yeah, i know. i called my collage buddy's mechanic brother , Billy who lives in the area and does work out of his home. he's going to put in a new driveshaft for me and we'll go from there. plus he can drive me to go get my truck from the second idiot ripoff mechanic tomorrow morning. i'll probably have to pay the first IDIOT mechanic $750.00 to get him out of my hair. when Billy gets the truck we'll be able to figure it out. i'm 99% sure it's the driveshaft being out of phase. everything else is basically the same. same driveline angles et...
The first guy should make it right. Not necessarily mechanically, but he did not finish the job properly. Good luck with your buddy. Sounds like you are on your way.
Pay the first mechanic. Get it fixed. Sue the first mechanic for all charges in civil small-claims court for all of the charges to fix it. Get multiple mechanic opinions for court if possible.
Run Forrest, run! That's a great snow job he's selling there. I'm glad you found other help, the problem is not that difficult to overcome, at least to most of us. Keep us posted and good luck. Bob
i called the first mechanic because i decided that i own him some money and i asked him to "cut me some slack" on the bill. "come in and we'll talk about it"; he said. small claims court is exactly what i would do IF i weren't moving. i can't wait around for that nonsense. my plan is to try to get the first mechanic to cut about $250 off the bill because that's about what it's going to cost to pay someone else with parts et to get this thing on the road and he did some work. first though, gotta get plates then rescue the truck AGAIN from the second rip-off and take it to my friend's brother's house who will do the work. it's GOT to be that driveshaft he cut. the trans runs/shifts/revs perfectly with it off. lol.... thanks, i need all the levity i can get. continuing saga: mechanic bill , his nephew and i went to get my truck from K**t. as i feared he already was taking it apart! he wanted money too! no way!!! i told him not to work on it without my "OK". so when i refused to pay him for abusing my truck, he said that he couldn't put it back together for an hour and then ignored us! we wondered how to proceed. noticing the parts strewn on the floor we had to figure out where they went. so we gathered up the parts and began reassembling the truck. we had to put on the trans bracket and two engine mounts but first needed to find a wrench. K**t was nowhere to be seen but a woman came in really giving him hell. looks like we were not the only ones not happy with him. after we got it together, we had to push another vehicle to get it out of the way so that we could get the truck out of there! FINALLY we got it done and bill followed me home with his flashers on. now the truck is at bills and he's not going to screw me around. this other mechanic wanted to skew the engine mounts from the factory setting but he said in order to do so he'd have to "notch" my crossmember or some nonsense like that. i knew that i had better go down there with at least another guy to deal with this guy. had i gone alone it would have been dicey and i would have had to put my motorcycle in the bed using his loading dock. that wasn't a comforting thought. had i known what a mess this would become i'd have never done the swap.
this sounds like a new episode of "American Shafts" the drama involved in minor car repair ... do you have written estimates from these "mechanics"? did you authorize all work , agree on rates , tell them you would pay up before leaving with your vehicle, gosh this truck needs some HAMBLOVE ASAP
This is a very simple swap, you've just run into a bunch of poor wrenches. I don't mean to pick on you, because you don't need it right now, but this is all kinda hot rod 101 stuff that you should be able to do yourself. Checking things like pinion and trans angles is as simple as buying a ten dollar angle finder at a hardware store and crawling under. Even if you can't make the fix your self, at least your armed with the knowledge of whats wrong. I would also suggest checking to make sure that the trans crossmember that the first guy made is in the right location too. Measure from the crank center line to the framerail at the front, then crawl under the back and measure the center of the trans to the frame rail on either side. They should be equal I.E., if the left side at the crank center line is 18", it should be18" at the right. I don't think they offset the engines in your type of truck. Check at the trans, it should be an equal distance as well. Like I said, I don't mean to pick on you, because I've been there before, but you need to learn this stuff now if you intend to drive vintage cars and trucks. Relying on a "mechanic" kinda goes against the grain of what this board is all about. There is allot to learn, but not much of it is truly rocket science, and you have some of the best minds anywhere to help you learn.
