One Piece Driveshaft

[2021Ranger]

Well my OT came threw and ordered a shaft from Tom Woods and received it yesterday and had it in in 45 min..
What a difference, no more shutter at acceleration from a stop and smooth as it can possibly be at 75mph..honestly it’s like a different truck.. Money well spent for sure.
‘They say it’s designed that way but explain why the factory shaft is out of phase?
Any one on the fence about the one piece shaft it’s money we’ll spent and you won’t be disappointed..
‘Thanks Tom Woods for the time spent to design this.

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[Superspirit]

I finally decided to try this, recieved mine Tuesday and installed it yesterday. Definitely seems to have made the truck feel better. Only had time for a short drive yesterday so need more time for a full evaluation.

 

[Rotortech]

Just a quick hello and story about my personal experience on going to a Tom Woods driveshaft. My wife and I live in Oregon. She's been a grade school teacher for 25 years, and I've been an aircraft mechanic for 26 years. I'm making my first post, and joined specifically to comment on this subject. This will be a long story, but hopefully one with some useful information for someone, or if nothing else, an interesting morning coffee read!

My 2021 XLT Ranger with FX4 package has had the very noticeable takeoff shutter since it was new, as well as a minor droning vibration at 45 mph, and again at 60 mph. I knew the takeoff shutter was the driveshaft, but assumed the vibes at speed was tires, or something else. The main thing I wanted fixed was the shutter, the vibes at speed were very minor, and didn't bother me.

I ordered and installed a Tom Woods shaft in early March. The shutter was immediately fixed, but I was distraught to find that it actually caused my 45 mph and 60 mph droning vibe to become much worse. What I should have done was call Tom Woods right then, but I didn't want to blame the new driveshaft itself. I was convinced it was an issue with operating angles. So as time allowed between work days, I spent the next few weeks trying to figure this out.

I tired everything I could think of, swapping the driveshaft front to back, re-indexing the mounting location of the flanges in all four positions, shimming the rear pinion angle so the rear pinion flange was on the same plane as the transfer case flange, making the u-joint operating angles match, but nothing had any effect. I even examined the mounting adapter plate trying to find an issue, but it fit the transfer case flange perfectly. I finally decided that it was a failed experiment, and re-installed the stock driveshaft.

I was really bummed out. Why has everyone else had such good luck? Why does my luck suck like this? Why can't things for once just work out? But here's where things started to get better...

I called Tom Woods, planning to get a refund and prepare my return shipment. I spoke with Shawn personally, and let me tell anyone who has never spoken with him, the guy is a class act. He probably spent 20 or 30 minutes on the phone with me discussing this issue, and I never felt like a random customer, talking to this guy is like talking to a buddy at a BBQ, his customer service is top notch. We went over everything I had tried, and he finally suggested to return the shaft, and he would personally put it back on the balance machine and look for an issue. Shawn said he would call me with the results...

I really didn't now what to expect at this point, it's a busy company, and I know I'm just one customer who purchased a product that's far from one of their money makers, but sure enough, he called back several days later. What he found was a driveshaft with no visual damage of any kind, but when he ran it up on the machine, the balance / runout was so bad, he could hardly make his target RPM. They found what he thought was an improperly manufactured slip yoke, replaced it, rebalanced, and completely fixed the issue.

At this point, Shawn gave me an option. I could go ahead with my refund, or give it another try. I thought, why not give it another shot? So I had him send it back. He hold me if it fixed the issue, he would refund my return shipping. (Which he did...)

I reinstalled my newly repaired driveshaft, that by the way, now had noticeable fewer and smaller balance weights on it. I was extremely happy to find that when I reached 45 mph, not only was the excessive vibration gone, but the minor original vibration that was there since new was gone as well. The truck was now smooth from 0 to 95 mph. (Tested on a closed course, by a professional driver, do not attempt.) And for good measure, since I still had my 2 degree axle shims, I re-installed them to make the operating angles perfect. I'm just OCD about that stuff.

Thank you Shawn, for being an absolute class act and professional, in an world where customer service seems to be something you have to go searching for. Sorry for the incredibly long write up, hopefully someone will read it to the end and enjoyed it.

 

[TJC]

TW is a class act. They are honest. They deliver. Simple as that.

Congrats on a new smooth ride. Welcome to the club of smooth cruising Rangers!

Tom Wood's Driveshaft - Where Quality is Job One!

 

[AzScorpion]

Just a quick hello and story about my personal experience on going to a Tom Woods driveshaft. My wife and I live in Oregon. She's been a grade school teacher for 25 years, and I've been an aircraft mechanic for 26 years. I'm making my first post, and joined specifically to comment on this subject. This will be a long story, but hopefully one with some useful information for someone, or if nothing else, an interesting morning coffee read!

