Does anyone make a shim to cure drivetrain shudder? I recently installed 2" add a leafs on the rear of my crew cab diesel and the shudder is driving me nuts. I was thinking of making my own shim but I dont know how much to shim it. Any suggestions will help- thanks

 

Go to your local 4WD shop and they can order you a kit, or search online.

There are 2 types of setups that I've seen. One is the flat 1/4" shims that you can stack, the other is a one piece bracket at a preset drop lenght for a particular size lift. Your best bet for only 2" of lift is to get the shims, that way, if you still have driveline shudder, you can add or remove until it goes away.

 

you can make your own extremely easy out of anything...

 

The base line is a 1/4" of shim for every 1" of lift. So I would start out with a 1/2" of shim and go from there.

Fitter

 

Thanks guys i fabbed up 1/2" worth of shims and that did the trick.

 

I have this same shudder. 0 - 15 mph from a stop and then goes away. I bought this truck used with 10k miles on it. The guy I bought it from put a 2" leveling kit on it. Would that cause this shudder?

 

Possible, My brand new ford will do it shifting into 5th, but the first thing i did when i bought it was take the peg off the speedometer and add a supermicron chip, shifting into 5th somewhere around 80 going up a hill will cause mine to shudder, i'm not worried tho, once i add the turbo i will take a look underneath and make sure everything's rightey tightey, if not, warranty time, but i love the power it has, even with a shudder

 

I added 2" spacer to my truck 4X4 2000 F250 , 5.5 Fabtech Lift on 35's, and the shudder is still there, Front drive shaft and rear drive shafts are within 1.5degree of each other, still shudders. Im going to make a 1.75inch spacer , and a 2.5" spacer and try them both to see what happens,, still irratated with SHUDDER at 015mph,
The 2" spacer did stop the shudder from being as bad, but its still there.???

 

You have axle wrap and need a carrier bearing drop or traction bars.
And you have a driveshaft problem and probably need to have them balanced.

 

My shudder is from 0 to 15mph then goes away also.
My driveshafts need balancing? So if i have them balanced and it still does it, then what? any more suggestions. Carrier bearing is new, for got to mention that.and all new u-joints.
thanks.

 

If it goes away, I still say drive shafts. Axle wrap is usually only a problem up to 5 mph or so. If they don't balance and the carrier bearing drop doesn't work, then try a new shaft. I think balancing will solve it for you.

 

Forgive my inexperience please.

What is a carrier bearing? Is that a warranty item or a custom mod I need to do?

Thanks, I understand the concept of axle wrap i just don't have any practical knowledge or experience dealing with solutions to axle problems.

Thanks to everyone that has contributed!

 

Ok, for Roozter first - The driveshaft on your truck is a two piece unit. The carrier bearing is the bracket that sits right in the middle where they come together. Look at your driveshaft, you can't miss it. Any time you lift/level your truck this bracket needs to be shimmed down to maintain the correct angle between the two driveshafts. If not, you will get that drive away shudder for the first 10 mph. If you have modified your suspension in any way, Ford warranty will not cover it. It's extremely easy to do.

Next for Rufaast - I like to disagree with CWB on his response, just because I'm a jerk. Really you might not have your carrier bearing dropped down enough. My truck has 6" of lift and I have dropped mine a full 3 inches. From no shim up to 2 inches, I felt absolutely no difference in the drive away shudder. At 3 inches it went away completely. I learned from trial and error, and came extremely close to buying a one piece driveshaft or going with track bars. Shimming the carrier bearing was much cheaper and easier.

 

Thanks POCKET, I will Make a 3" drop shim and try it. Did you happen to write down the Front and REar driveshaft angles? are they close to the same etc.
Pocket do you have any vib's at crusing speeds?
What lift are you using? Tire size?
Thanks again,

 

Rufaast, just keep in mind that you might not necessarily need a full 3" drop on that carrier bearing. Like I said before, I learned through trial and error, asking questions from Ford dealership, various 4x4 shops, and others. My carrier bearing originally wasn't dropped when the lift was installed, then I put on a 2" drop, and still had drive away shudder. I got info from the local dealership here on driveshaft angles (they are very nice here for some reason). Here's what they gave me:

The U-joint operating angle is the angle formed by two yokes connected by a cross and bearing kit. Ideally, the operating angles on each end of the driveshaft must:
-be equal or withing one degree of each other
-have a three degree maximum operating angle (with the center U-joint)
-have at least one-half of one degree continuous operating angle.

The page reference from the dealer is 2002 Excursion, F-Super Duty 250-550, pages 205-00-11 and 205-00-12. There's much more info there.

Now there are some folks here with the same size lift, and their drive away shudder was cured with a smaller drop on the carrier bearing. Not every truck is the same, so 3" may or may not work for you. I just believe that to cure a problem, you have to look for the easiest and cheapest solution first.

To answer your other questions:
-No, I have no vibs at any speed from 0-100 mph
-I have a 6" Skyjacker lift, the carrier bearing drop bracket is from Superlift, tires are BFG 315/75/16