4 years into my front DC on a manual 6 litre 4" lift. Still going fine but never again, customer service = zero afther the sale.
Tatton DC Failure
- Thread starter Dreamin Wheelin
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My front seems to be fine. That's why I got the rear to match.
Don’t remember the brand name of my DC cages but they are loaded with Spicer Life Series joints. The differential end uses the Matsuba joints. I run DC front and rear knocking rocks on 37’s and have had zero problems.
I remove both drivelines for a thorough clean and lube every oil change at 5k.
Just an update. Shop got the driveshaft apart today. Nothing in the shaft is stamped spicer and the shaft is destroyed. It will need to have the yoke cut off and replaced. I find this absolutely infuriating with a shaft that's 10 months old.
Was it sold to you advertised as Spicer components?
Whats sad is we buy from what we think are reputable companies and we find out we got junk. That's what happens when you assume. I never thought to ask. Assume again.
After my failure, I've had a few driveshafts built, two for my projects and one for a buddy, I now ask and or specify what parts are used.
Yes. I thought because it was a part of a supported group but that it would be quality. I was very wrong. And only a 90 day warranty according to curtis
I believe it is possible to over grease the slip yoke and there's potential for serious damage if over greased. But regardless of that, there are enough cases out there now about the Tatton shafts that make it obvious that quality parts aren't being used and customer service is severely lacking. IMO, nobody should be wasting money with Tatton because of sufficient warning. If you buy one after seeing these bad reviews, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2005
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Have a DC from Curtis on my 97 80. Working great so far. BTW, I remember looking at all of the parts and they were Spicer. This was about a year ago, 6k miles ago. Haven't greased it yet.
Also I tried going the Toyota DC route but the Tacoma DC I found has ujoints I can't find replacements for.
Also I tried going the Toyota DC route but the Tacoma DC I found has ujoints I can't find replacements for.
Yes. I'm familiar with over lining and causing it to act like a hydraulic ram. This was not the case with mine. I actually removed the zerks and compressed it just to be sure the two pumps I put in wasn't taking up the last bit of room. Nothing came out when it was compressed. Either way. It was supposed to be spicer joints, nothing inside the joint says spicer. And from what I've seen it's supposed to be labeled. I'm going to cut my losses, replace the dc with spicer stuff and run it. Any other problems and I'm making my own.
Just for another point of reference. When I was in the midst of all the adds to my 80 back in 2017 I went the Tatton route to save a bit of coin over the shortened Tacoma version. The Tatton u-joints in the CV have gone bad with Just under 18K miles, regularly lubed, etc. I have absolutely no complaints other than it didn't last like a Toyota would have. I am now sourcing a Tacoma shaft to have shortened so hopefully in three years I don't have to deal with this again. The Tatton has two new u-joints in it and will be over in the classifieds very soon for very cheap.
Another failure here. Less than 10k miles and the cv blew up on the interstate. The guy at tatton said he never saw failures and mine broke because I didn’t grease it. Claimed the cv should be greased every oil change otherwise it will seize up. We either grease too little or too much. Can’t win with Tatton. I reckon we get what we pay for boys! The spicer life joints held up though and prevented a catastrophic failure.
For everyone running DC shafts, have you rotated the axle to get the angle of the shaft joint near the differential to be near zero? For front axles, this normally requires a cut and turn of the knuckles to get the caster right. If the angle of the joint near the diff is not zero, that could cause vibration that will shorten the life of the joint bearings.
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- #34
My front DC from Tatton is still going strong and I am running sled off-road front control arms... so no my front is not pointed at the tcase. My rear blow up a few years ago when I started this thread. The rear was pointed up but not directly at the tcase. I put the factory rear shaft back on and dropped the angle to parallel. I have had no issue with the factory rear shaft. Too bad tatton makes questionable parts.
Yes, caster correction plates and bushings fix caster problems due to suspension lift, but they rotate the axle the opposite direction of reducing the shaft angle at the pinion. Throwing a DC shaft at diff that is at the wrong angle is not a long term solution.
The front shaft starts life out in a broken back configuration. So as you rotate the axle to correct for caster the operating angle of the pinion U-joint lessons. If done properly the joint is aligned for a DC shaft and it will last the lifetime of the vehicle. My original 80 has over 100k miles on a modified Tacoma shaft.
That makes more sense - the broken back config. Is there any truth to the idea that there is lateral offset as well as vertical offset which accounts for the non-standard phasing of the stock shaft?
With my 3" lift my pinion is now within 0.2° of driveshaft angel which is more or less perfect for theoretical DC driveshaft.
That said, Tom Woods suggested that a 1 -1.5° difference would be preferable as it better accommodates lubrication of the spicer UJ's.
technically the ideal setup is 0°, so no movement during operation.