It’s done. One piece driveshaft!

[VegasRanger]

I think people's concerns here are legitimate. This driveline shop did clearly tell me, I am only the second ranger in his shop to get this done and that its not 100 percent fool proof. He's going by his 25 years experience, but there are still some unknowns. I also worked closely with Tom Woods who does top notch work, they are in the final stages of making a one piece. They were having the same issues are far as not having the flanges for these and I helped them track them down and now they can speed up the process. In talking with Tom Woods, his one piece for this truck would be identical to what this driveline shop has made for me, so that made me confident as well. Although he did say they may decide to go with a 4" tube.

Also keep in mind, that Tom Woods has been making a one piece drive shaft for the Tacoma's for a while now. I asked for the specs, and they are nearly identical to the Rangers. They are shorter by maybe an inch or two. He has sold hundreds of them and has not had one fail. I am not saying with this however that there can't be problems, and I am in agreement that there's a reason why engineers went with a two piece over a one piece. I don't know. All I know is, I was tired of the vibrations.

Finally, Tom Woods and the local shop said as long as I am not sustaining constant crazy high speeds I should be fine. Time will tell. I will go back to the shop in a few months for an inspection of the shaft and components to see how it's holding up and will report back then. Hope this helps.

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[kieefer]

What are the problems with Tacoma’s to option for a aftermarket driveshaft ? Are they also two-piece shafts from the factory?

 

[VegasRanger]

What are the problems with Tacoma’s to option for a aftermarket driveshaft ? Are they also two-piece shafts from the factory?

Yes.

 

[kieefer]

Yes.

?

 

[VegasRanger]

?

Very good video actually.

 

[Big Blue]

Yes.

I would be careful saying the two piece drive shaft is the problem with the Ranger. There are many of us, me included, that have absolutely no vibration/shudder issues with our trucks. Many theories/causes/cures have been proposed. None have been proven to be the magic pill. There has been continual confusion between startup shudder and steady state vibrations. Why is this so random? Why is there no apparent correlation between stock and modified trucks? Why does the intensity seem to vary, even on the same truck?

Do not get me wrong, I have much sympathy for those of you with this issue. Thankfully I do not. Strange vibrations can be very aggravating things. The retired engineer in me has followed thes threads with great interest.

A lot of good troubleshooting has been done by many people, with occasional small success. The problem I see is vibrations can come from so many sources. Without a focused and detailed study across multiple vehicles with and without the problem, not much will improve. It is is a fighting symptoms vs identifying the problem situation. I also believe there are multiple causes for this problem. Unfortunately the actual percentage of trucks that have it not large enough and the variables between trucks is so large that Ford cannot be expected to do such a study.

Finally this means the current "shotgun" approach to solving this is as good as it gets. Try things and see if it helps your truck. Post your results and maybe if it doesn't work for you it may work for someone else.

Done with my lunch hour ramble now, time to get back to work. The wife's calling.

 

[VegasRanger]

Im not trying to be a dick here, although historically I am, but this is a legit question;

How do two well known driveshaft shops, in the biz for quite some time, have a hard time finding the part number for a flange on a truck thats been around a few years in north America, and I dude from the internet and a Ford forum finds it for them?

I can speak for my local shop, for them it wasn't a priority. They only had one other guy before me go in and they just used his existing flanges. They are busy as well and make a ton of money with other customers, don't think Rangers are a priority for them. As for Tom Woods, I am not sure. I am assuming it's something similar. They are a busy shop and the Ranger client base is probably low and haven't gotten enough people making a fuss to warrant too much leg work to investigate.

 

[VegasRanger]

I would be careful saying the two piece drive shaft is the problem with the Ranger. There are many of us, me included, that have absolutely no vibration/shudder issues with our trucks. Many theories/causes/cures have been proposed. None have been proven to be the magic pill. There has been continual confusion between startup shudder and steady state vibrations. Why is this so random? Why is there no apparent correlation between stock and modified trucks? Why does the intensity seem to vary, even on the same truck?

