My U-Joints are going out in the rear of my 3rd Gen. Everything I have read says the double cardan is non rebuildable without a lot of $$ and effort. I'm looking at having a replacement shaft built by Tom Woods at 4xshafts.com Has anyone had one built there or have other suggestions?
Rear Driveline
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Ol'Blue
New member
I would guess that you would be ok if all he dose is build drive lines.
Keep us posted and pictures as well. Might be helpful to others later.
Also, if needed call this place. I used them years back when I put a 460 Big Block in a F-150. They did great work for and still do from what I hear.
http://www.fleetpride.com/
Blue
Keep us posted and pictures as well. Might be helpful to others later.
Also, if needed call this place. I used them years back when I put a 460 Big Block in a F-150. They did great work for and still do from what I hear.
http://www.fleetpride.com/
Blue
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MStudt
official vendor
I've used them in the past for my Jeep, and I've had problems with them as well. The inner cup on mine broke apart, but they did take care of it for free. Why don't you just replace the 2 u-joints rather than buying a new shaft? It takes more time than a single, but it's not that hard to replace them. You can also take it to a local shop and they should be able to fix it. You're probably looking around $400 at the least from Tom Woods. I remember the rear shaft for my jeep was $250, and it was about half the size of ours.
Nelsonmd
New member
Th OP wasn't real specific, but it sounds like it's his double cardan that's going, not the u-joint. The double cardan is not easy to service, and requires very specific PN's on the bearings (not listed by Toyota, and not very common sizes), and even then I think requires a little fab work to make them fit.
There is a thread here that gets into the details, but if you aren't handy and don't have a press, then you are probably going to have to replace the whole shaft.
MStudt
official vendor
You can buy double cardan joints on the internet. There is nothing really specific about other than making sure you have the correct size. You just need to make sure the joint you buy is for the size u-joints we use. I carried an extra in my jeep all the time, and it wasn't a Tom Woods either. You can also just buy the ball seat repair kit. Or, just replace it with a universal joint. In a situation like this you don't have to use OEM to rebuild it.
I also wouldn't waste the money on a Tom Woods shaft. If anything, buy some of their Gold Seal u-joints, put them in a junk yard shaft, and save some money.
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Nelsonmd
New member
If you can find an easy to swap out double cardan, then by all means, post it up here. A number of guys have posted lately that their DC's failed, so it would be very useful if you can solve this problem simply. I have never seen anyone else post up an easy way to do the DC bearings.
I should clarify. I have the rear clunk noise. I know it is some portion of the rear driveline. It could be a u-joint or it could be the rear cardagan. Either way I want to make the think like new and that means both a u-joint and the cardagan. If I can rebuild the cardagan I will/would. Everything I have read says it can't be done a least not easily. I could go to a junk yard and hope to get a rear driveline but I'm not going to. That's why I'm looking for input. I don't have any bad experience with any one. Don't know where that comment came from.
Tom woods is who I have contacted. It is $429 for a completely new driveline and cardagan joint. Just asking for experience from someone who has had to do this. That's it. It's that simple.
Tom woods is who I have contacted. It is $429 for a completely new driveline and cardagan joint. Just asking for experience from someone who has had to do this. That's it. It's that simple.
slapdappy
Banned
clunk?
a Clunk, eh? pump a decent amount of grease into the 8 zerks on the front and rear driveshafts. Wait a week, do it again. etc etc etc. For the DC and U joints, pump until the old stuff starts spooging out. With the 2 slip yokes, pump until you see them extending. The point of zerks is to allow one to inject new grease which pushes out the old grease. Be gentle. If not greased for a long time, the grease can harden up inside the seal and impede the outflow of the old stuff. This tends to be more problematic with the slip yokes.
a Clunk, eh? pump a decent amount of grease into the 8 zerks on the front and rear driveshafts. Wait a week, do it again. etc etc etc. For the DC and U joints, pump until the old stuff starts spooging out. With the 2 slip yokes, pump until you see them extending. The point of zerks is to allow one to inject new grease which pushes out the old grease. Be gentle. If not greased for a long time, the grease can harden up inside the seal and impede the outflow of the old stuff. This tends to be more problematic with the slip yokes.
MStudt
official vendor
Tom Woods stands behind their products. You can also look into High Angle, but they'll be more than Tom Woods. Normally clunking isn't going to be your center pivot. One thing that you can do is crawl under your 4runner. Grab the rear drive shaft, tried to rotate it some, and shake it around. If you have more than an 1/8" of wiggle, something is wrong. In my experience cardans aren't going to clunk, but u-joints will. I have cardans go out before, and when it happens you'll know. You'll start getting some serious vibrations when starting from a stop. Clunking usually happens when you're u-joint has gone out. You loose some needle bearings, crap a cap, and they'll clunk when rotating. You should also check your pinion bearing, and yoke to make sure they're ok.
