JL JOURNAL : A BAD VIBE - Tracking Down & Fixing Driveshaft Vibrations

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
There are few things more annoying than driving a Jeep with driveline vibes - basically, a driveshaft that's vibrating. It's that oscillating hum that comes and goes and comes again like a rolling wave and one that you can almost feel in your body more than you can hear. Of course, because it can be somewhat subtle, it can also be hard to tell just how loud it really is or how quite your Jeep used to be. Over time, it can not only make you feel like a rusty nail is getting gently pounded into your skull, it can actually lead to real problems like fractures in your transfer case. In this episode of the JL JOURNAL, you'll get to see how Cindy and I tracked down and finally fixed the bad vibes we had on our Jeep JL Wrangler. We hope you enjoy.


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wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
That's awesome that you got it fixed. Stuff like that is such a PITA to track down.

Well, it's always hard when you're working with new stuff - stuff made by companies that everyone swears by. It makes you think that whatever problem you have, can't be it.
 

NFRs2000NYC

Member
A very good and very diplomatic (if you know what I mean lol) video. Very helpful as well. Its a shame too, because not everyone has a good local shop that's good with sensitive parts like ring/pinions and driveshafts, and it would be nice to rely on a reputable company to make one, but I guess that's too much to ask, not to mention, for the money they charge.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
A very good and very diplomatic (if you know what I mean lol) video. Very helpful as well. Its a shame too, because not everyone has a good local shop that's good with sensitive parts like ring/pinions and driveshafts, and it would be nice to rely on a reputable company to make one, but I guess that's too much to ask, not to mention, for the money they charge.

LOL!! Well, being that I PAID for everything, I really don't need to be diplomatic. In spite of what some choose to believe, I don't go around "bashing" businesses for no good reason. In this case, I just see no point in giving the business in question any more press than is needed.

As far as local driveline shops go, you should call around. You might be surprised at what you find.
 

Jeeeep

Member
getting stuck in the mindset of "couldn't be that, it's brand new" has also cost me aggravation and money ...

thanks for sharing and good to know that the PR44 will require a longer DS than stock :thumb:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
getting stuck in the mindset of "couldn't be that, it's brand new" has also cost me aggravation and money ...

thanks for sharing and good to know that the PR44 will require a longer DS than stock :thumb:

That really is the worst.

Glad we can help provide useful info to you :)
 

JTCO

Meme King
As far as local driveline shops go, you should call around. You might be surprised at what you find.

^So true. When I did the axle swap on mine, it already had a factory front ujoint shaft but had to be shortened 1.5 inches. A local shop did that, balanced it, replaced all ujoints with Spicers, rebuild the doublecardin joint, balanced it, and added a new slip-joint boot. And the total cost was around 150 I think. Can't remember for sure but it was definitely under 200 with out a doubt.
 

RMC2

Member
You don’t always get what you paid for. Some brands put more into the name than the quality after they have built up a good name in the past.

You got “the shaft” without the complentary reach around....or balance job. But you got it fixed and gave us some good to know info.
 

NFRs2000NYC

Member
LOL!! Well, being that I PAID for everything, I really don't need to be diplomatic. In spite of what some choose to believe, I don't go around "bashing" businesses for no good reason. In this case, I just see no point in giving the business in question any more press than is needed.

As far as local driveline shops go, you should call around. You might be surprised at what you find.

Im curious, did you call the offending company to see how they will respond, send replacement shafts, etc? While I agree with you 100% that the best customer service is one you never have to use, I always want to know if companies REALLY stand behind their products. Oddly enough, I find that a lot of the stuff I see for sale, almost no one does these days.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
You don’t always get what you paid for. Some brands put more into the name than the quality after they have built up a good name in the past.

You got “the shaft” without the complentary reach around....or balance job. But you got it fixed and gave us some good to know info.

What's frustrating is that I knew that I'd be paying a LOT more for these shafts but was okay with it being that I needed them in a hurry. I just would have hoped that for the cost, I would have gotten a quality product. All is good now now though.

