Spydershaft Driveshaft Install!

[MrClean]

Don?

Um, no! LOL!
Johnmichael, what the excerpt from the bible referring to the sin of idolatry?

 

[scramblr]

Um, no! LOL!
Johnmichael, what the excerpt from the bible referring to the sin of idolatry?

Hey Hey there now. Remember you are an American citizen now and freedom of religion, or lack thereof, is freely practiced here!! And by the way, everytime I've sinned, I haven't been able to remember her name afterwards...

 

[Johnmichael]

Is there a rear end specialist you can call and and ask for guidance? I don't know if your ride's a DD, but I'd rather get that resolved before you drive that thing at all...hope you get this resolved...I'm sure the man upstairs will guide you....

Don't know of any. I'm hoping an expert here will check out the other thread I posted in will be able to guide me based on the info I'm providing. Worst case scenario, I tow it to a shop. At least I have AAA.

As for religion, there's a time, and place for it, but this technical thread isn't either, LOL. I do however appreciate the request for help from above, Marc.

 

[MrClean]

Hey Hey there now. Remember you are an American citizen now and freedom of religion, or lack thereof, is freely practiced here!! And by the way, everytime I've sinned, I haven't been able to remember her name afterwards...

 

[Johnmichael]

I got it all back together but haven't road tested it to see if all is well.

Here are some notes on the process:

Having a 12mm/12pt ratcheting wrench is extremely helpful with the install of the new DS.

When removing the stock DS, I laid a breaker bar across the exhaust to catch the DS when it came undone.

IMO, a puller is a must for removing the stock pinion flange. It took forever and a day to free it without one. I also had a tough time getting the tranny side of the stock DS off the flange, but a few good whacks finally separated it.

I had to put the rear of the car up really high (for greater height, do not lift via the differential, or place stands under axles tubes) and remove the driver side exhaust (after the mid pipe and back) to gain clearance to use my torque wrench on the pinion nut. This also helped with getting the new DS up in there without it hitting anything. Before attaching the new DS, I did load the suspension via lifting by the differential.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my torque wrench on the 8 flange bolts with just a universal socket. Taco Bill used a 12mm/12pt crows foot to do his, and that's what I'll have to get. The bolts are secure for now.

BTW, the 2 bearing carrier bolts are 13mm, not 14mm as stated.

Finally, the blue loctite is medium strength, the red is high strength (I'm knit- picking here, LOL). I went ahead and used the red on the 8 flanges which helped since I couldn't get a torque wrench on them, but I believe the blue is what's called for on those bolts.

 

[MrClean]

Well last night I bought a Swanson magnetic angle finder at Lowes for $9.89 plus tax (Summit had the same thing for $21, and O'Reilly's wanted $30), and I got under car 9no jack stands, as the pinion angle should be measured when the car is level, and my wife helped by taking pics of the agngle finder ( couldn't see the reading; blocked by the exhaust pipe), and I noticed one of the bolts that hold the UCA bracket in palce was backed out 1/4" (or it never made it all the way in). So 1st thing this morning I take it back to the shop that installed the Adj UCA/SpyderDS/Adj PH bar and when they unscrewed it out....the last 3/8" of the bolt was stripped...so they used a tap/die and rethreaded the fixed nut, and installed a new high-tensile bolt with red loctite paste and a lock washer and torqued it...to 75 lbs...it just wouldn't go further.

I think the dude was scared it it would strip again, so 75 ftlbs is what we left it at (spec for those is 85), but with the red loctite paste and lock washer's I should be OK right?

BTW, did the same on the other (right) rear UCA bracked bolt (cleaned thread w/tap-die, new bolt/red loctite/lock washer...

 

[LSlayer]

Well after several tries adjusting the P/A I still have vibes in my driveline and there all at the same speeds, 95-105. And then I have vibes on decel decelerating from 105 down to about 75. My wheels are stock, my UCA, LCAs and panhard bar are all poly. I'm lowered with Eibach prokit springs. I removed and reinstalled the D/S once and everything was torqued with a torque wrench and I also loctited everything. Not sure what other parts could be affecting the situation. I reclocked the pinion flange to the D/S to see if that would work. Right now my P/A is about -2 maybe -2.25. Maybe I'll take it to a driveline shop and make sure everything is balanced right. Any other suggestions? I just want to be one of the cool guys with the buttery smooth spydershaft. But one cool thing that did happen is that the spydershaft eliminated 95% of my gear whine.

 

[MrClean]

LSlayer: since you have the Adj LCA's as well, maybe its not the vertical pinion angle that's the problem, maybe one of the LCA's is shorter than the other, pulling the DS to one side and causing the Ujoint to make noise/vibrate?

The pinion angle I have is 1.5º to 2.5º (margin of error on the angle finder is a ½º).

The only other thing I could suggest, if you can't get this resolved, is to ask Ron if you can ship it back to him for an exchange....even with his high quality control there's bound to be a faulty one et some point...and if it still vibrates AFTER THAT, then something else is the culprit...

 

[2MFF]

Well after several tries adjusting the P/A I still have vibes in my driveline and there all at the same speeds, 95-105. And then I have vibes on decel decelerating from 105 down to about 75. My wheels are stock, my UCA, LCAs and panhard bar are all poly. I'm lowered with Eibach prokit springs. I removed and reinstalled the D/S once and everything was torqued with a torque wrench and I also loctited everything. Not sure what other parts could be affecting the situation. I reclocked the pinion flange to the D/S to see if that would work. Right now my P/A is about -2 maybe -2.25. Maybe I'll take it to a driveline shop and make sure everything is balanced right. Any other suggestions? I just want to be one of the cool guys with the buttery smooth spydershaft. But one cool thing that did happen is that the spydershaft eliminated 95% of my gear whine.