My 2021 XLT Ranger with FX4 package has had the very noticeable takeoff shutter since it was new, as well as a minor droning vibration at 45 mph, and again at 60 mph. I knew the takeoff shutter was the driveshaft, but assumed the vibes at speed was tires, or something else. The main thing I wanted fixed was the shutter, the vibes at speed were very minor, and didn't bother me.

I ordered and installed a Tom Woods shaft in early March. The shutter was immediately fixed, but I was distraught to find that it actually caused my 45 mph and 60 mph droning vibe to become much worse. What I should have done was call Tom Woods right then, but I didn't want to blame the new driveshaft itself. I was convinced it was an issue with operating angles. So as time allowed between work days, I spent the next few weeks trying to figure this out.

I tired everything I could think of, swapping the driveshaft front to back, re-indexing the mounting location of the flanges in all four positions, shimming the rear pinion angle so the rear pinion flange was on the same plane as the transfer case flange, making the u-joint operating angles match, but nothing had any effect. I even examined the mounting adapter plate trying to find an issue, but it fit the transfer case flange perfectly. I finally decided that it was a failed experiment, and re-installed the stock driveshaft.

I was really bummed out. Why has everyone else had such good luck? Why does my luck suck like this? Why can't things for once just work out? But here's where things started to get better...

I called Tom Woods, planning to get a refund and prepare my return shipment. I spoke with Shawn personally, and let me tell anyone who has never spoken with him, the guy is a class act. He probably spent 20 or 30 minutes on the phone with me discussing this issue, and I never felt like a random customer, talking to this guy is like talking to a buddy at a BBQ, his customer service is top notch. We went over everything I had tried, and he finally suggested to return the shaft, and he would personally put it back on the balance machine and look for an issue. Shawn said he would call me with the results...

I really didn't now what to expect at this point, it's a busy company, and I know I'm just one customer who purchased a product that's far from one of their money makers, but sure enough, he called back several days later. What he found was a driveshaft with no visual damage of any kind, but when he ran it up on the machine, the balance / runout was so bad, he could hardly make his target RPM. They found what he thought was an improperly manufactured slip yoke, replaced it, rebalanced, and completely fixed the issue.

At this point, Shawn gave me an option. I could go ahead with my refund, or give it another try. I thought, why not give it another shot? So I had him send it back. He hold me if it fixed the issue, he would refund my return shipping. (Which he did...)

I reinstalled my newly repaired driveshaft, that by the way, now had noticeable fewer and smaller balance weights on it. I was extremely happy to find that when I reached 45 mph, not only was the excessive vibration gone, but the minor original vibration that was there since new was gone as well. The truck was now smooth from 0 to 95 mph. (Tested on a closed course, by a professional driver, do not attempt.) And for good measure, since I still had my 2 degree axle shims, I re-installed them to make the operating angles perfect. I'm just OCD about that stuff.

Thank you Shawn, for being an absolute class act and professional, in an world where customer service seems to be something you have to go searching for. Sorry for the incredibly long write up, hopefully someone will read it to the end and enjoyed it.

TW is a class act. They are honest. They deliver. Simple as that.

Congrats on a new smooth ride. Welcome to the club of smooth cruising Rangers!

Tom Wood's Driveshaft - Where Quality is Job One!

This is great news and glad to hear it fixed both your problems.

Now this is how every company should operate. Stand behind their customers and go out of their way to look for and fix a problem. Even the best can make a mistake it's how you handle it that counts.

 

[JohnnyO]

Looking over these driveshaft issues, has anyone just taken their 2 piece shaft into a driveline specialty shop and had it rebalanced? I know the Ford shops near me don't have driveshaft balancers, if they have a driveshaft issue, they just replace it. It really seems to me that ford might have a systematic problem with the driveshaft not being properly balanced from their supplier. Looking at the shaft under my truck currently, I really doubt that they either balanced it poperly as a unit, or that the person doing it really understood how to do it. All my weights are at the transmission/pinion end and their size and placement are also suspect.

I think having one of the 'vibrating' shafts thrown on a balance table as a unit, and have the balance checked along with runout readings taken would probably be quite instructive.

I've thought about trying that first. Most large cities have a driveshaft shop or two because heavy duty delivery trucks need frequent driveshaft service.
I'm thinking my vibration is from the rear shocks though since it's worse on some roads than others.

 

[Tremors]

Just a quick hello and story about my personal experience on going to a Tom Woods driveshaft. My wife and I live in Oregon. She's been a grade school teacher for 25 years, and I've been an aircraft mechanic for 26 years. I'm making my first post, and joined specifically to comment on this subject. This will be a long story, but hopefully one with some useful information for someone, or if nothing else, an interesting morning coffee read!

