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How many have had their driveshafts balanced? THE POLL

have you balanced your driveshafts. click below for front AND rear

  • FRONT previously unused NOS post truck purchase install - NOT BALANCED

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • FRONTpreviously unused NOS post truck purchase install - BALANCED

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • FRONT custom/rebuilt post truck purchase install NOT BALANCED

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • REAR previously unused NOS post truck purchase install - NOT BALANCED

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • REAR previously unused NOS post truck purchase install - BALANCED

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • REAR custom/rebuilt post truck purchase install NOT BALANCED

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    18

coachgeo

Well-known member
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Location
North of Cincy OH
Tennmogger had a good point that details about what was done to ones shaft beside or beyond balancing is good too..... so this thread is the poll and other can be about details.


to better piggy back on this have set up the poll so one can see whom clicked on what...... with that information you could essentially pop over to below thread and compare with voters who have kindly posted details.

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showt...ir-driveshafts-balanced&p=2251166#post2251166
 
Last edited:

Awesomeness

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Mine both required balancing, new u-joints, and one of them even a yoke replaced. The imbalance cracked the engine block, even though you really couldn't feel anything serious from inside the cab (e.g. little or no warning, until stuff starts breaking). The shaft with the yoke replaced was around $500 to have fixed, while the other one was about $350, including new u-joints which are about $50/ea. There is a lot more info about it here in my "common problems / fixes" document in my signature, which is partially distilled from several lengthy posts here on SS from various users.
 

wandering neurons

Active member
249
113
43
Location
Fallon, NV
From the other recent driveshaft posting:
My M1081 had the supposed modified drive shafts. Ran fine down the road but I wasn't convinced all was well. When I bought the truck, the bolts on the bracket between the air compressor and the power steering pump were missing, as were the bolts for the alternator. Less than 12,000 miles on the odometer.
Fast forward several years, I pulled both shafts, dropped them at a truck driveline rebuild shop. Both shafts had badly worn splines, the front worse than the rear. Both shafts were completely rebuilt, and it's like night and day, the noise and vibration difference is huge from before to after.
I'm not sure that my drive from Colorado Springs, CO to Fallon, NV would have been as successful or comfortable without the rebuild.
Oh, BTW, was about $1400 total for complete rebuild. About the only reused parts were sections of tubing and yokes.
 

Reworked LMTV

Expedition Campers Limited, LLC
Supporting Vendor
1,506
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TN
Interesting. No warning. Just read your write up. Excellent. So when they redid the driveshafts, did they balance them? (Designation "D")

Mine both required balancing, new u-joints, and one of them even a yoke replaced. The imbalance cracked the engine block, even though you really couldn't feel anything serious from inside the cab (e.g. little or no warning, until stuff starts breaking). The shaft with the yoke replaced was around $500 to have fixed, while the other one was about $350, including new u-joints which are about $50/ea. There is a lot more info about it here in my "common problems / fixes" document in my signature, which is partially distilled from several lengthy posts here on SS from various users.
 

m-35tom

Well-known member
Supporting Vendor
3,021
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Location
eldersburg maryland
My A0 came with the 'D' on data plate. Both shafts were out of balance and slip joints badly worn (.050" on front). Bought NEW rear shaft with weights welded on, it was way out of balance.
 

CMPPhil

Well-known member
536
376
63
Location
Temple, NH
Hi

Very interesting poll, where do you put - Freshly made drive shafts - as in having a drive shaft shop bill an all new shaft ?

Also I am reading the pole as an open pole for all MVS is that correct?

Cheers Phil
 

coachgeo

Well-known member
5,146
3,461
113
Location
North of Cincy OH
Hi
where do you put - Freshly made drive shafts - as in having a drive shaft shop bill an all new shaft ?

Also I am reading the pole as an open pole for all MVS is that correct?

Cheers Phil
new from scratch rear..... goes here REAR custom/rebuilt post truck purchase install BALANCED. I should have used "or" instead of "/"

this fits the MTV EXCEPT for the most aft short drive shaft between the back two axles?
 

Awesomeness

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Location
Orlando, FL
Interesting. No warning. Just read your write up. Excellent. So when they redid the driveshafts, did they balance them? (Designation "D")
If you're asking when the government ("they") upgraded all the FMTV shafts to the Designation "D" shafts, were they balanced? I think the answer is yes, but I'm not sure to what extent. My driveshafts did not have any visible balancing weights, or obvious external machining marks (e.g. notches, holes, flat spots, etc.) where they could have been balanced after assembly. I've seen a few others, and there are a couple posts here, that indicate the same is true on other people's driveshafts. They must have been balanced somehow, to some level, but how? Do they measure the balance of individual parts, and then assemble shafts based on matching parts? Is there a non-obvious way to balance these, that I'm not thinking of? On civilian vehicles, I don't think I've ever seen a driveshaft, even from the factory, that did not have balance weights (or some obvious method) on it. So I don't really know. It has some big weights welded to it now, that's for sure.

I'd be curious about the how many have tube deadeners replaced or deleted, per Awesomeness's guide:


Another good question. I don't know if all the shafts have them inside to begin with. Then, if it's not bad or causing problems, I assume they would leave it in there. If they took it out, would they even bother telling you, or would they just consider it "not a big deal"? I'm guessing most people don't have to have the shaft cut open in the first place, like I did, so it may just go undiscovered.
 
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ckouba

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Oregon
Rebuilt all three shafts for my 1088 and it made a world of difference. New yoke/spline for one shaft, balanced all three, all new U-joints. Super smooth.

Chris
 
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