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Drive shaft damage, when to fix/replace?

Hooligan

Xtreme wheeler of the web
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
341
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953
Loc
Sacramento
So this is newb section.

Question is, how damaged do you let your DS get before fixing or replacing. Like as in some big ass dents, it still rotates. When is it time to repair?

Im sure this depends on trail vs. daily driver.

For a daily driver, how bad can the damage get before it is out of balance and affects drivability?
how much does it take before it goes out of balance?
If out of balance, will that ruin pinion bearing or T case output bearing?

Having a dent, is it worse for aluminum shaft, will that cause a stress point and the next time it gets the beans it will pretzel?

let’s see your drive shaft damage.

My Dodge got some scratches and it got me wondering. This is a weekend warrior truck and gets driven to the trail.

57608143-71B4-4B49-BD84-D51DDC68C348.jpeg
 
You're likely fine with the little bit of scratching like you have. If you're noticing a new rotating vibration that changes with rpm after a driveshaft hit, it's time for a deeper inspection. Yes, over time, the vibration can damage (most likely) pinion bearings and seals, transfer case possible, but less likely. A significant dent, especially one with a sharp corner, on an aluminum driveshaft can cause it to pretzel, when hammered hard and your tires are bound up, or grab sudden, solid traction (shock loading). Hope this helps. If you're concerned, run it by your local driveline place and have then rebalance it.
 
If there's a large dent in the tube, that's when it's time to replace. Scrapes, imperceptible dents, no big deal.

When the tube gets a big dent, it'll lose strength, and could twist up like a twizzler. At that point, it'll either snap, or just become short enough to pull the slip apart:

1626116056393.png
 
I wouldn’t worry about that dent in the picture. Unless you can feel it and it bothers you. Like others have said, if it’s totally dented and out of whack it could mess up your pinion bearings or output on the tcase. But I wouldn’t worry about that particular one… at least as far as I can see based on the pic.
 
The other option would be to just get it retubed thicker now. It's a lot easier for the shop to retube when it's not all twisted and fucked up.
 
Probably depends on the shop. I asked Jesse at high angle about it and he said it is more work, but not too bad. But he's been doing rock crawlers for 20+ years.

I would think SOP would be to cut at like 3" from weld, chuck in lathe and turn the weld off. If the tube is mangled that could be a pain.
 
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