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Nelsonmd
New member
Ok, that's pretty different than your first post... You need to look at the rear u-joint and determine if that's the problem. The rear u-joint is alot more likely to fail than the double cardan (not cardagan, that's a sweater :lmao
, and the u-joint is a pretty easy thing to replace, whereas the DC is not (unless MStudt chimes in with some concrete info...)And as folks have said, pump some grease in there, that is the easiest and cheapest thing to try, so do it first. In fact, do it anyway, it should be done regularly. Clunk is usually just lack of grease. A failed u-joint will probably shake at some speeds (mine shook at, 65-70 mph so every time I got on the highway).
MStudt
official vendor
Ok, that's pretty different than your first post... You need to look at the rear u-joint and determine if that's the problem. The rear u-joint is alot more likely to fail than the double cardan (not cardagan, that's a sweater :lmao
And as folks have said, pump some grease in there, that is the easiest and cheapest thing to try, so do it first. In fact, do it anyway, it should be done regularly. Clunk is usually just lack of grease. A failed u-joint will probably shake at some speeds (mine shook at, 65-70 mph so every time I got on the highway).
Here's what I've got so far. This can be done, it's just a lot of searching for me. I'm get a list together of part number and sources for this. In order to do this, you'll need to find some u-joints that convert our size to a 1310 u-joint, much like this. You'll need one for the shaft side, and another for the flange side. I'm working on the rest. Keep in mind this isn't going to inexpensive. These parts do add up.
Nelsonmd
New member
I think that kit goes in the wrong direction, and is for converting other applications to the Toyota u-joint, I don't think that will fit the DC.
The 1310 won't fit the DC because it has the wrong span/width, per this post, just a few hundredths off, but enough to prevent the c-clips from seating.
As was stated in the above thread and some others (linked below), you can sand down the rockford cups.
Here is a well detailed post on this: Double Cardan joint - Tacoma World Forums
A later post in this thread says that the K2540 fits perfectly, so maybe those 4 hundredths don't actually keep the ring out.
Either way, it's not as straight forward as replacing the rear u-joint, so it's a pretty big deal to figure out if it's the front or rear, and most folks here won't be able to service the DC.
Anyway, here are a couple links to check out:
Double Cardan U-joint Teardown '02 Tacoma - YotaTech Forums
Double Cardan joint - Page 2 - Tacoma World Forums
Driveshaft CV Modification for Increased Angle
MStudt
official vendor
It can be used the other way as well. The point is to eliminate the factory dc with a universal one. Keeping the eared flange on the shaft with toyota u-joint caps, and converting the dc side to 1310's is the way to go. This would be a very simply conversion if the you're willing to remove all u-joint components. Like the picture below.
Cutting through the weld with a grind, and pull the entire dc off the shaft. From here you can eliminate to need to adapt the u-joints. This would be the easiest way to go about it. Going this route you can buy all the dc parts online from various suppliers. Granted, this does take some fab skills, welder, and time. From here you can buy an entire dc joint assembled for $125. Now you just need to find a yoke for the transmission side that matched the spline count of the transmission output shaft.
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Exactly why I am thinking about just having a new shaft and cardan with 1310's built.....it's probably not worth rebuilding. I've only seen one thing on the interweb saying that it can be done.....that and you.
Nelsonmd
New member
It can be used the other way as well. The point is to eliminate the factory dc with a universal one. Keeping the eared flange on the shaft with toyota u-joint caps, and converting the dc side to 1310's is the way to go. This would be a very simply conversion if the you're willing to remove all u-joint components. Like the picture below.
Cutting through the weld with a grind, and pull the entire dc off the shaft. From here you can eliminate to need to adapt the u-joints. This would be the easiest way to go about it. Going this route you can buy all the dc parts online from various suppliers. Granted, this does take some fab skills, welder, and time. From here you can buy an entire dc joint assembled for $125. Now you just need to find a yoke for the transmission side that matched the spline count of the transmission output shaft.
So you are talking about cutting and re-welding your DS? If so, understand your point, but that is a lot more drastic than any of us want to do, and for as infrequently as the DC fails, it doesn't seem nearly worth it. You would have to have it rebalanced after that wouldn't you? Not to mention you have to make sure it is perfectly in line, and all around sounds way sketchy. Certainly not the easiest way to it.
EDIT: To be specific, the welder that does this for you would need to ensure that the DC is exactly concentric to the DS and perfectly perpendicular to the DS, which I don't think is a trivial thing. Then add on to that the need to balance the DS after doing that.
It seems the only issue is the unavailability of a direct replacement bearing cup, then just a more complicated dis-assembly and assembly process. I haven't done this myself (yet...) so I can't state if the Rockford part fits as is or not, there seems to be conflicting stories on that.
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