Agree on keeping the trans in the center of the frame rails. I've done swaps with less than optimal recommended angles and have never had any problem like this, mind boggling! I believe that most of the problems are associated with a real bad drive shaft job. Get that straightened out and all will be fine. Old trucks like yours are a blank canvas and easy to work on, you should be having fun with it. Bob
Where the hell in Texas re you and what shops are these. this is crap a monkey screwing a football should be able to do with 1 hand free.... seriously I would see if there is a local Hamb'r near by.. I am in Corpus Christi, if you are close I'll bring my angle finder and tape measure. from your video the yoke is too far out of the ass of the tranny IMO.
i try not to post opinions,but and i know its a little late but quit useing "mechanics" and find a good hot rodder. they are not the same.surley there is a hot rodder around. best of luck my friend.the above info is VERY good
i generally do all my work myself but i didn't have the tools to do this job and i couldn't transport the driveshaft to have it shortened on my motorcycle. i did all of the work on my truck except for the engine rebuild and now this trans install. also, i do not have a garage.... my plan was not a bad one. i just ran into some idiots along the way. also, i needed it done quickly because i am in the process of moving. i had no idea the dumbass would fuck it up after working on it for almost two months. it's really created many problems for me. borntoloze: yeah, i know. the problem arose when the first mechanic refused to troubleshoot his work. instead he told me to diagnose the problem he created and then he'd do that work but if it wasn't the problem, he charges me. that's when the insanity got more insane. i don't trust this asshole to build another driveshaft for me and i can't transport the shaft to fort worth on my motorcycle..... a mechanic who's a brother of a guy i know from collage has the truck. he's going to look at the driveshaft when he gets done with a couple cars ahead of mine. we'll then discuss the problem. my guess is, since all the driveline angles are factory set, there is no need to measure pinion angles et.... i just need a good, phased, correct length driveshaft. if that doesn't solve the problem, the goddamn truck is haunted.
the trans is hanging in the same plane as before. the mount is just some angle iron attached to the rubber mount on the trans and bolted to the crossmember. it doesn't pull up or down or sideways on the trans what so ever. the angle of the trans is dictated by the motor mounts. it really can't go any other way. the difference in the angle of the driveshaft back to the differential is negligible and couldn't cause such a pronounced vibration. the new trans is only a few inches shorter than the old trans and the driveshaft was cut to 66". also, when i had the truck in the air and put it in 5th gear and let out the clutch, the engine labored, which says to me that the u-joints are binding. maybe not but that's just my take. i have been told that if the input shaft is a little too short, that this would NOT cause a vibration but maybe clutch chatter upon takeoff.
No, when you put the trans in 5th you go from a gear reduction ratio to a gear multiplication ratio (overdrive) thats why if seems like its laboring, not enough inertia to keep the engine spinning that high of a ratio (somewhere between .5 and .75 to 1). If the u-joints were in a bind it would do it all the time, the angle in which the u-joints are in don't change with transmission gears. Clutch chatter will only be caused by either a solid hub clutch disk, or hard spots in the flywheel or pressure plate, a short input shaft will vibrate but not under a load. Under a load it is forced into a position which won't allow it to vibrate, when you disengage the clutch it then becomes free to move around causing vibrations. It has to be either a junk driveshaft (bad angles, out of phase etc.) or too short of an input shaft. I'm betting on the first. Another silly question if the new trans is SHORTER than the old trans why did the mechanic cut down the drive shaft? If this is not the original drive shaft how do you know its not bent? I think we have all been thinking you used the original drive shaft out of the truck.
You seem to be kind of missing the point. ANY time a trans mount or engine mounting situation is changed there is potential for changes in driveshaft alignment. And one degree can make a large difference in whether everything is kosher or not. It is entirely possible that the trans mount isn't in the same plain as the crankshaft centerline, or that the tail shaft on the trans is higher or lower that it was originally. Since you've had such a bad run of luck with outside guys who didn't know what was going on, it's time to crawl under and check for sure.
this reminds me why I learned how to do my own auto mechanic'n & house repair myself, I cannot stand being held hostage by some mouth breather with his hand out waiting for his entitlement. Good luck bringing this shaft saga to a close.
