Vibration - Drive shaft?

[09blackruby]

Yeah, that being the case, you shouldn't be seeing vibrations. The factory shaft does have a u-joint at the pinion but the rzeppa joint at the output shaft will operate at steeper angles and without ill effect the way a double cardan will. Also, factory gears spin much slower and so it'd be hard to get vibes with them.

Thank you for the detailed explanation, makes complete sense. I'll still remove the drop brackets and try to fix my castor with lower adjustables. If anything else, they just hang low and catch on everything. Sounds like the chances of it fixing my vibes is lower than I was hoping. I'll stop yapping and let this thread get back on track. Thanks again.

 

[wayoflife]

Thank you for the detailed explanation, makes complete sense. I'll still remove the drop brackets and try to fix my castor with lower adjustables. If anything else, they just hang low and catch on everything. Sounds like the chances of it fixing my vibes is lower than I was hoping. I'll stop yapping and let this thread get back on track. Thanks again.

Well, to be fair, I did say "shouldn't". I too would remove the brackets if for no other reason than the fact that they are rock catchers and really, a terrible idea in my opinion. And, if that helps with your vibe problem, all the better. :yup:

 

[09blackruby]

Well, to be fair, I did say "shouldn't". I too would remove the brackets if for no other reason than the fact that they are rock catchers and really, a terrible idea in my opinion. And, if that helps with your vibe problem, all the better. :yup:

Couldn't agree with ya anymore. Have a great night.

 

[Mdrnizd]

I just had gears done on my 2014 (5.13's) and my Reel 1350 drive shaft is giving me a minor vibration as well. I've pulled the drive shaft out of the Jeep and the vibration goes away but not sure what to do next. I've had the balance checked on it and it's within specs. I even went as far as replacing the front u-joint with a new Spicer joint while I had it out. My caster is set right at 4 degrees according to the alignment sheet. Any ideas Eddie?

 

[wayoflife]

I just had gears done on my 2014 (5.13's) and my Reel 1350 drive shaft is giving me a minor vibration as well. I've pulled the drive shaft out of the Jeep and the vibration goes away but not sure what to do next. I've had the balance checked on it and it's within specs. I even went as far as replacing the front u-joint with a new Spicer joint while I had it out. My caster is set right at 4 degrees according to the alignment sheet. Any ideas Eddie?

Pretty common with 5.13's or higher. At this point and time, you can try to run less caster or try to have the shaft re-balanced at a different shop... maybe contact JE Reel to see if they can assist you. I run a JE Reel with 5.38's on my 2012 and have no vibrations. Of course, I also run a ProRock 44 and it has built in 6° of caster without effecting the drive line angle.

 

[Mdrnizd]

Pretty common with 5.13's or higher. At this point and time, you can try to run less caster or try to have the shaft re-balanced at a different shop... maybe contact JE Reel to see if they can assist you. I run a JE Reel with 5.38's on my 2012 and have no vibrations. Of course, I also run a ProRock 44 and it has built in 6° of caster without effecting the drive line angle.

If I go from 4 to 3 degrees of caster do you think it will be a noticeable handling difference? I talked to Jim yesterday at Reel and he is confident that it's my caster and if it is more noticeable with the 5.13's then that's probably why I didn't notice it before I had the gears.

 

[wayoflife]

If I go from 4 to 3 degrees of caster do you think it will be a noticeable handling difference? I talked to Jim yesterday at Reel and he is confident that it's my caster and if it is more noticeable with the 5.13's then that's probably why I didn't notice it before I had the gears.

I'd have to agree with Jim. If I could guess, you wouldn't notice it and it's where I would start.

 

[sc_rhino]

I went from 4.6 deg castor to 3.6 deg and I don't have any drive ability issues but my vibrations went away which I'm happy with. Also running 5.13 gears with 37 inch tires.

 

[Mdrnizd]

Thanks, I guess I know what I will be doing tomorrow night! Thanks Eddie!

 

[JK_Dave]

If I go from 4 to 3 degrees of caster do you think it will be a noticeable handling difference? I talked to Jim yesterday at Reel and he is confident that it's my caster and if it is more noticeable with the 5.13's then that's probably why I didn't notice it before I had the gears.

I'd have to agree with Jim. If I could guess, you wouldn't notice it and it's where I would start.

You guys don't know how much this advice helped! I'm experiencing some of the same issues with my Reel 1350 and 4.88 gears. The vibration started happening right after I swapped gears and I was worried about my basically brand new shaft being out of balance. I'm going to check my caster and see where I'm at first. My scenario might be exaggerated because I upgraded my gears while still running my stock 32" tires too so the spin speed on my shaft has to be pretty high too.

For anyone stumbling on this thread, here's a video describing how driveshaft angles can affect vibration on a CV style shaft and how the caster can affect that.

 

[tankcj]

I pretty much have the same setup in my 2dr 2011 (see sig) as the OP and I don't have any vibrations. I now have an AEV modified front DS but even with the stock shaft, it was smooth. I'm sure that if they balanced the tires (knowing there was a problem) they probably checked for out of round tires too....This may be a dumb question but what tire pressure are you running? If it's high I'm wondering if it's the tire lugs causing the vibration (like others have mentioned).

 

[silversurfer575]

You guys don't know how much this advice helped! I'm experiencing some of the same issues with my Reel 1350 and 4.88 gears. The vibration started happening right after I swapped gears and I was worried about my basically brand new shaft being out of balance. I'm going to check my caster and see where I'm at first. My scenario might be exaggerated because I upgraded my gears while still running my stock 32" tires too so the spin speed on my shaft has to be pretty high too.

For anyone stumbling on this thread, here's a video describing how driveshaft angles can affect vibration on a CV style shaft and how the caster can affect that.

This is a very good video.

Ive had a slight oscillating vibe for quite some time. It started after I had taken my rig in for some work at a "reputable" local shop. I had them weld in the c gussets and sleeve my stock D44. I had earlier installed a new JE Reel 1310 driveshaft. After running the jeep for a year or so, I thought my vibes were related to caster/pinion angles. I didnt want to lessen the caster though, as I was on the cusp of non-controllability.

About a month ago, I bought a fully loaded PR44 Unl. After getting it all together, dialing in everything, with caster at 4.7, I still had this wierd oscillating vibe at 60-65 MPH. Even when I increased my caster to 6, I still had the vibe, even though visibly, you could see the pinion/driveshaft angles were fine. I went down the street to a well known local driveshaft builder. I told him about what I was experiencing.

First thing the driveshaft guy says after looking under the jeep: "Your driveshaft is not in phase." What? I said....He said, "look, your JE Reel has an arrow on the one end of the slip spline. The other side of the arrow is 180 degrees on the other side. The 2 arrows should be in alignment. Go home, pull the shaft, realign those arrows, bolt it back and take it for a spin."

Sure enough, that was the ticket. My driveshaft was out of phase. Apparently, the "reputable" shop had goofed around with the front driveshaft when they were working on the front axle, and had pulled it apart, and reassembled it wrong.

This video is nice and comprehensive. Covers the operating angle issues as well as demonstrates what happens when the driveshaft is in phase or not.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[2007blackJk]

Keep in mind that's a single carden shaft in the vid.