My Shudder problem cure..very happy with the result

[Brett05]

well guys/girls,
i was going down the path of the 1 piece tail-shaft to the point where i almost started machining and fabricating the parts. Then i had a re-think on how to go about reducing the shudder by lowering the center bearing. So i decided to lower the center bearing support bracket as apposed to modifying the center bearing itself. Did a quick sketch on the work bench, then measured and drew up what i wanted to achieve. Cut, milled and drilled the parts i had in mind. Got my son to weld off the small fabrications and help with the install.


Removed the tail-shaft and then set about cutting off the existing support bracket.....this was the point of no return. BIG BIG deep breath and away we went with the 5 inch grinder.....removed the brackets and cleaned up the old welds left on the cross member. Put the tail-shaft back in with the new supports attached to the center bearing. Centered the tail-shaft and tack welded the bracket to the cross member. Removed the center bearing and tail-shaft and welded off the supports. Let it all cool enough to bolt the center bearing to the new supports and have about 2mm clearance from the bottom of center bearing to the cross member......took for test drive.

I CAN NOT BELIEVE THE DIFFERENCE IN MY TRUCK

drove 30 ks home and had the biggest smile on my face.....absolutely no shudder what so ever in first. What was there before has completely gone. Driving down the highway was different....i cant explain what was there before, but its gone now....its just so smooth. I don't know.....it's probably what it should have been like when i bought the truck.

Anyways...thought I'd take a few happy snaps of the removal, install and finished job

MODS: If this needs to be moved or merged please do so

cheers
Brett
quick work bench sketch

quick mock-up to see if alls going to plan


the point of no return, cutting off the support brackets

all cleaned up and ready for the new support brackets

all done and dusted......welded off and painted

[ag9111]

CAD em up. Looks the goods.
I picked up the shudder on my MN which wasn't supposed to happen. Would be real interested in the drawings or even sketches. PM me if you dont want them spread around for legal reasons

[fridgie]

Hey mate, once I get mine lifted I might need to give you a call and see if I can persuade you somehow to do the same for me

[Brett05]

CAD em up. Looks the goods.
I picked up the shudder on my MN which wasn't supposed to happen. Would be real interested in the drawings or even sketches. PM me if you dont want them spread around for legal reasons

No probs mate, I'll do a better cad drawing up and drop it on here. Will do it after the Teerwah trip away.

Fridgie,
Will have a beer and a chat about it on the Teerwah trip.
Cheers
Brett

[mad992]

MATE LOOKS TOPS

[kevin]

Good job!

[snowman]

Brett,

no guts no glory eh! good work and write up.

how much did you lower the bearing in total?

is the front shaft still coming out of the back of the gearbox straight?

Do you need to wedge the gearbox down a bit at the back to pick up the slightly lower angle?

[Brett05]

Brett,

no guts no glory eh! good work and write up.

how much did you lower the bearing in total?

is the front shaft still coming out of the back of the gearbox straight?

Do you need to wedge the gearbox down a bit at the back to pick up the slightly lower angle?

Lowered the center bearing by about 11mm. What did find was the center bearing was off center by approx 5mm. We measured, put straight edges all over it... Measured again, and that's how much it was out. So not only fighting an increased angle on the tail shaft, I also had a 5mm dog leg to contend with. Anyways, we got it on center now. The small tailshaft is is almost on the same plane now as the rear one. I did nothing more to the driveline other than replace the supports....oh...and greased the uni's while I had it off. Will try and get a few side on photos showing the tailshaft angle

Cheers
Brett

[subi_man]

Great work Brett - someone here (Sam or Jop or Jitsuka I think) had lowered their centre bearing by cutting & shortening the stock mounts with good results some time ago - never been game to tackle it myself

[Brett05]

never been game to tackle it myself

i was pretty nervous to start with.........once we started, it wasn't an issue. Now that i know what to do.......i'd do it again, no probs
job only took about 2 hours

[jop]

I haven't done it - but ironman at brendale have apparently done it to a few of some associated tritons with great success, there was thread or 2 a while ago - Eelsey did it slightly different viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3025&p=44217&hilit=bearing+lower#p44217

Nice work Brett!

I am now carrying a lot more weight in the rear of mine and will be getting the rears done soon, if shudder occurs, i will be going this option.

Could be worth your while to fabricate up some sets of brackets?

[Brett05]

I haven't done it - but ironman at brendale have apparently done it to a few of some associated tritons with great success, there was thread or 2 a while ago - Eelsey did it slightly different viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3025&p=44217&hilit=bearing+lower#p44217

Nice work Brett!

I am now carrying a lot more weight in the rear of mine and will be getting the rears done soon, if shudder occurs, i will be going this option.

