Driveshaft frustrations...

[StangLoveR]

Alright, I'm pretty heated right now about my experience with a recently installed driveshaft. Adding to my frustrations is the fact that swapping driveshafts on my car specifically is more so an ordeal because I have to drop the darn torque arm...:cuss:

I installed an aluminum DSS driveshaft, torqued everything perfectly, measured the distance DSS instructs you to measure to make sure its within tolerance, and everything checked out perfectly (distance was right in the center of their range).

Took the car out to Texas World Speedway and I got a vibration at about 120 mph. That ended that track weekend quickly.

Took it to my local race shop to confirm vibration in a more convenient setting (dyno) and indeed it's vibrating. Not violently, but definitely not right.

We unbolted the shaft on the transmission end and rotated it 180 degrees and gave it another go. This decreased the vibration a bit, but damnit it's still vibrating.

Any ideas? This is completely unacceptable to me, and now since I frankly don't have the time to deal with this problem I'm having to pay a shop to swap back the damn boat-anchor stock driveshaft since it, you know...WORKS.

Thoughts? I am most certainly not going to pay to ship this back to ensure proper driveshaft balancing/etc. and then pay to have it reinstalled just to continue experimenting.

 

[blackbeast12]

I had the same driveshaft before my Tremec upgrade and i found the even though its a cv joint d/s the pinion angle must still be set. check that your angle is -2 if your car is lowered! My car vibrated at 1st then i set the pinion angle to -2 and everything changed!

 

[ajpturbo]

I had the same driveshaft before my Tremec upgrade and i found the even though its a cv joint d/s the pinion angle must still be set. check that your angle is -2 if your car is lowered! My car vibrated at 1st then i set the pinion angle to -2 and everything changed!

DSS says on their site no need to change pinion angle on lowered cars...Which side is the truth on?

I don't understand this...I wanted one of these but now not so sure....Dss has told me that problems are usually from bad installs....How can you screw it up?

 

[hand-filer]

Send it back for a refund. That will end your problems with the DSS driveshaft. I had similar issues with mine and the response was: "you can send it back and we'll check it out but there probably won't be anything wrong with it"
My response was I'll send it back and take a refund. Their product is hit and miss.

 

[StangLoveR]

I called DSS last week to get their input, and they said pinion angle isn't really a concern, instead I need to check the distance I described above. So even they say pinion angle isn't a concern.

I purchased this from JPC during their holiday sale so I hope I don't get any trouble based on some technicality of it being purchased some time ago (too busy to install until recently).

I'll reach out to them and request a return.

I didn't mention above but, during install I noticed blue gunk (assuming loctite...) in the pinion side mounting holes of the driveshaft - for all I know this driveshaft was previously rejected by someone else.

 

[hand-filer]

I called DSS last week to get their input, and they said pinion angle isn't really a concern, instead I need to check the distance I described above. So even they say pinion angle isn't a concern.

I purchased this from JPC during their holiday sale so I hope I don't get any trouble based on some technicality of it being purchased some time ago (too busy to install until recently).

I'll reach out to them and request a return.

I didn't mention above but, during install I noticed blue gunk (assuming loctite...) in the pinion side mounting holes of the driveshaft - for all I know this driveshaft was previously rejected by someone else.

Could have been mine! :lol1: Good luck.

 

[blackbeast12]

How can dss possibly know the details of your suspension set up. How will you really know until you try adjusting your pinion angle. Check this out, if you would have called them before you purchased it and asked " does your driveshaft vibrate at high speed"? They would have said no! what do you have? A vibrating d/s! don't go by what they tell you, rule out all possibilities. Make the pinion angle adjustment before you decide to send it back. If it doesn't change then you know what to do next.

 

[VETTEHUNTER]

How can dss possibly know the details of your suspension set up. How will you really know until you try adjusting your pinion angle. Check this out, if you would have called them before you purchased it and asked " does your driveshaft vibrate at high speed"? They would have said no! what do you have? A vibrating d/s! don't go by what they tell you, rule out all possibilities. Make the pinion angle adjustment before you decide to send it back. If it doesn't change then you know what to do next.

