drive shaft removal

[mylittlecj5]

I think if its installed 180* off, the U-joints could be out of phase. Probably depend on how they are installed originally.
In other words, I'm not sure on that.

 

[BajaEdition]

I have to agree about the separation on the shaft, and will say most guys are not going to take a driveshaft apart. I have though, quite a few times and just slid them together again. I raced SCTA for years and heard every folklore about just about anything on a vehicle. A well built shaft is ballanced and trued, and unless you just take it apart and lay it around somewhere, taking one off a car and putting it in without marks is not different from pulling one and putting in a new shaft.
Let me ask, if you buy a new shaft, does it come with info on which way to install it according to how the old one was taken out? nope, just which end goes to the rearend.

 

[Old Dog]

All I can say is I have taken them out without marking them, and never had any problems after putting them back in, not knowing which way they came out.

 

[TDHofstetter]

What it boils down to is this: If you take it apart... and even if you forget everything about it & come back to it a year later, put it back together so that the yokes coincide. If the front yoke runs side-to-side, make sure the rear one also runs side-to-side. Put it in & run it once.

If you don't have objectionable symptoms of driveshaft imbalance, you did it right.

If you do have objectionable symptoms of driveshaft imbalance, disconnect the rear of the driveshaft (easier to get to than the front) & rotate it 180 degrees & put it back. If that makes the imbalance problem go away, it's finished.

There's nothing magical about driveshaft timing, just make sure the yokes agree with each other. It could be either out of balance or not - if it is, it's a very easy fix.

 

[mhubacek]

Good point Bahaedition! I've taken drive shafts off before as well, and just put them back on however It was laying on my garage floor. I never noticed anything different. It wasn't until later that someone told me I needed to mark it. I then found that same recommendation in a haynes manual. I figured I just got lucky all those times. After all, it's a 50/50 chance right? Your point does make sense, when you buy a new drive shaft they don't say how it goes except for the front to rear orientation.

 

[IOPort51]

I have never lost sleep over the rear shaft but the front shaft is a POS. There is so much play in the slider that there is no way it can not be out of balance just because of the centrifugal load at the bend. I have never driven with the front engaged at more than 20 MPH for this reason. I don’t think the “phase” would even come into play. The front shaft is on my upgrade “short list” and I have never understood why it is not more of a “point of failure” than it is.

 

[TDHofstetter]

Ha! IO, you should've seen the one I had in my ol' 1980 Dodge Power Wagon... dang thing was like an ELBOW. I finally broke down & replaced it & was shocked how good the new one was - I was good for highway speeds with the axle rotating (you could sure feel it, though, & I'm sure it dogged me down to about 4mpg...).

 

[BajaEdition]

well I found a great article on driveshaft vibrations, failures and causes.
universal joints, dana spicer, drive shafts, Propeller Shafts, GWB - Machine Service, Inc
It is important on how the thing is in phase with itself, and how the u joints are put on if you use greasable u joints, but some how I did not find how it was put on and removed mentioned with orientation to the driving device and the driven device, just the driven u joint and driving u joint zerk fittings.
so if the end yokes are in phase (lined up with each other) all else should be fine if it is balanced and installed properly

 

[mylittlecj5]

Yea, pretty much sums up what I said