I replaced the front ds on my Unlimited because of the stock ds rubbing on the trans. I had a vibration right away. I have adjustable lowers and couldn't shorten them enough to get the pinion angle correct. I bought the uppers and got the pinion and ds angles equal at 5 degrees. That gave me a 3 degree castor. It still drives good with no wandering, but the vibration is still there between 55 and 68 mph, the speed that I travel 90% of the time. Unless there is a solution that I haven't tried, I'm sending the ds back and will deal with periodic cleaning and greasing the stock ds. Anyone else have this problem with a TW shaft. They are an excellent company, but I'm not going to drive a new Jeep with a vibration.

 

Say it ain't so, Tom woods messed up???????? Geeez, whoda thunk it. Guess what nobody's perfect. Before you pay to ship it back, get a local driveline shop to check the balance and see if it can be re-balanced first. You'll pay about as much for a re-balance as shipping back. If the runout is too great, well, you'll have to ship it back, but my guess is, since you already tryed a castor change is to try re-balance first.

 

Also, I'm guessing they balanced it with the yokes on. Make sure the marks on the pinion and tcase yokes line up with the yoke marks on the ds. Also, if the marks are already lined up, take your bottom yoke loose and rotate it 180 degrees so that the mark is on the other side, it may help. Just something to try befor anything else, and its quick and easy to do.

 

5° pinion angle is still too much if the t-case joint is a double cardan.

Until it's fixed, stay out of the range of vibration. It has the potential to explode your t-case.

 

My Tom Woods front driveshaft did the same thing. I now have a Six States Distributors front driveshaft. Not as pretty as my Tom Woods driveshaft, but it is smooth as silk.

A vibration that occurs at a certain speed, and then goes away if you drive faster, is usually due to driveline angles. A vibration that starts at a certain speed, and then just keeps getting worse the faster you drive is usually due to an improperly balanced drive shaft. Mine used to start vibrating at 65 mph, and peaked at 75 mph, but persisted even up to 90 mph. I never went beyond 90 mph to see if it would eventually go away.

After setting my driveline angle at 1 degree, the local driveshaft shop (Six States Distributors) checked my Tom Wood shaft, and had to rebalance it. That removed about half the vibration. Then they checked it in more detail and found that the tube had warped from the heat of welding the yoke on. They tried straigtening it twice, and each time it helped some, but it still vibrated. It was time for a new driveshaft. Since it was easier to just have Six States build me one and be done with it, than send my shaft back to Tom Woods, that is what I did.

 

When I said the pinion and ds were at 5 degrees, I meant the joint is straight. With the double cardon at the tc, that should be perfect. The vibration was the same when there was a 4 degree difference. That leads me to suspect a shaft out of balance, but it goes away at 70 mph.


I marked the pinion end flange before I took it off the shaft, but was unaware they were already marked and didn't check the tc end. I'll check it when I pull it off. I don't have a lot of faith in the local ds shop,as I had them build one for my ZJ last year and had to have it redone at another shop when we got down to AZ.

 

I never would have suspected that is what you meant.
Anyway, it's good that the drive shaft and pinion axes are in line.

 

Man, I'm shocked to see this issue with the TW. I just ordered one and hope I don't have any issues.

 

I'm going to take it off tomorrow and call TW. For what I paid for it, I shouldn't have to deal with getting it rebalanced. I will request a return authorization and a refund.

 

I called TW and explained the problem and they gladly offered to take it back for a full refund. I will run the stock shaft until it fails and because of their response, I will try another one from them. They are the type of supplier that I like to deal with. Integrity after the sale is worth a lot.