WFO

Last week I broke my driveshaft for the second time. So I decided no more buying a stock one im getting this one rebuilt and made stronger.
So I take it to a local shop and tell him I need it redone to be stronger and longer. I made it very clear to him what im doing with the truck and that I didnt want to even have to worry about my driveshaft.

So he recommends using 0.090 wall 3" tubing and replacing the U-joints and balancing it. I say good.

So I pick it up yesterday and he tells me he had problems getting the splines to go back together and its probably just dirty and I will need to take it apart and clean the splines.

I take it home and it takes 10 minutes of hammering the shaft off just to get the splines apart. There is no way this drivshaft would work! You CAN NOT move the splines by hand whatsoever. Thats after cleaning and greasing them. I looked the splines over but I cant see anything wrong.

So im pissed. I paid the guy to give me a driveshaft I wouldnt have to worry about and he gives me one I cant even use. Im not sure what to do about it.
Im going back today to see what he will do for me.

Im guessing I will be going to the junkyard to buy driveshaft and have him take the spline ends off that and just put them on my shaft.

What else can I do?
What should I expect out of the guy who built the shaft?

dirtoyboy

almost sounds like the spline sections might be warped from welding or something causing binding...thats weird

toyminator2000

I think you should have just had one built from someone who knows what the Fu$% they're doing. I wouldn't have ever left the guys shop with one that didn't work. Take it back, tell him to build it right and if he cannot do that to refund your money. If he doesn't then report to the BBB and then name his shop on every off road forum you can.

WFO

Really it very well could've been damaged when the shaft broke. It was in two pieces when I brought him the shaft. I never even thought about checking to see if the splines still worked.

But why wouldn't he just tell me somethings wrong and its not gonna work?

dirtoyboy

He needed the money maybe? dunno...

Yea its probably when the shaft broke that messed it up....I over looked that part

gittinit

He (the shop guy) wasnt responsible for covering your butt. It was your responsability to make shure the core you were having rebuilt was a good one. He didn't do anything that would have damaged the shaft. I have modded my own and others offroad only type shafts a few times. I burned the welds in super hot and never have I warped the splines.

Lets see pics of the shaft at the splines and his welds, then we can help ya, but without trying to see what your working with I see no way you can blame the shop guy, for bad work.

Before I passed blame you also need to know what he did to your shaft. Did he chock it in a lathe, or could he have possibly hurt the spline while balancing it? What processes did he use? How did he weld it, MIG? TIG?


I sugesst taking a file to any rough surfaces, or possibly a dremmel. Just be shure and fit it over and over again till it slides easily. Don't take too much ot you will have excess play in your shaft, and ya know what happens when you can't controll your shaft.......babies.

WFO

I definatly agree with you there. Its my resposibility to give him a good shaft to work with. Thats why im not sure what to do here. I really should have checked it before I brought it to him. Im not trying to put the blame on this guy for messing up my shaft. But when he had to DRIVE the splines together he had to know that it wasnt right. I wish he had called me up and said hey you need to get me new splines, yours arent right. I would have taken care of it. Now its been over a week and im in the same boat I was in when I started.

Ill take some pics before I bring it back to him.
As far as what process he used I didnt even ask him. I dont know. I can ask when I go see him.

gittinit

He definately should have know better than to drive the splines together. Did he atleast keep it in phase when he welded it back together? Did he tell you he pounded it together or did you assume he did becouse you had to take it apart that way? It may just have a spot in there that is burred or rough. to get it together wouldn't take more than a little push, but pulling it back apart would be way harder.

toyminator2000

The only thing I can compare it to is I repair computers for a living. If somebody brings me a computer and says it needs a new dvd drive and while I'm installing it I discover thet there are other problems like viruses or sometheing else bad I should really inform the customer before repairing it to see what he wants to do instead of just fixing what he brought it in for and acting ignorant about the rest of the stuff.

If the expert is aware of another problem he/she does bear a certain amount of the responsibility to at least make the customer aware of it.

WFO

No he told me he had to drive them together but he said it was probably just dirty.

I looked over every tooth on the spline and I cant see any burrs or anything. Granted its hard to see all the way in.

Belize Off Road Team

Well, if he was a true professional he would have pulled them apart and had a full complete look to see WHY he was forced to drive them together rather than just keep pushing. So really the blame does fall on him as much you.

Crawdad

You probably very slightly twisted the splines when you broke it. If you look down the splines, can you see a slight twist on the male end?

They may BE just dirty - have you tried taking some solvent and a wire brush and cleaning the crap out of them? Or, take a file and just run it through every valley on the splines sections, just to clean up anything that might be hanging.

Then, put a good thin layer of grease on the shaft, and try and join them together. I've had some that were an absolute pain to get back together, but once they were joined it worked fine.

iselloil

Who did you use? Standard parts In Richmond Did mine,All Spicer,balanced.No problems.

iselloil

If he wont fix it,and you paid with a credit card,dispute the charge.

Crawdad

This is an option, but make sure you try and remedy it with the guy as much as possible beforehand.

Also, how much did you pay if you don't mind asking? I paid a local shop $75 cash to retube my Ramcharger's rear shaft when I twisted it into a spiral, and if the splines had been screwed up (or something else), I wouldn't have said anything because he was cutting me a deal and did it as a side job, cash only type of thing. However, if I paid a shop a couple hundred bucks to rebuild a shaft, I would definitely want them to have told me about it.

WFO

I paid him $200 to do it. Thats re-tubing it and installing new joints which I provided. Edit: and balancing it.

Well I went over there and told him whats going on and he said if I got him another spline he'd cut the bad one off and weld on the good one for $150. I said why didnt you tell me the splines were bad before you welded it on? He says he called me and told me this and I said to just clean it and put it together. Which never happened. He said something when I picked the shaft up about it being tight and he had to drive the splines together and that I would have to clean it.

So I told him im not paying you another $100 and then pay the junkyard $150 for a driveshaft when I can get a new one built from scratch for $350. He said go do that then. I said I will because I want it done right and not half-assed. And im not coming here again.
Im pissed.

So now on to plan B. I called a couple places to get a price on having one made.

I called Custom Driveshafts and they told me $339 for a single joint and $419 for a CV. 1310 joints 6 mo warranty and id have it in one week.

I also called Driveshaft Super Store and they told me $445 for a CV with 1350 joints and 6 mo warranty and it would be 2 weeks before id have it.

So im leaning towards Custom Driveshafts mainly because of the one week.

Where are some other good places to get one made?

Also am I really gonna need the 1350 joints as opposed to the 1310?

Oh heres a pic of the broken shaft:

904_runner

^^ holy crap, ive never seen anything like that, never seen a broken drive shaft before

dirtoyboy

Use the stock toyota joints....they are comparable in strength to one-tons...so no issues there....

I would recommend Tom Woods, Jesse @ Highangle Drivelines or Driveline Tech in Oregon......

These guys know what the f%&* they are doing!

WFO

Yeah the Custom Driveshafts place is Tom Woods. They are the ones who said they would be using 1310 joints.

Im leaning towards just getting the single joint shaft. Thats whats on the truck now. and its $80 more for the CV. Any reason I need to go with the CV?

Crawdad

Hahaha, I did exactly that in my Ramcharger. 350hp + 36" TSLS on dry pavement makes for a hell of a burnout... for about 30 seconds. I bet you twisted the splines up a little. He should have known to check for that before he started cutting, welding, and balancing.

Still, they guy is screwing you over. Contest the charges on your card, if you paid with one. $200 for a retube + joints is really high, in my opinion anyway.