The original deal was a 2-piece shaft with the center hanger bearing. The "new" shaft is 1-piece out of something else. A real Frankenstein job gone horribly wrong. Bob
Where in the hell in Texas are you?............We are in Frisco, near Dallas........get that thing up here and we can get it to take you to Florida...this fiasco has gone on long enough. A simple swap and a bad drive shaft or angle...or both...nothing more. The truck had NO vibration before the swap...simply check the driveshaft for phasing...if it is out..it's fucked. $200 or so builds a new shaft up here at Inland Truck parts...I have NEVER had a problem with them in many drag cars and streeters.............this thread leaves me so fuckin fustrated....... ......and we just got thru with a 66 Chevelle that some dickhead in Shreveport put together....one of the worst cases of nice parts put together wrong...even ALL of the calipers were hung upside down...and they wondered why it would not stop.............we spend over 30 hours re doing this car...the customer drove it home...sweet as could be............with the worn out 396 that was supposed to be a 427...had a bad vibration also....I asked the "mechanic" that "built" the car...he assured me that he had driven it over a 100.........bullshit.........all of the rear lug nuts only went on 2 or so threads............my ass if he drove it like that...and the vibration?...........I asked him if it could have a 454 flywheel...he told me it was a new Hays setup...more hogwash...cheap rebuilt clutch and yep...a 454 flywheel...even had in paint on it...BBC454 and SBC400..............We do a lot of fabrication and see a lot of cars with shit like this...I am getting to the point that we can't trust ANY other mechanic's work..... Mark
new trans is slightly longer than old trans. don't know exactly how much though. the thing is; everyone is doing this swap without the vibration issue. the angles have not changed that much just a tad with the shorter driveshaft. the things that my new mechanic is going to concentrate on is if the shaft was cut long enough, if the u-joints are good and if it's out of phase. no, the orig shaft was one piece. i don't know where you got that info... i'm in cleburne. if this newest mechanic can't figure it out, i'll contact you and have it towed up there. i'm pretty sure that it's the driveshaft because it is VISUALLY out of phase. it may be an inch too short too. he had two cars before mine so i don't know if he has looked at it yet. yeah, i know. the noise was only under load. the trans/clutch with the driveshaft off makes no noise what so ever. part of the noise issue is that my floorboard is not finished and has a huge opening down there. all the drivetrain noise comes right into the cab unimpeded. having said this, i'm going to make sure that my new mechanic checks everything.
Um, I think a little of your problem is 175 posts worth of advice. Kinda clouds things up a little. I guess one more won't hurt though. Three things: NO.1 Make sure the engine/transmission is perpendicular to the rearend. If the centerline of the drivetrain is parallel to the frame rails, that should be close enough. The drivetrain doesn't have to be centered in the frame rails and it really doesn't have to directly line up with the pinion yoke. It does need to be perpendicular to the centerline of the rearend though. NO. 2 The driveshaft has to be the right length. Shove the yoke into the tailshaft of the transmission until it bottoms out, pull it out an inch and measure the distance between u-joints (while the truck is sitting at ride height). There's your driveshaft length No. 3 Make sure u-joints are in phase. It's not that hard. Pull the driveshaft, set the u-joint flanges on a level surface (like the Corvette half shaft above) and "rock" the shaft a little. You will be able to feel the rock if they are out of phase. I'll bet this (looks like new driveshaft, built by someone that knows what they are doing) will take care of your problems. If it doesn't, you might consider installing a Constant Velocity u-joint set up on the drive shaft. The factory used them on lots of driveshafts, but they are kind of a pain in the butt. Larry T
thanks larry! the trans/engine alignment can't change from the factory setting. the driveshaft however is visually out of phase and may be a tad too short. i need to find out the factory yoke runout on my truck because i'd like to have the new shaft made as long as possible.
I cut down a Gbody drive shaft and welded it back together using a piece of round stock clamped to the trailing arm as a indicator. Its smooth as silk. Just got back from a 600 mile trip to PCB. I will be the first to say that some people make this T5 swap stuff harder than it really is. Some things are best to be kept simple and not think to much into and and just do it.
we removed the driveshaft but before doing so i looked again to see how far the yoke was sticking out of the trans. it was almost 2"! then we looked at the shaft off the truck. it's way out of phase. so much so that we could see just by looking at it laying on the work bench. so it's out of phase by about 25º and needs to be an inch longer. that's the problem. if i had a car i'd have done this long ago and taken the shaft to fort worth gear myself. but only a motersickle for transport.
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