For as easy as it is to adjust the angle, I agree….assuming you have an adjustable UCA.

 

[gremlinsteve]

Diss had a shaft failure in Europe. Completely screwed the guys too.
Blamed the install. That's why you get this distance bs.

So they can say that there pats where not installed correctly. The hafts are all the same length.......

I waited thre months for my diss shaft. Being lied to Ect. Regarding shipment

Bought a carbon shaft, received a aluminum....ughhhhhh!

 

[StangLoveR]

So, and again, the tech help at DSS itself said ensuring the distance is within tolerance takes care of any angle-related issues in light of the cv joint.

And, of course DSS doesn't know what suspension my car has (this is directed to whoever brilliantly posted above). They said that regardless of suspension, that distance measurement is what matters.

I can go beyond what DSS said to do and confirm the pinion angle is in a particular range.

What is the targeted angle? -1? 0? Full race suspension so don't have to account for movement of the rear.

 

[Riptide]

I can't imagine waiting months to get a carbon fiber, install it, and having a problem.

Seems like just about every brand has someone who gets one and experiences problems though.

 

[Jabooh1]

I think pinion angle is very much a concern. To say the it isn't an issue on lowered cars shows complacency or ignorance. Not saying that changing a bad angle would fix the vibration but it definitely isn't a good thing.

 

[clean92lx]

I had similar issues with mine and the response was: "you can send it back and we'll check it out but there probably won't be anything wrong with it"

So in other words, they either won't even check and say it was fine or they will check, and even if something is wrong, they'll still say everything was fine. Lol

Thanks for posting this OP, I've been on the fence about getting their d/s but after seeing this thread, I think I'll pass!

 

[Frank DSS]

you know we do go out of our way to help anyone with this sort of thing, these cars are plagued with Harmonics and sometimes putting the engle straight will help this (along with indexing) in fact if indexing the shaft helped it more then likely is a harmonic issue and not balance. are there any poly bushing or adjustable arms these parts tend to add to the problem, the reason there are rubber mounts and suspension parts are to eliminate this. by putting them in it will bring it back.

Were not the type of company to just walk away, we have spent more time and money on curing the issues this platform, my name is Frank and im the owner of DSS. please feel free to call me or email me and i will help till its fixed.


all of our shafts are balanced at actual speed so there is no question if the part is balanced.

its not the best video but it will give you the idea of whats done.
Driveshaft Shop high speed balancer .mov - YouTube

 

[Frank DSS]

I will help if you call me, 800-564-2244 Ext 201 Frank

 

[Frank DSS]

I think pinion angle is very much a concern. To say the it isn't an issue on lowered cars shows complacency or ignorance. Not saying that changing a bad angle would fix the vibration but it definitely isn't a good thing.

you are correct on this, the reason for the 2 piece shaft in the car is not only the CV being used but also the fact that there is a 9lb harmonic damper in the back shaft (on a stock one) We have done extensive work to this platform to make it right. if OP calls i will help

 

[ajpturbo]

Please post back the outcome...dss has told me that most problems come aftermarket uca that change suspension geometry...

They told me that if u are lowered but have stock uca you will be ok...

Im was ready to buy a carbon shaft but am waiting to see whats up with this case

 

[LTD5.0]

I had a bad vibration shortly after install. Unbolted the rear end of the drive shaft, rotated and reinstalled. I haven't had a problem since. I think it just didn't seat properly the first time. I'd try that before I did anything else. I never have checked the pinion angle so I can't say if that could be an issue. I've been very happy with my DSS and I'm glad to see the vendor on here standing behind his product.

 

[JUIC3D]

My pinion angle was way off after adding k member and different suspension parts. That translated into an obnoxious vibration around 5500rpms and a rear view mirror that was worthless and blurry. Once I reset the pinion angle to the proper point, the vibration went 100% away.

TLDR: correct your pinion angle

 

[4VFTW]

wtf... DSS driveshafts were made by the hand of GOD according to this site last year. No issues with my cheap POS Shaftmasters