Jason B
Well-Known Member
Get a 6" worm clamp and put it on the drive shaft. Take it for a ride with your wife so that she can feel the vibrations. Convince her it's the shaft, and you need a new one.
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One Piece Driveshaft
- Thread starter StormShadow1138
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Dr3wDrop
Well-Known Member
Could you measure the angle on your set up with and without a shim? Mine was 10 degrees on either side of the carrier bearing.
TJC
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Ford's Refrain = " It's working as designed." ( not yours, which will be.... "Yes Dear!" )
CO2Ranger
Well-Known Member
Thought I'd add my video to the list here. At 16k miles the driveshaft is shaking the begeezus out of the truck on takeoff. If I ease into it then it's not an issue, but even on a normal takeoff you can feel it resonate throughout the cab. My fear is that it only gets worse with time.
(I uploaded in HD but YT still processing)
(I uploaded in HD but YT still processing)
Last edited:
Tremors
Active Member
It seems like the two pieces are turning at different speeds. That's pretty interesting. If so how does this effect a one piece driveshaft?
CO2Ranger
Well-Known Member
They would have to given that they're different diameters. I'm not sure the implications of switching to a 1 piece in this regard but I can't imagine it matters.
Shawn at Tom Wood's
Well-Known Member
The surface Speed of the shafts is different because of the different diameters but the RPMs are exactly the same. If you watch the lower shaft and pay attention to every time the white sticker comes around you can see in your peripheral that the sticker on the upper shaft leads it by a quarter rotation or so every time. There's a bit of an optical illusion on the lower shaft because there's like 8 balance weights on it. So you see balance weights coming around almost constantly which makes it look like it is spinning faster. Speaking of balance weights, there is no reason a shaft needs that many weights. I chuckled to myself when I saw that and though "Whoever balanced that must be getting paid per weight". That's a thing we often see on stock shaft from various vehicles. It's like they just keep adding and welding weights until they hopefully get it right. It's not uncommon to see two weights of identical size 180 degrees from one another.
Update on the overall success rate of our one-piece shaft. I got an email today from a customer. Our shaft did not fix his issue and he is planning on returning it for a refund. That puts us at 3 returns for approximately 30 shafts built. So far a 90% success rate. I think it is important for you all to know the statistical odds of success when deciding to order a shaft. Honestly, if the success rate doesn't get better as the sample size increases we will discontinue the shaft. It doesn't make good business sense to sell something that has a 10% return rate, because we eat the cost of shipping the shaft to the customer which is usually $70-$80. The tricky thing is trying to extrapolate percentages with such a small sample size. As time goes on and we make more of these shafts we will have a better idea of the net results. The bummer part for me, if we decide that it is a failed endeavor, is that if the one piece shaft doesn't pan out I don't know what you guys with the Ranger shudders are going to be able to do. The guy that emailed me today said "I was really hoping after the time I have spent with the dealer that this would be the fix. I am ready to trade in the whole truck... very sad." I hate to think of people trading in their truck, and taking a loss on the trade in value.
TJC
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This seems to indicate that there are multiple issues at play here. Most are corrected with driveshaft replacement...
Thinking out loud (dangerous, I know)
- Early on my 10 speed transmission would shift hard and at crazy times, both on acceleration and coming to a stop.
- I always tested when my Ranger was fully warmed up, in an effort to eliminate less than optimal engine performance.
- I always tested on smooth pavement.
- Bouncing around on stock shocks makes it difficult to discern the "shudder".
- High speed could be tires out of balance, etc., but low speed (0-20mph) would seem to be limited to sloppy driveshafts.
Perhaps a simple diagnostic procedure a Ranger owner could use to eliminate (or confirm) the sloppy driveshaft as the problem. This would save both parties inconvenience and $$. And ultimately keep a needed product available for the 90% who need it.
- T
Tremors
Active Member
Firs we need to know what kind of trucks have the issue. Is it mostly lifter trucks or half lifter half stock trucks. It seems to be some of both Sean from TW said he’s done approximately 30 driveshafts what kind of trucks did these go on where they all lifted? We’re some stock? This could be helpful. The 3 that were returned where did those peoples truck vibration come from? A lift or were they stock? It seems like if you put any kind of lift on your truck odds are good you will create a vibration. And people with stock truck and vibration that’s crazy and it seems so random. Why? They’re all the same truc. Maybe certain model years have higher odds of vibration? What was the year of the approximate 30 drive lines install on. typically a dealer refines a product with each year
SigOris
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Tell her Ford doesn’t fix design defects ?
NotBudule
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Best not to tell her anything really , just a prepared story if she finds out , some I come up with even surprise me and I occasionally get a pass on "creativity " ...
Fitzmotor
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As for the guy who was not happy with the one piece shaft, a one piece shaft can shudder and vibrate just as easily, it has to have proper working angles and pinion climb has to be controlled or adjusted for.
I wonder if the customer checked the drive line angles, the stock pinion angle should be pointing further up with a 2 piece shaft than a one one piece shaft, if you drew a straight line through the center of the pinion, the trans is lower than the carrier bearing, so I would measure it first but I would expect lower the pinion to get the proper working angles when switching to a one piece shaft.
Combined with the single rear leaf spring, these trucks do have significant pinion climb, even with good working angles, under load it could still vibrate, sometimes there is no happy medium, you keep dropping the pinion angle so it's good under hard accell, but it will vibrate on decell or light throttle, some vehicles you just have to do something to control pinion climb and or rapid ride height change, or it will vibrate no matter what you do.
I wonder if the customer checked the drive line angles, the stock pinion angle should be pointing further up with a 2 piece shaft than a one one piece shaft, if you drew a straight line through the center of the pinion, the trans is lower than the carrier bearing, so I would measure it first but I would expect lower the pinion to get the proper working angles when switching to a one piece shaft.
Combined with the single rear leaf spring, these trucks do have significant pinion climb, even with good working angles, under load it could still vibrate, sometimes there is no happy medium, you keep dropping the pinion angle so it's good under hard accell, but it will vibrate on decell or light throttle, some vehicles you just have to do something to control pinion climb and or rapid ride height change, or it will vibrate no matter what you do.
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