Could be worth your while to fabricate up some sets of brackets?

Was thinking about that...might get a few sets laser cut and welded off ready to go

[chaser]

Is the tail shaft still offset by 5mm??? if not you might want to offset it the way it was before you modified it...

[jop]

Why? - bit vague there chaser.

[Steane]

I haven't done it - but ironman at brendale have apparently done it to a few of some associated tritons with great success, there was thread or 2 a while ago - Eelsey did it slightly different viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3025&p=44217&hilit=bearing+lower#p44217

Nice work Brett!

I am now carrying a lot more weight in the rear of mine and will be getting the rears done soon, if shudder occurs, i will be going this option.

Could be worth your while to fabricate up some sets of brackets?

Was thinking about that...might get a few sets laser cut and welded off ready to go

I'd be happy to buy a set Brett

Just had the Ultimate suspension fitted and it was shuddering through first and second. Has since settled a little and the shudder is barely there, but it would be nicer if it wasn't there at all.

If you go into production, put my name on the customer list!

[Brett05]

I haven't done it - but ironman at brendale have apparently done it to a few of some associated tritons with great success

That's where I got the idea from.... I work at Brendale and spoke to Ironman last week about this. They mod the existing OEM brackets. I decided to make a complete new set.

Chaser, not quite sure what you are referring to. The way I have it set up now, everything is inline. I have moved the center bearing so it now sits in the center of the chassis rails, not 5 mm to the right.
What I have done is rid my truck of the shudder that pissed me off so much. If the 5mm offset was supposed to be there, then I can live with the mistake I made and have zero shudder
Cheers
Brett

[jop]

I haven't done it - but ironman at brendale have apparently done it to a few of some associated tritons with great success

That's where I got the idea from.... I work at Brendale and spoke to Ironman last week about this. They mod the existing OEM brackets. I decided to make a complete new set.


Cheers
Brett

Yeah i thought that might be the case - love your work
Would love to havea look at teewah mate.

[chaser]

Now why do you think that the tail shaft is off set??? Not dead center, because when the tail shaft rotates in the same spot all the time it will wear out one side of the uni joint/center bearing. They offset the tail shafts to keep everything out of phase to load all the uni's up on all surface's. Now i would suggest that you get back under there and put it back to 5mm off center, before you break something.

Maybe talk to your local drive line shop and ask there opinion about it...

[gregned]

I love this shit it's called tribology

[Longranger1]

Wouldn't movement in the vertical axis i.e. suspension movement do the same thing?

[gregned]

Yes it would but only in one plane, imagine traveling on the nullarbor you wouldn't have any usefull movement for ages and there would only be one point of contact on each bearing cup getting loaded with 5mm off set the load would be spread over about 2 degrees.

[reeldreamer]

Hey Brett,
Very impressed with your handy work! I have been living the nightmare on my car trying to rid it of the shudder.......I have had my car at driveline services having a new centre bearing installed and a slip joint put on the tail shaft to no avail! I am keen to try your way. Out of interest how far did you lift your truck? Is that the standard centre bearing? Did you have the shudder accelerating and decelerating? Mine occurs around 1700-1900 rpm up and down the rev range!

Mitch

[Brett05]

Hey Brett,
Very impressed with your handy work! I have been living the nightmare on my car trying to rid it of the shudder.......I have had my car at driveline services having a new centre bearing installed and a slip joint put on the tail shaft to no avail! I am keen to try your way. Out of interest how far did you lift your truck? Is that the standard centre bearing? Did you have the shudder accelerating and decelerating? Mine occurs around 1700-1900 rpm up and down the rev range!

Mitch

hey Mitch
sorry to hear you still have your shudder
i have a 2" Ironman lift
Front is 610mm center of wheel to bottom of wheel arch
Rear is 650mm " " " " "
some photos of what you have had done so far would be good
i had the same issue as you, shudder on take off and slight shudder on trailing throttle about the same RPM as you have stated.
PM me your number if you want to have a chat about your prob and what i did

[chaser]

Yes it would but only in one plane, imagine traveling on the nullarbor you wouldn't have any usefull movement for ages and there would only be one point of contact on each bearing cup getting loaded with 5mm off set the load would be spread over about 2 degrees.

spot on the money there mate, just offset it a little bit to load up all face's of the uni. That way they wont fail prematurely....

[Brett05]

Now i would suggest that you get back under there and put it back to 5mm off center, before you break something

I'll take that as smack on the wrist for being a bad boy....thanks mate.
I had enough adjustment in the center bearing bracket to get back out there and put it back the way it was...about 5mm offset now. I'm no expert on this and it hasn't affected what I did last Friday, so all appears to be good still.
Thanks for your input Chaser