Driveline Vibration Issue & Fix: Replace Rear Driveshaft

[NH Marine]

If it has been vibrating for a very long time, yes damage to the transfer case, rear carrier, etc might be a cause for concern but the vibration would have to be extremely violent for it to cause damage on anything new or low mileage. Output seals and pinion seals would be the first sign there might be more damage as they'd be the first thing to fail.

JayTech, Thanks for your posting. I brought it to my service manager and he agreed to remove the driveshaft and test it as you described. Gonna happen next week. I'll let you know how it goes!

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[Yotota]

@JayTech, I have a question for you:

My truck was perfectly good and smooth for 14mo and 9700mi, then the vibration/shaking/shudder very suddenly began from one day to the next.

On the trucks you've seen with driveshaft issues, where they present from day one? Or did they suddenly appear after time?

 

[JayTech]

@JayTech, I have a question for you:

My truck was perfectly good and smooth for 14mo and 9700mi, then the vibration/shaking/shudder very suddenly began from one day to the next.

On the trucks you've seen with driveshaft issues, where they present from day one? Or did they suddenly appear after time?

We had one that did not exhibit any kind of issue until it had around 30k KMs and when we inspected it, we found the rear driveshaft had deformed. So it is entirely possible to not experience any issues at first and then later find a problem.

 

[Lennyz1]

Wow, I had this issue with a Ram 1500. Right around 65 MPH it would start vibrating. once you get to 70 - 75 it was fine. Went to dealer many times and nothing could be found. I always had suspected the tires since the factory 20" tires were junk. I finally replaced the factory tires around 55,000 miles and figured I would drive down the road and no more vibration. Nope still there. I went back to the dealer and had them pull the front drive shaft and drove it. No difference. I left it there and told them that they need to find the issue. The service manager said the put it up on a lift and put it in gear and ran it up to 70 PMH on the lift and they saw the rear drive shaft was bent. WTF, how does a new vehicle come off the line with a bent or incorrectly welded drive shaft?? Dodge never warrantied the drive shaft even though complaints registered and work done trying to find the issues since I first rolled it off the lot. So this vibration issue cost me $1200.

 

[Yotota]

We had one that did not exhibit any kind of issue until it had around 30k KMs and when we inspected it, we found the rear driveshaft had deformed. So it is entirely possible to not experience any issues at first and then later find a problem.

Well damn. That's crazy. From the sounds of it, there may be a manufacturing or material defect on the rear driveshafts from Spicer.

Was the tube itself deformed? Yokes? Slip joint?

I'm slightly tempted now to try having a custom shaft made. Or re-tube an OEM shaft. If Toyota doesn't do anything for me, I may dive into that option.

 

[JayTech]

Well damn. That's crazy. From the sounds of it, there may be a manufacturing or material defect on the rear driveshafts from Spicer.

Was the tube itself deformed? Yokes? Slip joint?

I'm slightly tempted now to try having a custom shaft made. Or re-tube an OEM shaft. If Toyota doesn't do anything for me, I may dive into that option.

Not exactly sure on that one. I wasn't involved in that one but it says the driveshaft was warped. It also wasn't the exact same complaint. The ones we have now were for driveline vibration. That one was making clunking noises and rotational noise when in 4WD.

 

[Yotota]

Not exactly sure on that one. I wasn't involved in that one but it says the driveshaft was warped. It also wasn't the exact same complaint. The ones we have now were for driveline vibration. That one was making clunking noises and rotational noise when in 4WD.

Gotcha. So the truck with issues that developed at 30k km was a different issue?

A truck with driveshaft issues from day one makes sense.

My quirk is that I had zero issues, then from one day to the next my truck developed the shaking/shudder. It's hard for me to fathom how or why a driveshaft would cause that (short of a material failure from fatigue).

 

[JayTech]

Gotcha. So the truck with issues that developed at 30k km was a different issue?

A truck with driveshaft issues from day one makes sense.

My quirk is that I had zero issues, then from one day to the next my truck developed the shaking/shudder. It's hard for me to fathom how or why a driveshaft would cause that (short of a material failure from fatigue).

It might be a separate issue but it also could have started as a vibration and eventually got worse depending on what is actually failing on these shafts. I was not involved with that one so I do not know all the details of that particular case. Unfortunately we do not have the equipment here to properly inspect the driveshaft because I would love to dig into this and find out what exactly is going on. I can't really send it out to a driveline shop incase Toyota asks for the part back. I am still hopeful Toyota will look into this to get to the bottom of what is causing this problem. Whether its a TSB, WEP, or service campaign(essentially a voluntary recall for non safety related issues).

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