Double Cardan Driveshaft Failure Ideas

1995 Regular Cab 3RZ 4x4 W59

Sup guys, need to do a little brainstorming and hoping for some help in doing so.

My truck has been eating driveshafts it seems. The double cardan portion (ball and needle bearings inside) tend to fail fairly quickly. (clicking, ringing, popping) I am trying to track down what may be the root cause.

Timeline:

Got the truck and a year later I got the shaft rebuilt with OEM parts by a driveline shop
3 months later went out again got it warrantied with another used shaft to eliminate the slip yoke possibility
1 and a half years later failed again so I got it cut off and replace with a spicer dobule cardan assembly
1 and a half years later after that it went out again....actually just dropped the driveshaft off today to get it fixed.

That said, I have replaced the transfer case in that time and there is only a 1.5" lift on the truck (so not enough lift to cause issues).

Although my lift was done (prior to me owning the truck) with 4+1 leaf packs, could axle wrap be potentially causing this?

My differential went out a couple months back and I just rebuilt it and the driveshaft was failing before I rebuilt the diff but could a failing diff have been creating excessive stress on the joint and causing it to fail?

Just a couple ideas I have and would like to get some feedback.

Thanks!

The double cardan joint looks like the image below and the part that is failing looks like the image below that and I will link the writeup for rebuild so that you guys understood how it is put together to help brainstorm.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/double-cardan-joint.273119/

 

definitely check your pinion angle. Are you greasing the u-joints on a regular basis?

How did that shop "rebuild" your joint? From what i understand, it's not a serviceable part. The u-joints in the DC joint are a weird size that's not commercially available.

When mine went, i bought a tom woods shaft, lifetime warranty, with trail damage coverage.

 

I've been getting a "TING!" sound coming from the driveline lately....and some popping that happens when I go forward or backward from a stop...I thought it my be my leaf springs but this is making me wonder about the DC joint, I haven't looked at that yet. When do you hear the popping? Mine's actually more of a dull knocking sound.

 

Yes I am every 10K miles or so.

Let me explain:

1) The U joints ARE available by 1 company which only sell to driveline service shops. Driveline Service of Atlanta did the initial 2 rebuilds (1 rebuild, 1 warranty) with OEM parts. You can't get the U joints yourself. (they weren't cheap either)
2) The shop has done this many times with good feedback. The U joints don't have "Clips" in them but are crimped in there. They remove the factory crimps, install new joints and ball assembly/ seals, and re-crimp the joints in place. They have the tools for it.
3) The 3rd time it failed they recommended I switch to the aftermarket "Spicer" Unit.

It looks like this:


What they do is put the driveshaft on a lathe and cit that head off the shaft. Then weld this "Spicer" head on to the shaft and balance. This way the parts are cheaper and more serviceable.

This lasted as long as the original rebuild did. So it has to be something with my truck.

Question: And you bring up a good point.....
How could my pinion angle change if the leaf springs are good? Could it be a cracked leaf that I am not seeing?

 

Most of that type of sound I have seen on forums discussed as Axle wrap 80% of the time.

My sound is more like a rotational click, ring, ping. RPM and under a load plays a role. The vibration of the engine while the driveshaft is under a load is causing the driveshaft to ring like a bell from the needle bearings in the ball part of the double cardan joint itself

 

I think the ting and the knock might be unrelated to one another but the ting is definitely coming from the driveshaft, anyhow I'll keep an eye on it.

If your truck is lifted and the angle on the pinion too severe, have you considered installing shims into your leaf packs to decrease the angle on the driveshaft? If it's too severe I could see it causing issues with premature failure, I know some people on here have to use shims while others seem to never have a problem with their lift.

 

I have. When I dropped off my driveshaft again...an hour ago or so..the owner asked me..."is your truck lifted?" I said yes 1.5" and he said: nope that wouldn't be it that's minuscule for these.

 

yeah I wouldn't think that you'd need shims for that amount of lift either, although I know that @Blue92 has the same amount of lift and had some issues with rear end popping that he solved with a small shim on each side, at least I think that's what he did. Curious to see what the fix ultimately is because I think I'm headed down a similar path. I recent installed a 1/2" carrier bearing drop to help with the angles some but it didn't do much. Was basically just two rectangular 1/2" plates that go between the CB and the bracket that space it down a tad. I've seen some guys on here running up to 2.5" CB drops to achieve a straight line driveline.

 

The biggest difference I see here is that I don't have a carrier bearing. Short bed regular cab. Thankfully that's 1 less thing that can go wrong =P

Hmm interesting thought about the shims though. I think I read that thread a while back. I need to get a tape out and measure my angle.

 

Oh wow I didn't know regular cabs didn't have a CB, interesting...although it makes sense now that I think about it lol.

 

Yup! 1 piece driveshaft....except for the garbage double cardan joint I want to melt with my torch to a puddle at this point.

 

The stock springs are designed to be flat on these trucks. When you lift it with more/better leafs, theyll get an arch to them and that pushes the rear axle away from the frame, giving you the lift, and changing your pinion angle.

2" AAL lift here, had a rythmic popping at only a certain point when in high gear at low RPM. So 4th and 5th around 45-55 mph, but mainly 4th. I put 3 degree shims in and havent heard it since. Tranny shop checked ujoints, slip joint etc. They thought it couldve been the tranny mount since Id already replaced the carrier bearing. Tried the shims before swapping mounts, glad I did.

 

Interesting. How much have the rebuilds cost you? My shaft was ~$550. Just food for thought.

Pinion angle is paramount to u-joint survival. any binding will kill the joints quickly. With only 1.5" of lift though, you shouldn't have too many issues.

 

My 4runner pretty much has the same axle. No madder what that company says they are most likely not using OEM quality ball.

Many 4runner guys have same issue. I pulled a junkyard axle with 180k miles and had never failed me in over 50k miles.

This company swears they know Toyota axles and have found OEM parts from another toyota vehicle that work on our driveshafts. They quoted me $150 years ago. https://www.highangledriveline.com

 

The rebuild initially was I want to say ~ $280
Warranty = free
Spicer rebuild = ~ $340
Today's rebuild = ~ $80 (Charging me just for parts even though warranty period is over since the U joints are still good)

So by now I could have bought the lifetime warranty one XD but again, I would have to ship it in and out vs picking it up local.

I completely understand the angle theory. The problem isn't the actual U joints failing though. It is the Center CV Ball INSIDE constantly failing.

 

that's typically how the DC joints fail, is the ball in the middle. I would bet you're getting some nasty axle wrap with some soft springs, and that's causing the failure.

 

Hmm 4+1 leaf packs are too soft you think? Or perhaps just old?

A bit off topic: How do you guys record video under your car? I am not particularly fond of putting my phone underneath the truck XD

 

Go Pro or similar device, they come with attachments that allow you to mount it to awkward spots like underneath your truck

 

Gosh but like $250-500 for taking 1 video to check for axle wrap isn't worth it I think. XD

 

yeah I agree, although there are base model knock off's of Go Pros that can be had for much cheaper, but you could also just use your phone...make sure to tape it up very securely though lol.