Do not get me wrong, I have much sympathy for those of you with this issue. Thankfully I do not. Strange vibrations can be very aggravating things. The retired engineer in me has followed thes threads with great interest.

A lot of good troubleshooting has been done by many people, with occasional small success. The problem I see is vibrations can come from so many sources. Without a focused and detailed study across multiple vehicles with and without the problem, not much will improve. It is is a fighting symptoms vs identifying the problem situation. I also believe there are multiple causes for this problem. Unfortunately the actual percentage of trucks that have it not large enough and the variables between trucks is so large that Ford cannot be expected to do such a study.

Finally this means the current "shotgun" approach to solving this is as good as it gets. Try things and see if it helps your truck. Post your results and maybe if it doesn't work for you it may work for someone else.

Done with my lunch hour ramble now, time to get back to work. The wife's calling.

I don't disagree with you and you probably know more about this than I do. However I will say that today I've been driving around town running errands and did some highway driving as well. The truck feels like a whole new truck. No shudder, no clunks, no vibrations. Smooth as glass. It's a joy to drive now. With the stock shaft I had all those issues, some shudder, some clunks, vibrations at highway speeds. Slight vibrations around town driving at constant speed. I had many people drive my truck to confirm it wasn't just me, and they've all felt it. There's obviously an issue, otherwise Ford wouldn't have issued a TSB.

Also, I kept my stock shaft and it's untouched. If I feel there's any issues at all, I will revert back to the stock shaft. I plan on also following up with the shop and have everything inspected. I don't plan on ending this here.

 

[Big Blue]

I don't disagree with you and you probably know more about this than I do. However I will say that today I've been driving around town running errands and did some highway driving as well. The truck feels like a whole new truck. No shudder, no clunks, no vibrations. Smooth as glass. It's a joy to drive now. With the stock shaft I had all those issues, some shudder, some clunks, vibrations at highway speeds. Slight vibrations around town driving at constant speed. I had many people drive my truck to confirm it wasn't just me, and they've all felt it. There's obviously an issue, otherwise Ford wouldn't have issued a TSB.

Also, I kept my stock shaft and it's untouched. If I feel there's any issues at all, I will revert back to the stock shaft. I plan on also following up with the shop and have everything inspected. I don't plan on ending this here.

Very glad that this worked for you.

Just saying the one piece shaft may not work for everyone. It does take many variables out of the equation though. Balancing and tuning a two piece shaft is a very complex issue. Especially taking into account the angle are always changing depending on vehicle loading.

The other thing that it think has confused this issue is people confusing or talking about different vibrations as the same thing. Take off shudder/vibration only happens starting out from a stop, last only a short time while the drive line is under load accelerating the vehicle. This is quite different than a vibration at a steady slow speed, such as driving 20-30 mph in town. Then there is the vibration you get driving on the highway at 65, 75 or 85+ mph. These are all different things caused by different issues, possibly many. As you yourself found tightening the spring U bolts helped/fixed your startup shudder.

I myself have been confused about the whole phasing issue with the rear drive shaft. As I know U joint create speed pulses as they turn. The greater the angle the bigger the pulse. That is why they are aways phased to cancel them out and input and output angles kept equal. I have to defer to the manufacturer, Spicer I believe, as apparently this is common practice in two piece drive shaft assemblies with unequal angles.

So as I said glad it is working for you and what ever is was causing your vibration.

End of ramble #2

 

[VAMike]

Speaking for myself… I am skeptical that a shop has figured out something that changes what a group of engineers couldn’t. We’re talking about a new vehicle that has been decontented over the past two years, to save pennies (rocker panel plugs), centre bed tie-downs, engine cover, centre console tray, glove box damper, owners manual holder, etc.

Ford's behavior over the past couple of years in terms of ripping value out of the trucks has certainly made me far more likely to believe that they chose a drive shaft based entirely on what was cheapest.

