How to rehab Driveshafts? (1 Viewer)

[lesgarten]

I saw on one of these clunk threads somewhere about taking the driveshafts apart and cleaning them up so that they can go forward with good maintenance. But I can't really find it.

Can someone chime in about how to go about taking them apart and cleaning them up and regreasing them? Mine have not been maintained well, and are OK I think. I just want to get a good baseline on them. 215K miles LC100.

 

[DirtDawg]

After "rehabbing" a few driveshafts, I now just have them rebuilt at a local DS shop. $200 and I get all new u-joints, slip yoke cleaned and greased, balanced, and repainted. Its well worth the cost IMO. Just another option.

 

[lesgarten]

After "rehabbing" a few driveshafts, I now just have them rebuilt at a local DS shop. $200 and I get all new u-joints, slip yoke cleaned and greased, balanced, and repainted. Its well worth the cost IMO. Just another option.

My U joints seem fine. I'm mainly looking at the slip joints as far as cleaning and greasing.

Didn't know there were driveshaft shops though...

 

[TheForger]

I would highly recommend just taking them to a driveshaft shop as well. It needs to be balanced anyway so might as well get it all done at the same place and not fool with it yourself. Most are pretty reasonable with prices.

 

[lesgarten]

I would highly recommend just taking them to a driveshaft shop as well. It needs to be balanced anyway so might as well get it all done at the same place and not fool with it yourself. Most are pretty reasonable with prices.

Hmmm, why would it need to be rebalanced?

 

[Bardiya]

Make match marks at the slip joint so you put them back exactly the way you took it apart. Brake clean the old grease and splines and re grease. Personally I’d put it back on the truck and use the zerk to grease till you see the slip joint move.

Disclaimer: Not a driveline expert.

 

[flintknapper]

Hmmm, why would it need to be rebalanced?

New U-joints might not be the same weight as those taken out, factory balance weight(s) might have fallen off, bent driveshaft (rock crawlers, or hard off-road), vehicles from the rust belt can have scale build up or pitting. It doesn't take much to induce vibration from a driveshaft. U-joints need to be good, the splines need to be good, the driveshaft needs to be straight and THEN it needs to be balanced.

 

[SlowBuild]

I’m not an expert but I did a lot of reading about this not too long ago. I’m pretty sure the consensus was if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Like @flintknapper says, the balance is pretty sensitive. If it’s not vibrating now, don’t mess with it. Best balance you’ll get is from The factory. Grease and go. Maybe if you’re real worried about old grease then follow @Bardiya method to clean etc. I wouldn’t mess with unjoints that aren’t giving you trouble. I actually bought a set from @cruiseroutfit but ended up not installing them for this reason. They’re on my shelf now until I need them.

Maybe someone with more experience than me can comment on this before I lead the man astray?

 

[atnolan94]

After "rehabbing" a few driveshafts, I now just have them rebuilt at a local DS shop. $200 and I get all new u-joints, slip yoke cleaned and greased, balanced, and repainted. Its well worth the cost IMO. Just another option.

I wonder who taught you that taking is to a DS shop for a rebuild is a worthwhile endeavor

But yeah to echo this point. Have it rebuilt and high speed balanced at a driveshaft shop. Made my truck feel 10 years newer.... If your u joints and slip joint are loose enough to cause a clunk at all, I can assure you that you just need it rebuilt. More grease is a band aid, joints should be greased proactively not reactively.

 

[brando1]

Make sure you compare your labor costs, I found it a lot easier to just replace it with a new driveshaft from Toyota. No messing around with balancing, and simple install.
credit to @geanes

 

[lesgarten]

Ok, so I don't have much clunk or anything. My U joints are fine, splines are fine. Southern mall driver. I just noticed that the guys who are supposed to be lubing things weren't, for a while. Has 215K, I'm the Original owner and know that it really hasn't been lubed well.

So I would like to mark it, take it down, clean it, and kinda get it baselined in the lube department. I'm on a tear with redoing the car, since I have decided I want to keep it for the duration. But I have no idea how the DS comes apart. Does it just pull apart? Any gaskets or seals to replace? Wipers, etc? I'm also uncertain about over lubing it, hence the purpose of this thread, to find out how to tackle this.

I think if it goes back like it came out, it shouldn't need a rebalance. But I'm open to suggestions.

I'll look over the u joints well, if they need to be disturbed, I can see going the whole driveshaft shop job maybe.