Beginner Looking for Some Advice About Driveshaft Damage (1 Viewer)

[OKMattezai]

Hi all,
I bought an OEM rear driveshaft from a Toyota dealership online, shopped around for the cheapest price and they offered free shipping. Also ordered some of the installation nuts for it.

Well, I got the package yesterday, nuts weren't shipped, and the driveshaft was in one of those long skinny boxes with no real padding, just some plastic wrapped around the u-joints. It looks fine to my eyes, but I'm no expert on driveshafts. This is the first I'm ever replacing myself, to be honest. In my long slow quest to become a one banana mechanic, from my current status as what I would say is a "couple of blueberries" mechanic. How many blueberries makes a banana, you say? I suppose I'll find out one day.

Anyway, I've tried to attach some poor quality photos. I can take some better ones soon, I promise. The damage to my neophyte eyes looks superficial, minor dings on the joints and some scratches, but I'm wondering if those more experienced out there could help me in figuring out if there might be more serious issues resulting in a loss of balance?

Any help is appreciated!

 

[reklund5]

It'll be fine. Run it.

 

[Squeegee]

Totally run it!

 

[77mustard40]

Grease it and swap it in, the water's fine. Reuse the nuts you have.

 

[OKMattezai]

Awesome, glad to hear! It'll be a fun time rolling around under there trying to get the old prop shaft off. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[landtank]

Fix it first before you install it.

 

[OKMattezai]

If I'm installing it, aren't I really also fixing it, since I'm simultaneously affixin it to the rig?

 

[mudgudgeon]

Awesome, glad to hear! It'll be a fun time rolling around under there trying to get the old prop shaft off. Thanks for the feedback!

Don't blueberry the old one onto your head.

Been there done that. Driveshaft to the noggin hurts! The tweetie bird i saw agreed

 

[landtank]

That new shaft has been apart and reassembled wrong. It needs to be fixed before installing it

 

[MUDZLLA]

mark the new one so you don't misalign the yoke splines.

 

[knuckle47]

I bought a Tom Woods Custom drive shaft for a truck in early summer. A work of art and shipped like the Mona Lisa….. Other than the indexing on the yoke …match the direction of the old one when you remove it to install that new one and the same position.

 

[OKMattezai]

That new shaft has been apart and reassembled wrong. It needs to be fixed before installing it

Interesting, thank you for the heads up! I'll take a look around the forums to see what to do. I'm guessing it's because the rear shaft has to be in phase and this one is not properly aligned?

Mona Lisa class shipping sounds great! This one was shipped more like my middle school lunch.

I only have so much brain left so if you see increasing typos and Midwestern mannerisms ad nauseam you can bet I knocked out what was left upstairs when installing this thing.

 

[ajax1]

I believe the nuts at the tcase are a different inner diameter, so don’t mix up your nuts. Both ends are 14mm

 

[OKMattezai]

I believe the nuts at the tcase are a different inner diameter, so don’t mix up your nuts. Both ends are 14mm

Noted, thank you! I'll make sure to double check.

 

[landtank]

Interesting, thank you for the heads up! I'll take a look around the forums to see what to do. I'm guessing it's because the rear shaft has to be in phase and this one is not properly aligned?

Mona Lisa class shipping sounds great! This one was shipped more like my middle school lunch.

I only have so much brain left so if you see increasing typos and Midwestern mannerisms ad nauseam you can bet I knocked out what was left upstairs when installing this thing.

The rear shaft needs to be in phase and the zirks need to be on the same side

 

[OKMattezai]

The rear shaft needs to be in phase and the zirks need to be on the same side

Got it, thank you! Read my mind. That's the second thing I was wondering.

 

[Kernal]

Hard to tell by the angle the photo was taken but it appears that the slip yolk may not be aligned correctly.

For comparison, below are some photos of a new rear driveshaft prior to painting (original paint was scuffed worse that the OP's, and very thin)

Also, there should be factory applied paint markings on the ends of the driveshaft flanges: they all should line up

You could try taking another photo of your driveshaft with the slip yolk zerk (grease) fitting pointing upward in the 12 O'clock position for comparison.

The first photo shows a new rear driveshaft (diff end). Note the white line (I added) and the purple dot (factory). The purple dot is on the same side as the zerk fitting for that U-joint. .

Next photo shows the slip yolk (transfer case) end of the rear driveshaft. Note the purple dot (factory) is on the same side as the U-joint zerk and lines up with the purple dot on the other end. I added the white line.

The zerk fitting for the slip yolk is pointing straight upward (covered in blue masking tape prior to painting)

 

[landtank]

The zirks you want to use for proper phasing are the ones for the U-Joints. Those two need to be on the same side. Focusing on just the slip yoke you could be 180* out and still be in phase. In that case the two U-Joint zirks will be on opposite sides.

 

[Kernal]

Added photos above: factory purple dots line up with the zerk fitting orientations (indicates the side they're pointing toward). White lines line up the yolks along with the yolk zerk.

A new shaft comes with the purple dots, I added the white lines to make it easier to see how it all lines up for the photos.

FWIW

 

[OKMattezai]

Thank you for the picture!

Got it, yep, that makes sense to me on the u-joint and slip yoke zerks!

Just double checked to make sure and grab some more pictures, doubly confirmed not lined up. There is white paint on both sides; on the non-slip yoke side it's a clear line, on the slip yoke side u-joint it's kinda a line. I'll try and get better pics of it. I stupidly didn't note the zerk orientations for the below images.

I grabbed some (slightly) better pics. They show the slip yoke zerk and nearby u-joint zerk both facing up, same side together. It's a bit hard to see, should've taken the plastic off, but the other side, however, is facing downward at an angle, not up like the other two pictured zerks.

So looks like I gotta separate the shaft and line up the zerks on the slip yoke side to the other side (and grease the splines).