The tailshaft on my 1995 Landcruiser was whipping quite severely at 100KPH.
The tailshaft specialist diagnosed the whip, and repaired it, with new universals and bearings. It's all good now.
The whip was shaking the gearbox and other engine parts and shafts, and a process of elimination revealed the kinky shaft. It was only slight at first, but intensified during my Christmas trip to Emerald, and by the time I arrived home I was quite worried about the shudder.
I don't know what caused it. I haven't bottomed out on anything like kerbs or rocks etc. I don't think it had been bottomed out by previous owners as there wasn't any obvious impact mark on the shaft.
I'm thinking it might have been metal fatigue caused by long hauls at average speed over a long period of time in hot conditions.
Any of you "experts" got any ideas for future reference?
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
My guess (and it is only a guess) is that it may be just normal wear of the universal(s) and/or bearing(s) given the age of the vehicle. Once the whipping started it probably would have accelerated the wear.
Mechanical experts may be able to shed more light on this.
might have dropped a small balance weight off the the shaft CG, they are on tack welded on and it wouldnt be the first one I have seen come off. By replace the joints and having the shaft balanced all should be good for another 1/2 milion km cheers blaze
-- Edited by blaze on Thursday 2nd of February 2012 08:48:18 PM
You can get water ingress in the bearings too, especially if you travel on dirt roads a fair bit. The dirt and grit causes the seals to wear and water and dirt gets in and damages the bearings.
You can put the unis off of balance if you don,t fit them right. You have got to stager them and not install them in line.I had this problem in my Hilux a few years ago, and a mechanic told me how to fix it.I hope this helps.Bill
No problems and no apparent wear and tear with universal joints and bearings at initial inspection. The tail shaft specialists found the whip in the shaft itself. So they cut it, re-set it and balanced it, and it's all good now. I was very worried about the damage being done to the gear box and other shaft movement through the motor, so I didn't go very far, very fast. I now have new uni's and bearings, and the shaft is now straight. I thought one of you may have come up with an alternate reason for the whip other than the metal fatigue. The shaft had never been out since I've had the car and I never had a problem with it until recently. I thought the slight tremor came from the tyre wear and tear as they were fairly, but even worn. So new tyres eliminated that possibility. The whole job cost $470, which was a very pleasant surprise. Thanks for your suggestions.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
Could be the tail shaft itself is running out of true, be surprised what a tailshaft balance job will do to the health of both you and the machine, shafts cop all sorts of knocks and it only takes a small dent to make it run out of true
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