I removed it and drove with just the rear shaft and it was fine, which led me to believe it was definitely the front shaft. Do need to upgrade to HD steering at some point, however.
2003 Land Rover Discovery 2 Build
- Thread starter disco_unchained
- Start date
@Tinker - pulled the Tom woods tonight and put the stock one back on (had previously been upgraded to have serviceable u-joints before I got the truck). Vibration gone. Spoke to the guys at Tom woods today and they’ll ship it back and rebalance it at no charge. Good service. Wish it was balanced the first time, but good service.My first thought is to look over it closely to see if there are any bare/oddly painted spots of a roughly quarter sized coin shape. The shafts I've ordered from them have all had little coin sized steel balance weights (seen below, pair in the foreground) held on with a pair of fat tack welds... and I've often wondered how much it would take to knock one off if the weld didn't penetrate for whatever reason, whether by trail impact or even just a rather rough shipping to someone. Also may be worth mentioning that having a shaft balanced at a drivetrain shop is inexpensive, or at least it has been in my experience. But then I suppose it depends how near you are to such a shop.
Off-Road Ranger I
Bummer that you have to redo the install, but that is good to hear they're making it right! Still torn myself whether to have a local shop customize my old shafts (since the front & rear are now the same length) or have a big shop like Tom's make me some from scratch.
You might try Bill over at GReat basin rovers in Utah. Spoke to him today and he seems like a great guy that knows his stuff cold. I’m actually now considering seeing if can return the Tom woods one or sell it on eBay instead of balancing it and get one of the GBR ones.
All of my Rovers use GBR driveshafts (and halfshafts) never had a problem and I abuse them regularly without fail as long as I maintain them. Highly recommend them!
Back to the fountain of knowledge:
Given I have a 2” lift (that appears to be giving a generous 2”), is there any chance I’d need caster corrected radius arms to adjust the pinion angle to eliminate drive shaft vibration?
Second, are the corrected radius arms recommended with a 2” lift in general?
Given I have a 2” lift (that appears to be giving a generous 2”), is there any chance I’d need caster corrected radius arms to adjust the pinion angle to eliminate drive shaft vibration?
Second, are the corrected radius arms recommended with a 2” lift in general?
The vibration debugging continues!
I sent the front drive shaft back to Tom Woods. Drove around without it for a week or so and had no vibrations. They say there was some play in the CV ball and some damage on the trunions of the joints in the CV. They changed our the CV socket flange, CV center housing and both joints in the CV.
I got it back, put it on, and it vibrates still.
Since that time, I've put in new HD steering rods and new HD panhard rod, and gotten an alignment done. Still vibrates over 30mph and vibration ceases when letting off the gas.
Any other pointers out there? I'm stuck. Doesn't make sense that it stops vibrating when I take the shaft off, if the shaft is ok. Maybe I'll take it down to an independent shop and have the balance checked as a last resort.
I sent the front drive shaft back to Tom Woods. Drove around without it for a week or so and had no vibrations. They say there was some play in the CV ball and some damage on the trunions of the joints in the CV. They changed our the CV socket flange, CV center housing and both joints in the CV.
I got it back, put it on, and it vibrates still.
Since that time, I've put in new HD steering rods and new HD panhard rod, and gotten an alignment done. Still vibrates over 30mph and vibration ceases when letting off the gas.
Any other pointers out there? I'm stuck. Doesn't make sense that it stops vibrating when I take the shaft off, if the shaft is ok. Maybe I'll take it down to an independent shop and have the balance checked as a last resort.
Off-Road Ranger I
I'd be surprised if the vibration was due in part to the radius arms (unless the bushings are extra wrecked...?) because I've not done anything yet to my pinion angle with a 4" lift that when measured after the fact was more than 5" installed.
Personally I would go the route it sounds like you're going wherein you get a second opinion on that front driveshaft's balance. I do hope you find it's some small overlooked thing involving that.
I hope it's not the case, but I think it may be worth checking the play in both the transfer case's front output bearing & the front axles input/pinion bearing. Have you by chance had any oil leakage from either seal of those 2 points...?
No leakage from either. I changed the front diff fluid recently and haven’t had any leaks. I also put a 2004 front output housing on a few months back (to get the CDL) and drained and filled the transfer case as part of that. No leaks from that new seal.
Haven’t had a chance to get the front driveshaft double checked, but while I have you - any chance it’s a bad front output housing (or bearings within) I put on there? Would that still vibrate with the front drive shaft off if so? (It doesn’t)
Thank you @Tinker!
Off-Road Ranger I
No weeping from either is a good sign, but yes it certainly could involve that new housing. A worn bearing on either the diff or transfer-case ends of a driveshaft connection can have you "chasing your tail" for a frustrating amount of time. It would not vibrate without the load on the bearing via a connected driveshaft, & with a driveshaft connected it should vibrate much more under acceleration then cruising or braking (which it sounds like perhaps it's doing).
Thank you. I’ll do the driveshaft second opinion when I get back in town and hope that’s the issue. If not, might be time to go through the painful process of taking that housing off. Will report back, ideally with some good news.
Good luck with Nanuuq!
In my favorite experience with this truck so far, I found a driveshaft specialist that runs a shop out of his garage. Nights only. In San Francisco. That’s not normal around here. And it was awesome. Got my driveshaft dialed in and about 90% of my vibration is gone. I think at some point I’ll need to remove and replace the front output bearing to get rid of the rest, but I’ll save that for a few weekends from now and be happy with the the results after all the trials and tribulations with this shaft.
Thanks @Tinker - May hit you up when I do get around to replacing this front bearing!
Off-Road Ranger I
When I see shops like that, regardless of what it is they work on... can't help but think "Ohhhh okay I'm in the right place."
Glad to hear you worked out most those bad vibes!
Glad to hear you worked out most those bad vibes!
Off-Road Ranger I
