terrible driveline vibration after lift

S

Steve240

Member
I put my lift set up on this weekend after spending a lot of time reading all the options on this site. I ended up going with adjustable 5100 and eibach springs in the front and LC 7 wraps in the back. Diff drop and panhard bar drop also installed.

I now have a terrible vibration now from 15-40mph seems to settle out a bit above 40 but I can always feel it so I haven't been over 70mph since lifting. This is bad a vibration, like I can see the dash vibrating and I hear the sunroof cover bouncing around.

It is evident mainly underload. Sounds and feels like it is coming from the rear. Costing down to a stop there is no vibration and the truck actually rides and handles better than ever. Since it happens at speeds as low as 15mph I think it must be driveshaft related.

I have read every thread I can find on this subject and nothing comes to a solid solution. I would guess it has to do with the drive shaft angles or my driveshaft was just old and decided to quite as soon as I lifted it? The joints still feel solid.

Not sure what to do or how to diagnose a the problem so any help would be much appreciated.
 
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Pull the rear driveshaft and drive it on front wheel drive. If the vibe goes away it's in the rear shaft.

An adjustable panhard bar isn't going to change the angles that the ujoints are at.
 
Pulling the rear drive shaft and driving would not be a very good idea, as it would be quite messy. If you look at the rear of your drive shaft, the angle should be nearly straight. Did you also change the tires when you put the lift on? If so, it is probably a balance issue. Take the tires back to the shop that balanced them, and insist that they balance with a lug centric adapter (as per Toyota's TSB on the subject). 7-wraps should not put you high enough to cause a drive shaft vibration, especially not that bad. Also, grab your CV's and feel them for movement. I can tell your from experience that wore out CV's can cause one hell of a vibration.
 
No tires where not changed, and I did not have this vibration before the lift. I do not believe it is a balance or alignment issue as the vibration goes away at higher speeds. It's really only bad on the gas (load) between 15-40mphs once I am above 40mph it isn't that bad but I can still tell something isn't right. I can coast down through that speed with no vibration.

I was thinking on the way to work today could this be as simple as my e brake? Lifting the truck would put tension on the cable. I just checked them out, the driver side, where the cable comes down to the axle and does to the driver side drum has slack (e brake off) but the passenger cable feels tight at the passenger drum. That's the cable that runs along the back of the axle, how can that be adjusted? Do you loosen that bracket that comes out from the axle were the two cables meet?
 
I have somewhat the same thing but mine is not terrible, no panhard, and i did LC8Wraps with 1st gen tundra 5100s on 3rd notch with the TRD tundra front springs... Have you looked into getting your u joints replace and then driveline rebalanced? I was talking to my dad about the same issue(he is a mechanic toyota specialized and owns a shop) and thats the first thing he was recommending i do i just havent gotten around to it yet.
 
eatmorechickenx said:
Pulling the rear drive shaft and driving would not be a very good idea, as it would be quite messy. If you look at the rear of your drive shaft, the angle should be nearly straight. Did you also change the tires when you put the lift on? If so, it is probably a balance issue. Take the tires back to the shop that balanced them, and insist that they balance with a lug centric adapter (as per Toyota's TSB on the subject). 7-wraps should not put you high enough to cause a drive shaft vibration, especially not that bad. Also, grab your CV's and feel them for movement. I can tell your from experience that wore out CV's can cause one hell of a vibration.
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???? Not sure what your referring to with it being quite messy. The rear driveshaft slip is in the driveshaft, not at the t-case like on some later model Jeeps.

I would pull the rear driveshaft and drive it around in 4wd on the front axle and see if you still have the vibes. This is how I diagnosed my rear driveshaft problems. This is quite common on driveline parts after a lift. Lifting it changed the angles of the u-joints /double cardon joint. Its very likely your problem is the centering ball joint inside the double cardon joint. When you take the driveshaft out, grease that joint really good, even if its not the problem.
 
Like he says you can remove the driveshaft to test it out and see if vibration goes away, if it does than you know the issue.

When mine failed I lifted truck on jack stands and had wife gas it till 15mph+ to listen to the shaft. (be careful, I have tuned cars this way!) I could tell my double cardan had failed. $25 fix for driveshaft at junk yard, so far so good.
 
Does it make sense that the drive shaft would be the problem but not as noticeable at high speeds? I like the idea of confirming its the shaft by driving in 4wd without it. That will be my next plan after looking at loosening the e brake cable.

I have not looked into maintaining the drive shaft but I did look on rock auto to see if I can purchase a reman one. They seem to only have front drive shafts so I guess the junk yard is the way to go.
 
