red October]

I think the OP just had the shaft re-tubed for peace of mind. Maybe necessary, if it was damaged, maybe not. But honestly not an overly complex job for a competent shop, really just re-creating a stock shaft, nothing new or difficult. And then this started?

He also mentioned having tried a second stock shaft with the same result. That makes me think there is something else going on for sure.

I'm still curious what the shop thinks they did wrong.

 

[Red October]

Also on the alignment problem; lifted IFS trucks have alignment issues, usually you will run out of adjustment before getting to stock specs (Obviously this varies on a per case basis). Because lifting changes the stock geometry. Some how you have to get more adjustability. Usually that means, for these trucks, UCAs that have extra adjustability or corrected geometry built in. Expensive yes. As expensive as replacing tires in half the time you should, probably not. Either that or, get as close as possible and live with it. It's part of the cost of driving a modded truck.

(Disclaimer; this obviously varies on a per case basis, since no two trucks are identical. So even if one guy got his aligned and it was all good, yours will be a bit different.)

 

[berner]

ok............. Finally got the driveline shop to build me a brandnew everything driveline not just a retube with new joints. they did a 1310 spicer conversion with the cardon... finally have a smooth truck!!! Took them a few tries but Im golden now, she drives perfect.....


The alignment shop realigned her AGAIN! lol and now everything feels perfect and ready for my road trip.....

Thanks for all the ideas from everyone....

 

[berner]

I think the OP just had the shaft re-tubed for peace of mind. Maybe necessary, if it was damaged, maybe not. But honestly not an overly complex job for a competent shop, really just re-creating a stock shaft, nothing new or difficult. And then this started?

He also mentioned having tried a second stock shaft with the same result. That makes me think there is something else going on for sure.

I'm still curious what the shop thinks they did wrong.

The shop told me when they were retubing it they have to take the weld apart for the cardon side and the slip splines.... When they did that I guess mine was super rusted and they had to kick the crap out of it.. They thought it would be fine but obviously it wasnt and they should have just build a new one from there..... the second driveline that I had was from a junk yard and I believe it had high miles on it as well so the 4runner it was out of must have had a driveline issue before i got it... So just be aware of issues before you buy a junkyard driveline...... I felt all the joints and they all felt decent but I guess they were not.

New driveline built from the ground up and daddy is happy......