Driveline Balancing

[HYDRODYNAMIC]

I made front and rear drivelines out of old OEM front drivelines.
At the time I turned all the parts on a lathe and assembled and welded off the lathe. The drivetrain does vibrate with the front hubs disconnected and the front driveline spinning at speed. I can barely see anything on the mid shaft off the TCase it’s true. The front shaft is out of round about .06 near the slip and maybe .2 near the mid shaft which might be the joint movement.
I now have a lathe, so should I cut the slip and true it up or is it close enough to send in for balancing alone?
How out of round is out of round?

 

[Steve300xcw]

I need around .005 before I balance.

Fwiw you can pull a driveline around with a torch and some water. Though if it was welded crooked thats a loosing battle.

 

[fl0w3n]

Just curious are you street driving the buggy or are you just noticing this on the trail? Or don’t you drive yours at speed?

I’m considering the TMR driveshaft kits but wondering how tolerable a diy shaft really is

 

[WiscoF100]

Just curious are you street driving the buggy or are you just noticing this on the trail? Or don’t you drive yours at speed?

I’m considering the TMR driveshaft kits but wondering how tolerable a diy shaft really is

Just send it. If anything is at least half square they’ll run just fine. I’ve made many homemade shafts without any special tools.

 

[FleshEater]

I saw some rednecks tap a driveshaft with a grease fitting and fill it up. They said it balanced it. Anyone try it? I assume the grease acts similar to balance beads in a tire.

 

[TTRAxle&FAB]

I made front and rear drivelines out of old OEM front drivelines.
At the time I turned all the parts on a lathe and assembled and welded off the lathe. The drivetrain does vibrate with the front hubs disconnected and the front driveline spinning at speed. I can barely see anything on the mid shaft off the TCase it’s true. The front shaft is out of round about .06 near the slip and maybe .2 near the mid shaft which might be the joint movement.
I now have a lathe, so should I cut the slip and true it up or is it close enough to send in for balancing alone?
How out of round is out of round?

.06 runout and .200 at the midship?
At work we build them to .005 runout but for reference spicer spec is .020 and under. If they pull during welding. We will heat straighten the shaft till specs are met.

If you brought thus shaft to be balanced I'd have to cut the welds and indicate it to spec.

Or if your gonna redo it. Use your yokes as fixtures on the lathe

 

[HYDRODYNAMIC]

.06 runout and .200 at the midship?
At work we build them to .005 runout but for reference spicer spec is .020 and under. If they pull during welding. We will heat straighten the shaft till specs are met.

If you brought thus shaft to be balanced I'd have to cut the welds and indicate it to spec.

Or if your gonna redo it. Use your yokes as fixtures on the lathe

.06 at the axle end slip and.02 at the mid u-joint.
I am planning on cutting through the weld and truing on the lathe.

 

[HYDRODYNAMIC]

It was a battle trying to get the driveline true.
First go around it started off true then with welding it pulled and kept on pulling and it was worse than when I started.
Second go around I separated the slip from the tube and trued everything up and welded everything to within .010 runout from slip to end of tube. I was not able to hold the tail yoke so the end was free. I could not see any run out with the eye spinning it on the lathe.
Installed and test ran at 80MPH and it was vibrating, 65 was ok. Noticed that when I took off the slip, I unclocked the yokes.
Third go around I took off the tail yoke as I did not want to mess up the slip yoke which was dialed in. Clocked and welded the tail yoke.
Test ran at 65mph and it was almost worse than when it was unclocked.
I can visibly see the mid joint and tail shaft is spinning true. No run out. The front yoke and slip has all the run out.
I think I am done with it. If I get up to speed in 4WD and feel like I cant live with the vibrations then I will take it into a shop and let them figure it out.
I have not looked at the rear to see if it is true or not and I almost dont care. I would have to pull the axle shafts to spin it in the buggy to find out and I don't want to work on another driveline.