Drive Shaft Issue

[JerseyTitan]

hello everyone. new guy here that is sorry to say that his first post is with a problem. i have a 2005 crew cab 4x4 that has a PC 6" lift, radflos and tc upper a arms up front, with a 3" block and deaver 2.5" aal in the rear. i also have a 3" performance accessories body lift, but that shouldn't have any issues with my problem. the u joint from my rear drive shaft that come out of the transfer case hits the underside of my trucks body on hard acceleration. it makes a loud bang and has left a dent on the underside of my truck. it really scared me the 1st time it happened. i thought it might have something to do with the suspension, but when it happened again i knew it wasn't. i don't know what could be causing this. could it be extreme axle wrap from the rear? i have PRG's offroad traction bars, but haven't put them on yet. i would appreciate any info anyone has or ideas. thanks in advance,

-JerseyTitan

[shailey]

CAn you take a picture of where it hit?

[JerseyTitan]

hey shailey. thanks for the reply. unfortunately it's dark as anything out right now and you wouldn't be able to see it too well. it is above the u joint that attaches from the transfer case to the rear drive shaft on the underside of the body where it hits. the body of my truck sits 3" higher off the frame from the body lift, so that is some upward travel that should definitely not be there! i will try to get some pics up tomorrow. thanks again for the reply and thanks for putting together a great site.

-JerseyTitan

[JerseyTitan]

Here are some pics to show everyone where it is hitting. It only happens when i accellerate hard from a stop. It has only done it 2 times. SInce the 2nd time i have been taking very easy. Here they are. i have circled the area where it hits in red. Sorry for the bad pics, all i had was my phone camera. Thanks for any help that anyone may be able to give.
-JerseyTitan

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t237/bk030/1.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t237/bk030/2.jpg

[baseballfanz]

That's some crazy stuffs, for it to hit that part mean that sucker is swing pretty wildly. I don't know what would cause it to do that, hopefully an expert will chime in.

[shailey]

That isn't from axle wrap. This can be common in some lifted applications that are starting to experience premature wear due to the angle change of the driveshaft.

I think you need to find a good performance or 4 wheel drive shop and let them look at it and test the runout of the driveshaft.

I have seen this before, but it was in extremely high hp cars that had bent the driveshafts due to putting a 1000 lbs of torque down on a stock driveshaft.

How long have you been lifted? How many miles?

[JerseyTitan]

thanks for the replies guys. i've been lifted for almost 2 years with around 15,000 miles on the lift, probably less.i have a total of 23,000 miles on the truck. i don't beat on my truck at all. i rarely if ever accelerate quickly from a stop or while cruising. this has happened only 2 or 3 times at most. i know there are plenty of people running the same suspension combination on many of the forums without hearing of any issues, but there must always be a first! I'm definitely not putting that kind of power down shailey even though i wish i could. I'm still gonna have my PRG traction bars put on and see what happens even though i believe what shailey says to be more of the culprit. Thanks for the help everyone.

-JerseyTitan

[DawgBone]

Wow - that's pretty crazy. Good luck, and let us know what the verdict is!

[shailey]

With those miles on the truck, it is possible that it has worn that joint pretty badly. I would get it looked at to see what they have to say. I wonder if re-shimming the pinion could hep out any.

[54warrior]

That seems really crazy to me. The transfer case, transmission, and engine would all have to rock forward for that to happen if I'm understanding things correctly. It doesn't seem like it's even possible, regardless if the U-Joints are shot or not.

I have 30000 miles with the lift on and haven't experienced anything like that. I just checked my U-Joints a month or so ago and everything is tight.

[d0va]

Man that looks real bad, hopefully you can get it fix.

[JerseyTitan]

i have no updates on this. i want to finally get my traction bars installed this weekend, but i still do not think it is going to solve this. it has not happened since i have posted this, but i have not also gotten on the go fast peddle either. I'm driving conservatively so i don't snap the driveshaft. the weird thing is that i can punch the gas after i am moving and it won't happen, but if i do it from a stop well that's a diff. story. i have checked all mounting locations for the engine and transmission and everything is fine. i have also checked for play in the u joints and there was no excessive play at all. i will keep everyone posted if i do come up with a solution or if i can get it to my 4x4 shop soon. Thanks again everyone.

-JerseyTitan

[shailey]

That seems really crazy to me. The transfer case, transmission, and engine would all have to rock forward for that to happen if I'm understanding things correctly. It doesn't seem like it's even possible, regardless if the U-Joints are shot or not.

I have 30000 miles with the lift on and haven't experienced anything like that. I just checked my U-Joints a month or so ago and everything is tight.


Actually this happening with extreme lifts is somewhat common from what I have seen in the rock crawling world. The service manager at my knoxville dealership builds rock crawling machines and I talked to him about this today. He has seen it on Bronco's, Jeep's and quite a few others that have gone with 2 different styles of lift. The solution that those guys have is just simple replacement parts...the titan does not have them available yet.

[54warrior]

Actually this happening with extreme lifts is somewhat common from what I have seen in the rock crawling world. The service manager at my knoxville dealership builds rock crawling machines and I talked to him about this today. He has seen it on Bronco's, Jeep's and quite a few others that have gone with 2 different styles of lift. The solution that those guys have is just simple replacement parts...the titan does not have them available yet.


Could you explain this farther please? What exactly is happenning? What are the replacement parts?

Thanks Shailey!!

[shailey]

On some ford's they are using shorter tranny mounts and longer drop down brackets (for transfer case, it makes for flatter driveshaft angles) OR going with higher BODY lifts and less suspension lifts.

Other brands also have different driveshafts that can be purchased to help compensate for the steep angles as well as shimming the rear ends to help compensate for an angle change.

There are quite a few more things, but this is all that I could remember him telling me. He has built 17 offroad machines that are trail riders as well as rock climbers.