I'm in a similar situation. I installed mine last week and had a vibration from 2500-2800. Noticable more in 3rd & 4th gear. So, today we put the car back up to double check everything. I did the following:

• Marked the install location of the ds flanges relative to the trans flange and the pinion flange.
• Removed the driveshaft
• Checked pinon nut torque
• Checked pinion angle (using a digital level +/- .3)
• Checked torque of UCA bolts
• Checked LCAs for equal lengths
• Verified the position of the rear wheels/axle relative to the body and frame
• re-installed ds clocked 90* from original install location
• Checked for any interference between ds and safety loop (BMR - it is spaced forward for the MGW shifter) or body
• Checked for interference between shifter (MGW) and loop or ds

and I still have the vibration at the same rpm range.

We came to a similar conclusion that the ds or flange might be slightly out of balance.

LSlayer - when did you get your Spydershaft?

Perhaps the balancing machine was off????

 

[LSlayer]

LSlayer: since you have the Adj LCA's as well, maybe its not the vertical pinion angle that's the problem, maybe one of the LCA's is shorter than the other, pulling the DS to one side and causing the Ujoint to make noise/vibrate?

The pinion angle I have is 1.5º to 2.5º (margin of error on the angle finder is a ½º).

The only other thing I could suggest, if you can't get this resolved, is to ask Ron if you can ship it back to him for an exchange....even with his high quality control there's bound to be a faulty one et some point...and if it still vibrates AFTER THAT, then something else is the culprit...

I counted threads forward and aft of each jam nut on both LCAs and there equal but maybe I'll bust out the tape measure and double check the lenghts.

 

[LSlayer]

I'm in a similar situation. I installed mine last week and had a vibration from 2500-2800. Noticable more in 3rd & 4th gear. So, today we put the car back up to double check everything. I did the following:

• Marked the install location of the ds flanges relative to the trans flange and the pinion flange.
• Removed the driveshaft
• Checked pinon nut torque
• Checked pinion angle (using a digital level +/- .3)
• Checked torque of UCA bolts
• Checked LCAs for equal lengths
• Verified the position of the rear wheels/axle relative to the body and frame
• re-installed ds clocked 90* from original install location
• Checked for any interference between ds and safety loop (BMR - it is spaced forward for the MGW shifter) or body
• Checked for interference between shifter (MGW) and loop or ds

and I still have the vibration at the same rpm range.

We came to a similar conclusion that the ds or flange might be slightly out of balance.

LSlayer - when did you get your Spydershaft?

Perhaps the balancing machine was off????

I got my spydershaft about 2-2 and a half months ago. I'll run your checklist and see if anything comes up.

 

[Johnmichael]

2MFF, LSlayer, was a puller used to remove your stock pinion flange?

 

[scramblr]

My puller wouldn't fit so I used a pusher. 3lb short handle sledge hammer.

 

[LSlayer]

2MFF, LSlayer, was a puller used to remove your stock pinion flange?

Yep I used a puller.

 

[2MFF]

2MFF, LSlayer, was a puller used to remove your stock pinion flange?

Yes, I also used a puller.

 

[2MFF]

I'm in a similar situation. I installed mine last week and had a vibration from 2500-2800. Noticable more in 3rd & 4th gear. So, today we put the car back up to double check everything. I did the following:

• Marked the install location of the ds flanges relative to the trans flange and the pinion flange.
• Removed the driveshaft
• Checked pinon nut torque
• Checked pinion angle (using a digital level +/- .3)
• Checked torque of UCA bolts
• Checked LCAs for equal lengths
• Verified the position of the rear wheels/axle relative to the body and frame
• re-installed ds clocked 90* from original install location
• Checked for any interference between ds and safety loop (BMR - it is spaced forward for the MGW shifter) or body
• Checked for interference between shifter (MGW) and loop or ds

and I still have the vibration at the same rpm range.

We came to a similar conclusion that the ds or flange might be slightly out of balance.

LSlayer - when did you get your Spydershaft?

Perhaps the balancing machine was off????

I wanted to add that this is not a negative post regarding the Spydershaft. It has lived up to all of its claims. In fact, I have just finished a 5 hour round trip drive this morning (for you So Cal'rs - Huntington Beach to Rosamond/Palmdale and back) with speeds ranging from slow traffic to 100+, smooth roads, harsh roads, etc and the shaft was quiet and smooth. My issue, for lack of a better term, is very minor and will probably wind out being an issue of compounding tolerances causing a vibration.

 

[Johnmichael]

My puller wouldn't fit so I used a pusher. 3lb short handle sledge hammer.

I personally wish I never saw the option to use anything other than a puller, even so, I wish I had stopped and ran to the store when it first gave me a hard time coming off. I know I had some prior gear issues, but banging on things with precise measurements is never a good idea. Lesson learned.

 

[MrClean]

I personally wish I never saw the option to use anything other than a puller, even so, I wish I had stopped and ran to the store when it first gave me a hard time coming off. I know I had some prior gear issues, but banging on things with precise measurements is never a good idea. Lesson learned.

hindsight's 20/20 my friend! if I'd known my 1st wife would turn out to be a bitch from Hell, and my 2nd a pill-popping psycho, I'd have waited till I ran into my 3rd...

 

[Johnmichael]

Glad to see that the third time was a charm.

 

[94tbird]

hindsight's 20/20 my friend! if I'd known my 1st wife would turn out to be a bitch from Hell, and my 2nd a pill-popping psycho, I'd have waited till I ran into my 3rd...

hahahahahaha