My 2021 XLT Ranger with FX4 package has had the very noticeable takeoff shutter since it was new, as well as a minor droning vibration at 45 mph, and again at 60 mph. I knew the takeoff shutter was the driveshaft, but assumed the vibes at speed was tires, or something else. The main thing I wanted fixed was the shutter, the vibes at speed were very minor, and didn't bother me.

I ordered and installed a Tom Woods shaft in early March. The shutter was immediately fixed, but I was distraught to find that it actually caused my 45 mph and 60 mph droning vibe to become much worse. What I should have done was call Tom Woods right then, but I didn't want to blame the new driveshaft itself. I was convinced it was an issue with operating angles. So as time allowed between work days, I spent the next few weeks trying to figure this out.

I tired everything I could think of, swapping the driveshaft front to back, re-indexing the mounting location of the flanges in all four positions, shimming the rear pinion angle so the rear pinion flange was on the same plane as the transfer case flange, making the u-joint operating angles match, but nothing had any effect. I even examined the mounting adapter plate trying to find an issue, but it fit the transfer case flange perfectly. I finally decided that it was a failed experiment, and re-installed the stock driveshaft.

I was really bummed out. Why has everyone else had such good luck? Why does my luck suck like this? Why can't things for once just work out? But here's where things started to get better...

I called Tom Woods, planning to get a refund and prepare my return shipment. I spoke with Shawn personally, and let me tell anyone who has never spoken with him, the guy is a class act. He probably spent 20 or 30 minutes on the phone with me discussing this issue, and I never felt like a random customer, talking to this guy is like talking to a buddy at a BBQ, his customer service is top notch. We went over everything I had tried, and he finally suggested to return the shaft, and he would personally put it back on the balance machine and look for an issue. Shawn said he would call me with the results...

I really didn't now what to expect at this point, it's a busy company, and I know I'm just one customer who purchased a product that's far from one of their money makers, but sure enough, he called back several days later. What he found was a driveshaft with no visual damage of any kind, but when he ran it up on the machine, the balance / runout was so bad, he could hardly make his target RPM. They found what he thought was an improperly manufactured slip yoke, replaced it, rebalanced, and completely fixed the issue.

At this point, Shawn gave me an option. I could go ahead with my refund, or give it another try. I thought, why not give it another shot? So I had him send it back. He hold me if it fixed the issue, he would refund my return shipping. (Which he did...)

I reinstalled my newly repaired driveshaft, that by the way, now had noticeable fewer and smaller balance weights on it. I was extremely happy to find that when I reached 45 mph, not only was the excessive vibration gone, but the minor original vibration that was there since new was gone as well. The truck was now smooth from 0 to 95 mph. (Tested on a closed course, by a professional driver, do not attempt.) And for good measure, since I still had my 2 degree axle shims, I re-installed them to make the operating angles perfect. I'm just OCD about that stuff.

Thank you Shawn, for being an absolute class act and professional, in an world where customer service seems to be something you have to go searching for. Sorry for the incredibly long write up, hopefully someone will read it to the end and enjoyed it.

Thanks for sharing. Good thing you sent it back and they found it was faulty. Did your new driveshaft fix your droning sound at higher speed? I have the take off shutter and I had a droning sound that started around d 45 mph. I took it to the dealer and they ended up rebuilding the rear differential which fixed the droning sound for me. I still have the take off shutter but it is much better. My truck had no issues when I first bought it then I put a 2.5" lift on it. I will probably have to replace the driveshaft too.

 

[Rotortech]

Thanks for sharing. Good thing you sent it back and they found it was faulty. Did your new driveshaft fix your droning sound at higher speed? I have the take off shutter and I had a droning sound that started around d 45 mph. I took it to the dealer and they ended up rebuilding the rear differential which fixed the droning sound for me. I still have the take off shutter but it is much better. My truck had no issues when I first bought it then I put a 2.5" lift on it. I will probably have to replace the driveshaft too.

I never really had a droning "sound" so to speak, but rather a slight droning vibration felt in the seat and floor. I couldn't hear it. It did that since new, but it was mild, and I assumed it was tires. But to answer your question, yes, the one piece driveshaft resolved that vibe at all speeds. It was a nice bonus, because I didn't expect that, I only wanted the shutter fixed, which the one piece certainly fixed as well.

 

[COblue]

Apologies if I missed something in this thread, but I have a question about measuring the driveshaft length.

I have a Fox 2.0 kit (2"lift) on and am planning on an OME leaf spring replacement and differential drop (to compensate for the 2" lift). If I add the differential drop and leaf spring lift after the one piece driveshaft, will that cause any issues? Should I plan for the diff drop & leads before the driveshaft? Thanks for helping a noob out ?

