One Piece Driveshaft

[navsnipe]

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

Stock height 2020 Ranger Lariat FX4. Woods one piece driveshaft was the fix for mine. It's been on for about 1500 miles now with great results. The only changes from stock I made was at 2000 miles I put Eibach Pro Truck rear shocks and around 20,000 miles Eibach Pro Truck front shocks with stock springs. My truck has just under 24,000 miles now. Had the take-off shudder from day one and TSB 20-2277 applied with no success. The one-piece has been the solution for my Ranger. It makes for a relatively smooth drive line at all speeds.

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[WNCblueridge]

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

My stock 21 XL had excessive vibes from new day 1. Most noticeable at speeds above 60mph. Ford techs not helpful stating "normal" and 3 local dealers had no NVS tools to help identify problem. Since then I installed 2.5" Rough Country lift on front and aftermarket wheels sized up to 17". Excessive vibes seemed to stay the same (not better or worse) since those modifications. Had 2 separate force wheel alignments done and the last alignment helped a little but vibes continue at speeds over 60mph. It's hard to duplicate sometimes, as it can also be butter smooth. But when they do occur, the entire cab shakes like a mofo. Truck now has 15k miles. Love the truck however will have to trade her in for something that I can actually drive without making passengers sick from the ride

 

[TJC]

2020 XLT 4x4 Sport with Locker rear, Eibach rear shocks (the fronts are in the garage waiting to be installed this winter - staying with stock or near stock height ). Shudder from day of delivery....<=20mph (moderate shudder) and >=75 mph (earthquake!).

TW solid driveshaft corrected the issue - 100% gone.

 

[Tremors]

I had no vibes on my 22 fx4 at any speed until I put a 2.5" lift on it. Now I have vibes from 0 to 20 mph. And now the driveshaft whines when I'm at over 50 mph and take my foot off the gas

 

[Shawn at Tom Wood's]

I stumbled upon an interesting and funny video today. Not Ranger specific but it is regarding a recall on some other ford shafts. Enjoy.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

Maybe, but changing the angle on mine seems to have cured 75 % of it , when I take the shim out and the shaft drops down in the carrier it is far worse than when I have it centered...

Any progress towards a fix?

 

[TJC]

Any progress towards a fix?

Dinking with it trying to find the sweet spot must be exhausting.

I hate going through that process. And I suffered through a lot of those experiences with my 2005 Ranger rebuild. The little things that make the truck enjoyable and reliable that were subpar, were driving me crazy until I figured them out.

The shop that did the work had no idea how to address the list of problems I presented them. I finally gave up on them and targeted each issue one at a time. Took me months of tinkering to get to the bottom of all of them. The last two issues were Injector problems and vibration.

I knew I had at least one stuck injector due to the fact that I lost fuel pressure when I let the truck sit overnight. It would be very hard to start unless I let the fuel pump run before attempting to start, and on top of that and I also had poor fuel economy. Fuel mileage is already poor in a good running 2005 4.0 v6 4x4 Ranger (18mpg in town) so I had to correct it.

I thought maybe the dirty injector(s) were also causing the vibration, as it only happened off throttle, and I figured gas was still making its way into the cylinder causing a misfire. When I finally cured the injector issue, the vibration was still there. The last possibility was the driveshaft. And replacing it with a Dorman Aluminum shaft did the trick. It is good as gold now! Tha driveshft cost me almost as much as the TW Driveshaft for the 2020 Ranger. Both Rangers run and drive perfect now.

I have since read from Ford literature that if the driveshaft is dropped it must be replaced. I figure that the shop probably man handled the original driveshaft when the engine / transmission were replaced, as the problem did not exist prior to the transplant. And there are 2 large black scars about 2' long running down the side of the driveshaft that should not be there!

- T

 

[landiscarrier]

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.

Any deals on those returned drive shafts??? LOL I had to ask!

 

[CO2Ranger]

Alright. I did it. I placed my order. I'll shoot another video and report back when I get the shaft. Hoping for good things. ?

 

[NotBudule]

Any progress towards a fix?

Some , im slowly being nicer to the wifey as to soften the blow when eventually comes , if i get too nice too fast , she will be on to me... i have been driving it stock for a while trying to "'pinpoint" the bad spots , but they seam to move around on me , im going back under with half of the shim that i have been grinding on here and there ...we had a little cold spell and i havent felt like wallowing my ass back under there ...

 

[TJC]

i have been driving it stock for a while trying to "'pinpoint" the bad spots, but they seam to move around on me

I observed the same from 0-20mph speeding up and slowing down, esp when it downshifted. But >=75mph was definable / repeatable.

 

[TJC]

I just discovered the top speed of the Ranger to be 109mph. I created a Chart using the Spicer Driveshaft Critical Speed Calculator comparing the Tom Woods driveshaft with 3 RPM limits with speeds up to 120mph - this is top speed plus 10%. It has been mentioned on several occasions that Ford must build Driveshaft to exceed the top speed of the truck by 10%-15%.

