I have a nice vibration in my Camaro that has been amplified since changing my u-joints. I have checked everything out, and it's all installed correctly, but I noticed that I have a balancer on my yoke that the rubber is cracked and coming out of. Could this be the source of my vibration? If so, is there a place that I can get just a yoke, or is there a place to pick up an entire driveshaft?

 

It's not a balancer, it's a damper, and yes, it is there to dampen vibrations. If the rubber is not attached firmly, it won't work.

Sometimes you can reduce vibration issues by undoing the rear yoke u-joint cap bolts and rotating the driveshaft 180-degrees.

 

I tried to turn it 180*, and it's still there, just at a higher MPH. can I get a yoke to replace that, or find one without the damper? Or would it be easier/cheaper to replace the entire driveshaft?

 

I have personally cured this issue in the past with an aluminum LS shaft, if you can land a good deal on one, I'd recommend

 

is there a way to replace just the tailshaft yoke? If not, I was looking at LS1 driveshafts.

 

Anyone have any input on this? I have been looking for a yoke, but I have also been looking at driveshafts. I don't really want to spend 100+ dollars and have to go through swapping u-joints to it (if they're compatible).

 

I decided to go with an aluminum driveshaft. I'm not making much power, so I'm not concerned with breaking it.
The question I have for this is, can I run the same u-joints? It appears to call for them, but they have the inside snap rings instead of the outside like the steel driveshaft

 

anyone?

 

What vehicle did the aluminum DS come out of?

 

It says it came out of an '88 GTA. It doesn't have the damper, and I'm hoping I can get away without it.

 

Does anyone know what u-joints I need?

 

I have no idea what u-joint was used in an 88.

 

For the steel, it calls for the same one as my '95, but the aluminum has outside snap rings instead of inside ones.

 

By "inside" do you mean the factory plastic rings which are injected internally between the yoke and the beraing cap? Replacemet u-joint has snap rings which fit into a groove on the yoke and ride against the end of the bearing cap. I don't think GM has used a snap ring that clips on the bearing cap and rides against the inside shoulder of the yoke for a long time (maybe 1988 is a long time ago?).
C-clip location makes no difference as long as ujoint fits -- bearing cap OD is same as ID on the differential yoke.

The dampner on the tranny yoke is intended to reduce the shaft vibration being transmitted to the tranny; a larger OD aluminum shaft has a higher ciritical speed than the smaller OD, stock steel shaft, so, in theory, would have less vibrational issues than the stock shaft so dampner probably not as important. (The steel shaft LT1 f-bodies have a known vibration issue, which is why GM went to the aluminum shaft in the LS; GM did keep the dampner on the LS though.) There are companies that rebuild the dampners available online if you are having trouble locating a new dampner?

 

The driveshaft arrived yesterday, and while I was looking at it, I noticed that the tranny yoke has Spicer stamped on it, and that the joints are spicer. There is no nylon injected into these yokes (thank goodness!). I was able to find a site that lists the correct joints, now I am trying to find someone that carries them.