 

[navsnipe]

Ford's behavior over the past couple of years in terms of ripping value out of the trucks has certainly made me far more likely to believe that they chose a drive shaft based entirely on what was cheapest.

I wonder if the two piece driveshaft was already manufactured for another Ford vehicle and was easier to grab out of the bin than engineer a new one specific to the Ranger? Two piece is more expensive to make but if it was already in production it might make sense to why. Just taking a guess here.

 

[navsnipe]

What is really interesting is VegasRanger's driveshaft costs less than the kit for the TSB 20-2277 which is $520 vs $451.79 for the driveshaft.
https://parts.levittownfordparts.com/oem-parts/ford-kit-rear-axle-and-driveline-re-kb3z4c088b

 

[Jason B]

Ford's behavior over the past couple of years in terms of ripping value out of the trucks has certainly made me far more likely to believe that they chose a drive shaft based entirely on what was cheapest.

2 piece shafts wouldn't be cheaper as you need a carrier bearing and a third joint.
And Ford has been using 2 pc shafts for quite a long time. My '95 F150 had a 2pc.
I believe the 2 pc is used to decrease angles of the joints at the trans and diff by splitting into a compound angle. And as this video shows, an increased angle in the joint increases velocity changes in the shaft.
It seems that a 1 pc shaft might increase the angles of the U-joints. But as long as the angle on the joint at the trans is equal to the angle at the diff, the velocities cancel, assuming proper phasing.
Driveshaft Velocity | Spicer Garage - YouTube

Another cause of drive shaft vibration is balancing. A 2 pc is more work than a 1 pc.
And then there is phasing.
So maybe its possible that the vibration felt in OP's drive line could have been caused by poor balancing or improper phasing, or both, I don't know if those were checked on the original shaft. But I a confident that the shop that made the one pc insured proper balancing and phasing.

 

[VegasRanger]

2 piece shafts wouldn't be cheaper as you need a carrier bearing and a third joint.
And Ford has been using 2 pc shafts for quite a long time. My '95 F150 had a 2pc.
I believe the 2 pc is used to decrease angles of the joints at the trans and diff by splitting into a compound angle. And as this video shows, an increased angle in the joint increases velocity changes in the shaft.
It seems that a 1 pc shaft might increase the angles of the U-joints. But as long as the angle on the joint at the trans is equal to the angle at the diff, the velocities cancel, assuming proper phasing.
Driveshaft Velocity | Spicer Garage - YouTube

Another cause of drive shaft vibration is balancing. A 2 pc is more work than a 1 pc.
And then there is phasing.
So maybe its possible that the vibration felt in OP's drive line could have been caused by poor balancing or improper phasing, or both, I don't know if those were checked on the original shaft. But I a confident that the shop that made the one pc insured proper balancing and phasing.

I can tell you my stock shaft was riddled with weights and was not in phase. That’s for sure.

 

[navsnipe]

2 piece shafts wouldn't be cheaper as you need a carrier bearing and a third joint.
And Ford has been using 2 pc shafts for quite a long time. My '95 F150 had a 2pc.
I believe the 2 pc is used to decrease angles of the joints at the trans and diff by splitting into a compound angle. And as this video shows, an increased angle in the joint increases velocity changes in the shaft.
It seems that a 1 pc shaft might increase the angles of the U-joints. But as long as the angle on the joint at the trans is equal to the angle at the diff, the velocities cancel, assuming proper phasing.
Driveshaft Velocity | Spicer Garage - YouTube

Another cause of drive shaft vibration is balancing. A 2 pc is more work than a 1 pc.
And then there is phasing.
So maybe its possible that the vibration felt in OP's drive line could have been caused by poor balancing or improper phasing, or both, I don't know if those were checked on the original shaft. But I a confident that the shop that made the one pc insured proper balancing and phasing.

Here is a picture of a brand new 2021 F-150 Crew Cab 5 1/2 foot box. Apparently they changed things, one piece driveshaft.

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