

| Subject: | prop shaft vibes - almost solved |
| From: | Alistair Bell |
| Date: | Fri, 9 Jul 2010 13:21:20 -0700 |
I have been boring folks over the last few months about my efforts to solve a prop shaft vibration problem, narrow band 50 - 60 kph approx. I have recorded the approaches I have taken on my blog http://shufti.wordpress.com briefly... I replaced u joints with aftermarket, ones, checked internal bushings on shaft, fiddled for ages with front diff flange angle (attempts to match trans flange angle), aligned flanges laterally and check with laser jig, running with loose diff mounts etc, etc all to no avail. Unfortunately there seems to be no local driveshaft balancing outfit locally so I did not have shaft balanced. So, as a last resort, a few days ago I tried the "hillbilly" balance method, ie a gear clamp attached to one end of prop shaft. Initial position of clamp was randomly chosen and had no effect. With no confidence in success, I rotated clamp 90 degrees on shaft and tried again. Well blow me :) it made a big difference. The vibrations are pretty well gone. Just the slightest perceptible vibes at same speed range. I am encouraged by this and will now refine position, and maybe add a little more weight (penny?) under the gear part of clamp. Now I will search more thoroughly for drive shaft balance service. Bottom line is, it seems to me, is that what might work for one syncro may not for another. I will summarise, with measurements, all that I have tried on my blog soon. Of course, in hindsight, balancing shaft after u joint replacement seems obvious. I would have done that if it could be done locally. Others have not bothered balancing and had no problems, again pointing to the multifactor nature of this problem. cheers alistair
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