Drive shaft support bearing shimming?

[2021Ranger]

So yesterday I did a little shimming of the support bearing starting with an 1/8” and moving up an 1/16 at a time. But after doing just an 1/8 it was noticeable difference. And just to make sure my mind was not playing tricks on me I removed them and drove it and yes big improvement..so anyway I went ahead and added more shims and after getting longer metric Bolts (10x150) I am up to 1/4 inch and the vibration is so slight I could say its not there anymore..
I’m going to make a aluminum shim that is full length and wide enough to cover that area of the support bearing..
Anyone else try this and found that a 1/4 inch seems to do the trick?

Im still going to go ahead and do the Tom Wood one piece shaft once the warrantee is over..

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[Bob902]

Interesting. And sounds like a fairly easy fix for others having the same issue.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

I haven’t shimmed mine. Whilst under there checking how much movement the carrier bearing had I noticed that mounting angle seemed to be off. My guess at the time was between 1/8 & 1/4”. So I think you’re on to something. Wondering how tight the mfg tolerance is for the frame support for the carrier bearing? It’s welded to the frame and so are the bearing mounting tabs. Wouldn’t take much to be 1/8 to 1/4 “ off.

 

[Rp930]

I ended up at 3/16” and it helped but not 100%. I tried an 1/8” and 1/4” settled on 3/16”.

 

[2021Ranger]

Forgot to say I had the TSB done with the rear shimming and it helped but still there. Dealer said “well it helped but its still there so you will have to live with it till Ford comes up with something else to try”

 

[RedDakooter05]

Well ford has been using a piece of rubber hose to fix their seat shifting problems for years so I doubt they're gonna give a crap about the drive shaft.

Roads around here are so bad I can't really feel vibrations even though they're there. I'll keep my eye on this thread for some ideas though.

 

[SID]

So yesterday I did a little shimming of the support bearing starting with an 1/8” and moving up an 1/16 at a time. But after doing just an 1/8 it was noticeable difference. And just to make sure my mind was not playing tricks on me I removed them and drove it and yes big improvement..so anyway I went ahead and added more shims and after getting longer metric Bolts (10x150) I am up to 1/4 inch and the vibration is so slight I could say its not there anymore..
I’m going to make a aluminum shim that is full length and wide enough to cover that area of the support bearing..
Anyone else try this and found that a 1/4 inch seems to do the trick?

Im still going to go ahead and do the Tom Wood one piece shaft once the warrantee is over..

AT WHAT SPEED WERE YOU GETTING A VIBRATION>??

 

[2021Ranger]

AT WHAT SPEED WERE YOU GETTING A VIBRATION>??

Vibration was from a dead stop..came in about 5 MPH till 10/15 MPH then would slightly come back at 70 mph.. the 70 MPH vibration is gone but I’m taking my bride out a little later for Mother’s Day and will be able to test it better on the open highway…

 

[2021Ranger]

So the low speed and from a dead stop its gone but at 60 to 80 mph its there but more of an oscillating comes and goes..its real annoying on the highway..
I’m going to check to see if the shaft is in phase next..if not that’s something else to bitch about when I go back..

 

[2021Ranger]

Well I just looked at my drive shaft Phase and its way off..
anyone else see this. Can I pull it apart and try and line it up better?

 

[Sharky]

research 2 piece drive shafts before you tear it apart.

 

[Big Blue]

Well I just looked at my drive shaft Phase and its way off..
anyone else see this. Can I pull it apart and try and line it up better?

It is just as it was designed to be. All gen5 shafts are phased like that. The spline is keyed and not abled to be shifted.

What I would like the many drive shaft experts we have on our forum to explain to me is how the majority of these poorly designed shafts remain vibration free.

 

[CO2Ranger]

Well I just looked at my drive shaft Phase and its way off..
anyone else see this. Can I pull it apart and try and line it up better?

The out of phase is a feature not a bug according to Ford.

This is long but worth a watch:

 

[2021Ranger]

Well I had enough trying to figure out this with all the shimming and it out of phase and was built like that..Ford don’t give a crap about it..
I ordered a shaft from Tom Woods and will have it next week..Can’t wait…..

 

[SID]

Well I had enough trying to figure out this with all the shimming and it out of phase and was built like that..Ford don’t give a crap about it..
I ordered a shaft from Tom Woods and will have it next week..Can’t wait…..

PLEASE LET US KNOW THE RESULTS

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