• 4000 rpm - The limit that was set by Tom Woods Driveshaft to insure a safety margin
• 4152 rpm - the "Critical Speed" Result of the Spicer Calculator
• 5910 rpm - 50% of "True Critical Speed" results doubled, with 20% removed for a safety margin. The calculator reported 3694 rpm.

I then ran the calculator with the Ford 2 Piece Driveshaft specs using the identical parameters and process.

• 3092 rpm - the "Critical Speed" Result of the Spicer Calculator
• 4402 rpm - 50% of "True Critical Speed" results doubled, with 20% removed for a safety margin. The calculator reported 2751 rpm.

These speeds were all derived from the Spicer Calculator, and both driveshafts appeared not to meet the criteria that Phil reported that Ford uses to determine safety. When I calculated using the 1/2 True critical speed result, the Tom Woods Driveshaft was at 84% of True critical speed of 120 mph with a 20% safety margin.

The Ford Driveshaft was at 113% at 120mph and at 99.4% at 105mph with a 20% safety margin. The Ford driveshaft consists if two parts, a 2.5" front shaft and a 3.5" rear shaft. I selected a 3" shaft as Spicer did not allow for entering each section separately. I also selected 1330 u-joints.

The Tom Wood Driveshaft was 4" with 1350 u-joints. Both 60" long (this may be a little short, but it was short for both driveshafts.)

The Stock driveshaft under performed the Tom Woods driveshaft by 25.6% according to the Spicer calculator.

Please double check my math. The chart below shows the details. I do not claim expertise in this area, I simply used the tool to derive data that is relative.... Even if the calculator is flawed, the results are relative. The same measurement criteria was used on both driveshafts, According to Spicer the Tom Woods Driveshaft is a more robust product.

For the record, my Ford 2 piece driveshaft was manufactured by Spicer.

- T
* Edited to correct typo

 

[Fitzmotor]

That's a lot of work to calculate all of that data, if those numbers are correct, that makes me want to replace the Ford shaft.

I only have a vibration when I have weight in the bed, it vibrated unloaded before I put in pinon shims, I might have already bought a one piece shaft but was concerned about about Wood's not recommending their shaft for higher speeds.

If anybody, or especially Shaun pops in here and validates this data that would be really cool.

TJC, thank you very much!!

 

[D Fresh]

I just discovered the top speed of the Ranger to be 109mph. I created a Chart using the Spicer Driveshaft Critical Speed Calculator comparing the Tom Woods driveshaft with 3 RPM limits with speeds up to 120mph - this is top speed plus 10%. It has been mentioned on several occasions that Ford must build Driveshaft to exceed the top speed of the truck by 10%-15%.

• 4000 rpm - The limit that was set by Tom Woods Driveshaft to insure a safety margin
• 4152 rpm - the "Critical Speed" Result of the Spicer Calculator
• 5910 rpm - 50% of "True Critical Speed" results doubled, with 20% removed for a safety margin. The calculator reported 3694 rpm.

I then ran the calculator with the Ford 2 Piece Driveshaft specs using the identical parameters and process.

• 3092 rpm - the "Critical Speed" Result of the Spicer Calculator
• 4402 rpm - 50% of "True Critical Speed" results doubled, with 20% removed for a safety margin. The calculator reported 2751 rpm.

These speeds were all derived from the Spicer Calculator, and both driveshafts appeared not to meet the criteria that Phil reported that Ford uses to determine safety. When I calculated using the 1/2 True critical speed result, the Tom Woods Driveshaft was at 84% of True critical speed of 120 mph with a 20% safety margin.

The Ford Driveshaft was at 113% at 120mph and at 99.4% at 105mph with a 20% safety margin. The Ford driveshaft consists if two parts, a 2.5" front shaft and a 3.5" rear shaft. I selected a 3" shaft as Spicer did not allow for entering each section separately. I also selected 1330 u-joints.

The Tom Wood Driveshaft was 4" with 1350 u-joints. Both 60" long (this may be a little short, but it was short for both driveshafts.)

The Stock driveshaft under performed the Tom Woods driveshaft by 25.6% according to the Spicer calculator.

Please double check my math. The chart below shows the details. I do not claim expertise in this area, I simply used the tool to derive data that is relative.... Even if the calculator is flawed, the results are relative. The same measurement criteria was used on both driveshafts, According to Spicer the Tom Woods Driveshaft is a more robust product.

For the record, my Ford 2 piece driveshaft was manufactured by Spicer.

View attachment 160828

- T

This makes sense considering the truck is factory speed limited to 110.

Those folks with tuners that disable this governor might wanna take note.

 

[CO2Ranger]

Single piece is installed. Smooth as a baby's ass.

Around town:


Getting on and off the highway:


The highway video may or may not contain speeds up to 105mph. At that point I'm more concerned about my tires than the driveshaft and I'd never go that fast anyway.

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