New front driveshaft u-joint too tight

[Vtx531]

Welp...got her all sandblasted and phosphoric acid coated. Going to the local drivetrain shop down the street tomorrow to see what they have to say about the tightness and if they have thinner clips I can buy. Also inquire about a balance job after I'm done if needed. I had them shorten and balance my rear shaft when I swapped Dana 35-Dana 44 and it seemed to work out.

Still need to order a replacement centering ball assembly too. Probably should have just bought a new Tom Woods and been done with it but I'm too far into it now.

 

[Vtx531]

The guy said it seemed a little tight but was fine and no need to get different clips or anything. $85 for a balance job when I'm done and they'll paint it too.

Oh, and he said if I hit the ends it should loosen right up...if I hear that one more time hahaha

 

[Vtx531]

I got the driveshaft assembled and painted it myself today.

I'm going to attempt balancing and runout minimization myself (as I do with old school methods for wheels and tires). I ordered a used vibration analyzer (EVA2) from ebay. Supposedly you can hook it up to a timing light and balance the driveshaft on the vehicle as an assembly with it attached to the yokes. Looking forward to trying this - it's always fun learning something new.

 

[Vtx531]

Well, another sad eBay story. I received the vibration analyzer in the mail today. It turns on and looks like it works but the accelerometer sensor is not putting out any good data. Calibration didn't do anything. Broken. Ebay seller was nice and just gave me a full refund. The downside of selling on eBay - been there myself.

As for the rear driveshaft, I took it off to inspect. Turns out the ujoints that are on the rear are greasable and I didn't even realize it. Getting about .025 runout on the rear and I think it is in the tcase output shaft. Placed a hose clamp on opposite of the runout high spot just to see what would happen. Didn't notice any difference. Put on another hose clamp, seemed worse.



Front driveshaft - I installed it. I put on hose clamps opposite of each other on the rubber boot. Test drive seemed fine. Hard to tell on a backroad with no top. Got it up over 3,000rpm though. Can't say if it was good but can't say it was bad either. Guess I'll run it how it is.