Balancing the weights on a drive shaft

CanIFindOut

I'm a not so proud owner of a 2006 Toyota Corolla Verso that shakes when traveling above 100km/h. I got car serviced, wheels balanced, passed NCT but still car shakes. Toyota Garage 1 tells me I need to replace drive shaft on driver side and if that doesn't improve things that the passenger drive shaft should also be replaced. There is no guarantee that any of this will fix the problem.
So I went for a 2nd opinion to Toyota Garage 2 and they tell me I should start by getting the weights on the drive shafts balanced. However I can't find anyone that does this.
Any ideas?? Thanks!!!

dgt

Ask an engineering works, they should be able to point you in the right direction

CanIFindOut

Ok Thanks for that pointer !

shamwari

I've recently had to deal with a car that had drive shaft related shudders. After eliminating tyres and wheels, we jacked the car up on alternate front corners and spun one wheel at a time in gear. This led us to the passenger side as there was a marked difference in the vibrations and noise coming from it compared to the other side.

With the passenger wheel off the ground, we jacked wishbone up slightly to unload the suspension and keep the shaft at an angle relative to the car in a position similar to if the car was on the ground. A noticeable vibration at certain speeds was clearly discernible and whilst watching the shaft in motion, it was very clear something was awry with it.

I'm not sure if the shaft was slightly bent or if the inner joint has defective, but we replaced the whole shaft with a second hand one with an immediate and very clear improvement thereafter.

I have heard anecdotally of Japanese inner joints giving grief. I would suggest getting a good mechanic to look at what you have. If you have any misgivings about the shafts then look at getting the repaired or replaced. If they are defective, you run the risk of wearing out suspension components and stressing the gearbox.

Mar4ix

neighbor had shaky mercedes a140 , with auto box, he changed wheels with new brand tires balanced in top rated tire shop, checked engine and gearbox bushes, ....at the end was faulty one inner cv joint.

CJhaughey

If CV joints are running 'dry' then they can give a definate shudder.
Try opening it and shooting some grease into the CV joints and see if that helps.

Nissan doctor

It would be almost impossible for the drive shaft itself to go out of balance unless its bent or otherwise damaged as these are balanced during manufacture.

Its much more likely to be an issue with the inner or outer joints, assuming the balancing etc has been checked correctly.

CanIFindOut

Thanks to all the posters on this topic. Neither of the Toyota garages I brought it to seemed to think it was a problem with the joints. The garages I've been to can replace drive shafts ok but don't seem to have any experience on working with faulty ones. I would prefer to have the existing ones checked out before replacing them. Rang an engineering works in Newry today that I thought might help but they only deal with prop shafts.
So does anyone know of an engineering works that might do this type of thing?
Am worried about wearing out other parts by holding off.

mickdw

You are probably spending more going around main dealers than would have replaced both drives & joints with good used ones or as explained above, try to isolate the defective side first.

Nissan doctor

Did something happen to the car though? Did the vibration just start suddenly or what exactly happened?

If these was no previous vibration, the only way that there could be now would be if there was a severe impact or similar.

CJhaughey

Those driveshafts are pretty simple, there is no intermediate bearing to go bad. There is an inner tripod joint and an outer CV and a rubber damper that clamps to the shaft.
Taking them out isn't hard or difficult or time consuming.
What speed does the vibration occur? is it a particular speed or is it all speeds?
It would take very little to check for grease inside the joint, the drives don't even need to be taken off the car.

Avns1s

OP - What mileage on your car?

I would consider it very unlikely that the drives are the source of the vibration. Did anyone mention anything about the gearbox bearings, and specifically the diff bearings in this case?

Is there any noise when travelling along a straight road?

CanIFindOut

I can't pinpoint anything that happened to the car before the shudder started. Maybe it was a speed bump?? The shudder started in Nov last and car was due a service anyhow so got the balancing looked at. A small wgt was added to passenger side but this made no difference to shudder. Car had 60K on it at this point. 6 months previous to this the clutch was replaced so whether that kicked off anything I'll never know.
Car consistently judders at 100kmh and over. Doesn't matter if I come down to 4th gear. There's no noise in the car itself - just the judder.
Nobody mentioned anything about gear box bearings. Toyota garage #1 took it for a drive and after had a look under it and said the driver side drive shaft didn't have much play. They emphasized that even if I replaced it, it might not solve anything and I may need to replace passenger side drive shaft also. Sounds very non-scientific and expensive to me.
Toyota garage #2 had a look and they didn't say the play was a problem and I should start by balancing the weights on the drive shaft which no ordinary garage appears to do. Guys I spoke to said they rarely have to replace drive shafts on a Toyota. So........

George Dalton

Where are you located?

CanIFindOut

North Kildare but can travel (under 100kmh!)

George Dalton

Is the vibration constant or does it increase with acceleration and decrease when you take your foot off the accelerator?

CanIFindOut

If I put the foot down to overtake the shake gets worse so I would normally come back down to 100kmh where it doesn't feel like car is under pressure.

George Dalton

It sounds to me like an inner cv joint issue. If you fancy a spin down the road to our place I will have a look for you FOC.

CanIFindOut

That's brilliant will definitely drop in - found your website so will phone first. Thanks again.