Edit: I see the lift calculator posted previously, but still not sure how that relates to raising only the back end.

 

[CO2Ranger]

Apologies if I missed something in this thread, but I have a question about measuring the driveshaft length.

I have a Fox 2.0 kit (2"lift) on and am planning on an OME leaf spring replacement and differential drop (to compensate for the 2" lift). If I add the differential drop and leaf spring lift after the one piece driveshaft, will that cause any issues? Should I plan for the diff drop & leads before the driveshaft? Thanks for helping a noob out ?

Edit: I see the lift calculator posted previously, but still not sure how that relates to raising only the back end.

It won't matter. The slip yoke is quite a bit deeper on the TW and the slight shift in angles based on new springs isn't going to change much on the DS side.

 

[RangerPNW]

So can anyone confirm if i'm a good candidate for a one piece shaft? I've never had any of the take off shudder, but at 80 mph I get a vibration from the rear that i have to assume is the drive shaft. I've had the tires rebalanced, and the shake comes back every time i hit around 80. Its not always super consistent, sometimes it'll shake, others it'll calm down (seems to depend if i'm under more load or not). Its one of my biggest complaints with this truck, as all highways here are 75+ so this shake kind of ruins it for me.

 

[Rotortech]

So can anyone confirm if i'm a good candidate for a one piece shaft? I've never had any of the take off shudder, but at 80 mph I get a vibration from the rear that i have to assume is the drive shaft. I've had the tires rebalanced, and the shake comes back every time i hit around 80. Its not always super consistent, sometimes it'll shake, others it'll calm down (seems to depend if i'm under more load or not). Its one of my biggest complaints with this truck, as all highways here are 75+ so this shake kind of ruins it for me.

If I were you, I'd try a couple of experiments first, before I spent the $700. You can try the hose clamp trick. Grab two or three worm gear style hose clamps, and position them around the driveshaft to either create an imbalance, or a better balance situation. Either way, I'd be looking to affect the vibration you're feeling. If you affect it, whether making it better or worse, that may help you at least determine if it's coming from the driveshaft.

Another thing you can try is to grab a small piece of 1/4 inch ID fuel line, maybe 4 inches long, and stuff it into the small gap in the driveshaft center support bearing. This is something I did to stiffen the center bearing while I was troubleshooting my takeoff shudder.

Either of these experiments are nice and cheap, and will only cost you a few bucks and some time. The Tom Woods shaft is basically a sure fix for the shudder, but vibes at speed can be a different animal.

 

[RangerPNW]

If I were you, I'd try a couple of experiments first, before I spent the $700. You can try the hose clamp trick. Grab two or three worm gear style hose clamps, and position them around the driveshaft to either create an imbalance, or a better balance situation. Either way, I'd be looking to affect the vibration you're feeling. If you affect it, whether making it better or worse, that may help you at least determine if it's coming from the driveshaft.

Another thing you can try is to grab a small piece of 1/4 inch ID fuel line, maybe 4 inches long, and stuff it into the small gap in the driveshaft center support bearing. This is something I did to stiffen the center bearing while I was troubleshooting my takeoff shudder.

Either of these experiments are nice and cheap, and will only cost you a few bucks and some time. The Tom Woods shaft is basically a sure fix for the shudder, but vibes at speed can be a different animal.

Thanks for the suggestion, i'll give it a shot. Yeah the vibration is my biggest issue with this truck, and honestly has me strongly considering trading it in next year (hopefully interest rates will improve by then).

 

[TJC]

So can anyone confirm if i'm a good candidate for a one piece shaft? I've never had any of the take off shudder, but at 80 mph I get a vibration from the rear that i have to assume is the drive shaft. I've had the tires rebalanced, and the shake comes back every time i hit around 80. Its not always super consistent, sometimes it'll shake, others it'll calm down (seems to depend if i'm under more load or not). Its one of my biggest complaints with this truck, as all highways here are 75+ so this shake kind of ruins it for me.

I had the shudder and >75mph shake. The higher the speed the more violent the shake. The TW Driveshaft cured both.

I can't speak for anyone else, just my experience. The best upgrade that I have made to my Ranger. TW Driveshaft is a very honorable and professional company. You can trust them.

I believe TW offers a refund if it doesn't correct your problem. Call them to validate it. I found the refund policy and contact info.

Refund policy

Contact info

 

[Colo_Ranger]

Can anyone who ordered the driveshaft throw in their measurements? I just want to make sure I am in the ballpark. Placed my order this evening, for a different reason than most... I broke my OE driveshaft by dropping it.

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