Bad Driveshaft Damage (1 Viewer)

Background:
Have always had slight highway vibration, always assumed the culprit was either wheel balancing, slightly loose wheel bearings, or an out of balance d-shaft. Never bothered to check driveshaft phase. (Vibration was not nearly as bad as it has been in my experience when an out-of-phase d-shaft is the problem.)

Last week I installed Slee's Caster Plates, of course I was extremely pleased with the fit and finish, and more importantly the better caster. Took only about an hour and a half to install.

However, I immediatly noticed worsened vibration, even at lower speeds. As the rest of the week was very busy, I wrote it off as worse pinion angle and lived with it for 2 days.

Later that week, while tooling down the highway at 80-85 MPH the vibration was so unnerving I decided to call Slee and see if he had heard of any similar problems. (still assuming pinion angle). When the line was busy I pulled off, got under the truck, and found what the pictures show. A .2" deep groove worn/pounded into the the driveshaft slip yoke cover.... by the sway bar. And a driveshaft that was 90 degrees out of phase. Looked like the tech that last reinstalled it had an idea of what "in phase" should look like, but got careless and didn't quite get it.

Limped back down the road to a truck stop and bought a few wrenchs with the intention of pulling the driveshaft, instead yanked the sway-bar. (I don't keep tools other than the toyota kit in the truck around town).

SO- it looks like an out of phase driveshaft that was both moved closer to the sway bar and had a more *correct* pinion angle as a result of the caster plates was close enough to the sway bar to hit it- the unnerving vibration.

I got the shaft out as soon as I got home, it appears that only the "cover" of the slip yoke was damaged. However, it appears that compression travel is limited by maybe .5" or so. (Had a hard time getting it to compress enough to remove it from the truck).

Hopefully I'll be able to take it to the driveline shop on friday, however, I'm wondering if it would be ok to simply cut off that cover and install a shock-boot type rubber cover like many domestic trucks have. Also, does anyone have the fully compressed measurement, or could they take one? I want to see just how much travel is limited now...

Thanks and sorry for the worded post. I find it easier reading other people's posts when background information is included.

Disclaimer- Slee's products nor services were in NO WAY responsible for ANY of the damage here. It is fully a result of my oversight and hurry after installing the plates.

Man that looks scary, well I've got a slightly used driveshaft off of my 95' if you need to buy another one.
airlaird

Wow, something to look for during a finishing inspection before going for a drive! Thanks for sharing, sucks dude. Are you going to go with a double cardan from christo?

Front drive shaft u joints are not supposed to be in phase on 80 Land Cruiser.

Rich said:

Front drive shaft u joints are not supposed to be in phase on 80 Land Cruiser.

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Exactly right. 90 degrees out of phase is correct. Do you have the drop brackets for the sway bar?

Bailey sorry that this happened. We have never seen this happen, but then all the truck we tried it on had swaybar drop blocks. Maybe dumb luck. I will update the install instructions. We recommend swaybar drop blocks above 2.5", so let's call it a unlucky combination of events. The cover you damaged is just over the slip, however we have removed minor dents in the cover before, but that looks pretty deep. You can mark the shaft on both sides (for future alignment), then pull the slip. You can get a thin punch or screwdriver between the slip and cover and maybe get it pushed out. If sucsessful, reinstall slip and check for binding. If not, call me in the morning. We have a number of used shafts.

Same thing happened to me when I did my caster plates and lift at the same time. I figured I had enough clearance to drive it on the street before I dropped my sway bar, but apparently not. My ring is not NEARLY as deep as yours though. Christo, I would say that the instructions should say that a sway bar drop is mandatory for caster plates. Not saying what happened is Slee's fault at all, just sharing a similar experiance. And mine is not bad enough to need a new shaft or anything.

Anybody running enough lift to need castor plates should already have a dropped swaybar. But, it is sometimes necessary to state the obvious and remind installers that drops are needed, if only because we live in a society where people are not responsible for their own actions (like they should be )

Well, in my case I went from 0 lift to ~4.5" all at once and thought I could get around in town without dropping the sway bar. I have since dropped it(I did custom drop instead of Slee's drop blocks).

Where you get the double-whammy is the lift PLUS rotating the pinion down.

Yup. I freely admit it was my fault. I didn't even think about it really. I looked, saw a little clearance and thought all was fine. If there had been a line in the instructions about it I would have been more cautious. But still, it's not Slee's fault I was careless. I don't want anyone to think I am badmouthing them.

I was not suggesting that you were and it did not seem so.

I was speaking in broad terms about how people act in general today. You were smart enough to see your error where many would blame the supplier because they (the installer) were not paying close enough attention to what was going on around them.

D-

I didn't think you were suggesting that, I just wanted to make sure others don't think poorly of the product...it fills a niche very well.

CruisinGA said:

Also, does anyone have the fully compressed measurement, or could they take one? I want to see just how much travel is limited now...

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Bailey, My front shaft is still out of my 80. I can get a measurement if you like but basically the cover should completely cover slip area. Or put another way the felt seal comes within a few thousands of the near by step. how ever much" chrome" you have exposed with it compressed is how much travel you have lost, looks/sounds like an inch or more? If so it must be addressed.

Dan, is that dust cover available from Toyota? I have mangled a couple of them on rocks over the years and replaced them, don't remember if I got new ones or stole them off used shafts? They just press onto the shaft.

Or you could be a bone head like me and install the sway bar upside down with the drop brackets. It tends to rub on the tie rod when you do this.

Tools R Us - you can also get them re-tubed by a local drive shaft shop.

Junk said:

Tools R Us - you can also get them re-tubed by a local drive shaft shop.

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I did as much to my driveshaft when I found it had been bent by a fork lift. I got a junked driveshaft of the same diameter off a truck, took it to a machine shop where we cut the length I needed and welded it in place of the bent shaft. They did such a good job that I didn't even have to have it balanced.

It's not a DIY kind of thing so I'm reluctant to aggressively suggest it. Labor and liability in the States is hefty and it might be cheaper to buy a new shaft and install it. A new shaft is certainly the safest route and bound to be more reliable so if the savings isn't significant, I'd go with a new one.


Kalawang

Tools R Us said:

Dan, is that dust cover available from Toyota? I have mangled a couple of them on rocks over the years and replaced them, don't remember if I got new ones or stole them off used shafts? They just press onto the shaft.

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Yes.

The one for the front shaft lists for $20.46 and there is currently ONE in the US.