One of the big draw backs to not having a full shop is that sometimes I have to guess rather than diagnose. I have a bad shake which starts around 30MPH and callms down similar to an out of balance wheel. It completely quiets down though if I take my foot off the gas. The 30MPH seems to be "the sign" for u joints or an out of balance shaft from two very serious drivers that I know.

Let me know your thoughts. I hate being a parts changer rather than a mechanic, but having no balancer, it would cost me more to rule out the simple stuff than to take my best guess and hope for the best.

Also, if anyone has any tips or time savers, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

being OLD school was taught

index (mark) drive shafts to replace in same phase.
If applicable Install U joints so the zerk is "crushed" between crosses during foward motion.... NOT positioned between the crosses that spread.. definately a picture worth 1000 words.

 

I always mark anything that turns, good advice though! Luckily, this shaft is so straight it's hard to even tell the difference between cross and spread. I'm probably going to drop the shaft tonight. Thanks for the input.

 

Well, I finished the job Staurday. Went pretty smoothly other than breaking the rear mount away from the rear end! I did run into something new to me. The shaft itself sounds like it's full of sand and has a solid object in the ceter that slides from end to end. I didn't know if this was supposed to be some kind of balancing system or what. I talked to a few people, it was new to them also. I put the shaft back anyway, and it's smooth as silk again.

If any of you have ever heard of any type of active antivibration systems, it would be nice to know for sure one way or the other.

 

Personally, I've never heard of a self-balancing drive shaft. As a matter of fact, anything inside the DS would get thrown to the heavy side and actually make an unbalanced situation worse.

 

That's what I thought at first too. But, if nothing else, it's buying me some time. It's apparently not easy to get a drive shaft around here. Even the junk yards say they all get ruined by the forklifts.