Rear Double Cardian Driveshaft

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DTCsk8er

DTCsk8er

10 Year
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Threads
7
Messages
325
Location
Houston, TX
Any of you guys rotate the rear pinion up and use the front Double cardian joint to make a rear shaft?

Reason I ask is I am getting (and have been for years) some serious vibes around 65MPH +. Vibes tend to rumble the cab, but start at the shifters. Driveshaft was built by Daves offroad, so it's heavy walled and balanced. But working great for over 17k miles, but I really dislike going 60MPH on long trips (and will even more dislike when I install the 3rz). Been through two sets of tires, and different wheels.. so it's not a balance issue.

So my question is, if you have gone this route.. did you under-rotate to compensate for the pinion tilting while in gear driving around? I angled my pinion directly at the tcase output; however over the years since my springs have settled, it is now slightly over-angled.
 
DTCsk8er said:
Any of you guys rotate the rear pinion up and use the front Double cardian joint to make a rear shaft?

So my question is, if you have gone this route.. did you under-rotate to compensate for the pinion tilting while in gear driving around? I angled my pinion directly at the tcase output; however over the years since my springs have settled, it is now slightly over-angled.
Click to expand...

Yes. I run a Tacoma DC shaft in my 4Runner. Requires the triple/quad drilled flange. I also have an old solid axle DC in the garage, but it needs rebuilding. I can't remember if I cut off my spring perches and pointed up the pinon, or if I'm running wedges. This was a replacement axle, so I'm pretty sure the welder came out. I just tossed in half my camping gear so it would compromise between empty and fully loaded.
 
My solid axle DC joint seemed to be doing fine when I inspected it on the bench. No binding, and rotated smooth..

I think the first order of business would be to shim my pinion angle back down to being pointed just below the tcase. The problem I have might just be that the pinion is over-rotated and worse so under load.
 
Yup, running DCs front and rear. I've had the rear on for almost 10yrs now. It was a significant improvement in vibrations and noise. I did rotate the pinion up which is another benefit. I believe its a couple degrees lower than it should be to compensate for spring wrap on acceleration. Honestly, I just eyeballed it.

I have a short bed standard cab with dual cases and 4-5" lift.

Kevo
 
Thanks for the replies guys. Good to generate some conversations over it all.. I plan on doing two things soon:

1. Strapping my contour camera to the axle, pointed in line with the pinion. Take a short video of how bad the axle wrap is, and especially note it at 65mph.
2. Put in some shims to bring the pinion back down below the tcase output, like you both have it.

Should report back in a few days when I get some time.
 
I started by running 2* under but had vibes at 65mphish. So swapped out 1/2" longer shackles that brought the pinion up to point at t-case. 75mph is about my top speed but no vibes. I cut and rewelded perches. I'd read that 4* is the max angle of shims you should run on road. If you mount new perches you should gusset the space between them, but leave a way for water to drain. Just compare stock perches to aftermarket and you'll notice difference.
 
Forgot to mention you'll most likely need to clearance your horse collar to fit. I had a piece of 10" pipe i welded in after clearancing.
 
Threw 2deg shims on the rear.. the pinion was pointed just below the case when sitting. Vibes are better from the shaft.. but I feel front vibrations that seemed to have been masked by the rear end vibes I was getting.

I wish my junk would just work.. getting tired of going 60mph
 
What kind of vibe? Front shouldn't be turning on the road assuming you running manual hubs. I've got twin sticks in rear and 4wd light is out so I check orientation of sticker on front to make sure it hasn't turned. Had a couple blonde moment where I've forgotten to put in in 4wd. You know a spectator says "your junk is broken, fronts not turning" yeah it happens.

Could be tire balance, that's where I'd start anyway. One day I want dynamic balancers or simply put 6-8oz of BBs inside tire.
 
It honestly feels like tires.. but I just did a 1200 mile trip, and the tires show no signs of imbalance. The vibes are constant, but sometimes worse than other times. Not bump steer or even really death wobble. When I get home from my business trip, i'll go ahead and take some videos of the front end to see what happens.

New tires and different rims (this time machine balanced).. same vibes at the same speed.
 
I replaced the frame bushings for the front shackles a while back.. they were beaten badly. The lower bushing for the shackles most likely need to be replaced soon.

If it helps, I've got davez no deathwobble shackles.. guess I need to find some bushings that fit them.
 
Never heard of the no death wobble shackles. Interesting but thought most death wobble was due to castor angle from spring mounting and spring choice. But think there is other causes too.
 
The no death wobble shackles just have sleeves through the bushings. Allows for a much tighter shackle.. and these bushing have lasted about 3-4 years, which is pretty good from what I've seen the other bushings go on the net.

Need to measure my castor to see if that is also suspect, as I'm sure it could be. Wish I had time to do all of this, but life gets in the way!!!
 
On the rig measuring the angle of the pinion flange with an angle finder then compare to other ppl's pinion flange angle on an SAS rig. I'll throw an angle finder on mine. Don't think DS will need to be pulled. I did set mine up to have more castor than stock but I pieced my kit together from various vendor's.
 
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