Steve240 said:
Does it make sense that the drive shaft would be the problem but not as noticeable at high speeds? I like the idea of confirming its the shaft by driving in 4wd without it. That will be my next plan after looking at loosening the e brake cable.

I have not looked into maintaining the drive shaft but I did look on rock auto to see if I can purchase a reman one. They seem to only have front drive shafts so I guess the junk yard is the way to go.
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I had the ebrake cable tight for over a year, no issues, I just un bolted it and added a little chunk a metal. Even with e brake on at high speed you wont get those vibrations. I would know from lots of e brake drifting in my lifetime. LOL.
 
Steve240 said:
No tires where not changed, and I did not have this vibration before the lift. I do not believe it is a balance or alignment issue as the vibration goes away at higher speeds. It's really only bad on the gas (load) between 15-40mphs once I am above 40mph it isn't that bad but I can still tell something isn't right. I can coast down through that speed with no vibration.

I was thinking on the way to work today could this be as simple as my e brake? Lifting the truck would put tension on the cable. I just checked them out, the driver side, where the cable comes down to the axle and does to the driver side drum has slack (e brake off) but the passenger cable feels tight at the passenger drum. That's the cable that runs along the back of the axle, how can that be adjusted? Do you loosen that bracket that comes out from the axle were the two cables meet?
Click to expand...

I'm speaking from experience when I say that you cannot rule out the alignment. I have personally aligned 4 4runners after being lifted and every single one has helped with the vibration, 3 of them only vibrating under load. Plus you need one anyways before you chew up your tires.
 
I guess I keep thinking he is aligned. First thing everyone does after lift I thought. Should drive her straight there after install.
 
Steve240 said:
Does it make sense that the drive shaft would be the problem but not as noticeable at high speeds? I like the idea of confirming its the shaft by driving in 4wd without it. That will be my next plan after looking at loosening the e brake cable.

I have not looked into maintaining the drive shaft but I did look on rock auto to see if I can purchase a reman one. They seem to only have front drive shafts so I guess the junk yard is the way to go.
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Yes it does, if you spin something fast enough, any vibe will become unnoticeable. It also makes sense that it is yhe drivebshaft because the vibes are worse when accelerating, but not bad or go away when coasting. Also fyi... the u-joints at the dc joint can be perfectly good, but if the ball/socket in the center is bad, it will cause vibes. If you grab the cage of the dc and see if it has side to side movement perpendicular to the driveshaft, the ball/socket joint has play
 
Along with jayrolla and andy, I suspect your issue is the drive shaft. Can you distinguish if its coming from the front or back? I had 7 wraps (technically 7.75 wraps) on my truck several years ago, and they lifted the back a full 4 inches, and that was right after getting brand new rear oem coils. That significantly changes the angle of the rear propeller. And I had tons of vibrations from that lift, though more so at high speeds. But if your u joints were already worn, that significant angle increase will certainly magnify any issues in the drive shaft.

I would test it the way jayrolla suggested. You can also get under the truck and use something like a crow bar to lightly pry on the cardone joint to see if the u joints have any slop in them. Also, if you have the vibration while accelerating, but then it goes away after letting off the gas and just coasting at the same speeds, thats a pretty clear indication the issue is in the u joint(s)/propeller shaft.
 
The truck is getting an alignment today but I am glad to hear most people agree it's the drive shaft. I was worried it was going to have something to do with the pinion angle.

I found a use driveshaft at a wreaker I will be picking up on Monday. I figure having a spare for the future isn't a bad thing and then I can try to find a shop to rebuild my current one.
 
Steve240 said:
The truck is getting an alignment today but I am glad to hear most people agree it's the drive shaft. I was worried it was going to have something to do with the pinion angle.

I found a use driveshaft at a wreaker I will be picking up on Monday. I figure having a spare for the future isn't a bad thing and then I can try to find a shop to rebuild my current one.
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I would still try to diagnose it before spending the money
 
x2 on diagnosis

Removing it only determines if it's the rear or not also. It very well could be the pinion angle, but not likely. A driveshaft from a wrecker could be bad also. You need to go through a diagnosiss one step at a time instead of throwing parts at a problem just hoping one of them will make it go away.
 
Grease the driveshaft. Now that you have a lift on there, the driveshaft has pulled further out of its slip which means you need to add more grease. Just greasing the driveshaft has been known to cure driveline vibes.

Also, which setting are the 5100's on? Does the vibration happen in 4wd?
 
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