Im curious, did you call the offending company to see how they will respond, send replacement shafts, etc? While I agree with you 100% that the best customer service is one you never have to use, I always want to know if companies REALLY stand behind their products. Oddly enough, I find that a lot of the stuff I see for sale, almost no one does these days.

LOL!! What you saw in the video was pretty much real time footage. As in, I wasn't sure that the problem we had was in fact a balancing issue or something that was their fault. What I knew was that I needed to get my front shaft re-tubed and doing that locally was way cheaper. The rear shaft was what really stung but I wasn't about to ship a very heavy shaft that measures over 48" to the company in question just to be out of a drive shaft for week and just to see if they'd make things right. I probably paid less to have it rebalanced locally that it would have cost me to ship it to them.

Even black shafts turn grey with age.

LOL!! Too funny.
 

doubletapdaddy

Caught the Bug
Wow, I would have expected a premium driveshaft to be damn near perfect. Mine will be on in a couple of weeks, so I guess I'll find out for myself. Hopefully I get lucky

Good video and rife with double entendre. Most memorable line:

"... six guys deep waiting to get their shafts." (10:24)
 

dixonk

Member
Wow, I would have expected a premium driveshaft to be damn near perfect. Mine will be on in a couple of weeks, so I guess I'll find out for myself. Hopefully I get lucky

Good video and rife with double entendre. Most memorable line:

"... six guys deep waiting to get their shafts." (10:24)

I caught that line too and got a real good laugh out of it.
 

jorgelrod

New member
Sorry to hijack the thread but wanted to ask on this as I'm trying to wrap my head around an issue I recently had. After basically three years having my rear axle regeared and no issues I developed a whine at 40-60 and when the shop checked it out, I had developed play in the pinion bearing causing deflection and damaged the ring and pinion. I asked the shop what they thought the problem could be since I've had that gear for 3 years with no problem before this. The tech told me it could have been a hit where the crush sleeve might have gotten crushed a bit more and developed play progressively or maybe it was not crushed correctly since it was installed (which seeing it's been 3 years I don't think that might necessarily be). Question is, could an unbalanced OEM rear driveshaft cause this? I'm just trying to play detective and try to avoid it happenning again. I might be so used to the jeep that if I have vibrations I might not realize it.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Sorry to hijack the thread but wanted to ask on this as I'm trying to wrap my head around an issue I recently had. After basically three years having my rear axle regeared and no issues I developed a whine at 40-60 and when the shop checked it out, I had developed play in the pinion bearing causing deflection and damaged the ring and pinion. I asked the shop what they thought the problem could be since I've had that gear for 3 years with no problem before this. The tech told me it could have been a hit where the crush sleeve might have gotten crushed a bit more and developed play progressively or maybe it was not crushed correctly since it was installed (which seeing it's been 3 years I don't think that might necessarily be). Question is, could an unbalanced OEM rear driveshaft cause this? I'm just trying to play detective and try to avoid it happenning again. I might be so used to the jeep that if I have vibrations I might not realize it.

Being that you had your axle re-geared, I'm gonna have to go with install error. More than likely, the original crush sleeve was reused (a lot of shops will do this) and/or too much pre-load was set. You would not notice this right away and that's probably why you went 3 years without any issues. What happens is that over time, the bearings wear out and that's what's leads to what you experienced.
 

RanchoRubi

Member
Eddie, you mentioned that you tried adjusting the pinion angle before getting the D/S fixed. Given the new PR44 install has built in caster, what pinion did you try to adjust for, even though the shaft was the cause?

I ask because just had my shaft rebuilt and balanced, but still have some vibration. I have a pr44 with 10 deg built in, pinion is at 0.

Thanks


Sent from my iPad using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

jorgelrod

New member
Being that you had your axle re-geared, I'm gonna have to go with install error. More than likely, the original crush sleeve was reused (a lot of shops will do this) and/or too much pre-load was set. You would not notice this right away and that's probably why you went 3 years without any issues. What happens is that over time, the bearings wear out and that's what's leads to what you experienced.

Thanks for the input Eddie, much appreciated!
 

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