On Oct 12, 2004, at 23:59, Terrible Tom wrote:
> I did not take careful note of how the drive shafts were reinstalled
> in Christine. I neglected to mark them properly when I took them out
> - inorder to reinstall them the way they were. How serious is this?
you can't move your ujoints out of phase without taking apart a slip
joing and then reassembling it wrong. with the stupid slip yoke we've
got on the 231, you can't get your joints out of phase since you can't
turn one end of the shaft in relation to the other.
> Attempting to answer my own question - I will say that its serious
> because if the drive shaft is not in balance, it will vibrate while
> spinning and cause premature U-joint failure - correct?
correct. if you could get it out of balance. also, you'll *know* when
you've got a driveshaft out of balance. Think throwing weights off a
tire x10.
> Two questions that follow that. I put a couple small dents in the
> shaft in the process of U-joint swapping. How serious is that to the
> balance of the shaft?
maybe if it was on a dragstrip rig where the shaft could see 6000rpm+.
maybe.
> Also - Are you supposed to "spring" the yolks, to set the U-joints? I
> noticed a few of the joints moved very freely - while a couple others
> felt a little stiff.
if it felt stiff something was probably out of whack and the joint will
live a shorter life than it otherwise could be expected to. with that
said, sometimes you can pop it in and out 3-4 times and it'll be stiff
no matter what you do. in that case you're probably looking at
slightly tweaked yokes and there's not much you can do about that short
of replacement, unless you can somehow see which way they're bent and
somehow fix it. maybe see a shop that does driveline work and tell
them you've got a yoke you think is out of square, and is it fixable?
(they'd probably recommend replacing it, but I don't know - I don't
know if straightening is even possible)
>
> Should I have the shaft balanced? I dont remember seeing any weights
> on the shaft if that matters at all.
well, once you actually have the truck rolling so you know if you have
any vibes you shouldn't, worry about this.
if it's not a vibe you can feel as "something wrong" it's more than
likely nothing to worry about. the mud and crap you drive through when
wheeling will kill the joints faster than anything you can't feel if
you ever got offroad.....
-- Mike Maskalans <http://mike.tepidcola.com/dodge/> '98 Dakota SLT 318 4x4 SFA & 35s '84 RamCharger Royale SE 360 4x4 stock & 32s mobile.612.618.4652 home.585.935.7129
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