Drive Shaft replace or repair?

Update: Vibration described in earlier post now gone. https://trucksupplyco.com/locations/columbia-sc/ replaced 3 u-joints and Carrier bearing with Spicer parts. Cost less than half cost of new oem drive shaft. Excellent experience , First time there. Friendly people. Treated me like family. They removed drive shaft, replaced parts and I was on my way home in 1 1/2 hours.


Planning on replacing drive shaft with bad u-joints and carrier bearing on Tundra limited with 180 k. Deciding whether to buy this https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=10615616&cc=1432861&pt=2308&jsn=399
or have the u-joints and carrier bearing replaced on my original shaft. The shop doing the work will do either, but needs my truck all day if the replace parts only which would be inconvenient to me. If I get the new shaft they will put it on for 1 hr labor charge. Suits me better. Is the rock auto shaft good quality?

 

I wouldn't buy that, mostly because it pretty clearly says at RockAuto that's for 4WD and not RWD. At least your truck info says yours is 2WD, which is RWD. But also because it's a CARDONE product, and I'm not a fan of the brand.

Based on what I'm seeing at RA, knowing Ultra-Power is complete horseshit, and you're 2WD, it really doesn't look like you can get anything less than the DORMAN at $657.

Which leads me to ask: Why are you replacing the shaft, is it rusted beyond rehab or banged up all to hell? You should be able to go into any driveline specialty shop and have them replace the U-joints, carrier bearing, balance the shaft, all with Spicer (it's the OEM brand) for under $300, maybe under $200. **IF** you take it to a driveshaft specialty shop that's reasonably rated. We have a good one on the south side of ATL that comes out to parts cost + 20% typically on something like this. This is NOT something I'd take to a chain store. Depending where you are in SC, surely there must be a driveshaft/driveline shop somewhere within 30 mins?

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If you are going to hold onto the truck for a while, replace the individual joints that need replaced and have the cardan joint rebuilt/replaced. Anything aftermarket (for cheaper) is going to have cheap u-joints. The labor costs are terrible, but you'll probably be happier with the result. What is the price difference between rebuilding and replacing?

What you might do is pull the driveshaft off yourself and have a machinist (someone with a press) replace the U-joints. That might be considerably cheaper. Mechanics just cost too much, especially the bad ones.

 

Thanks , I will stay away from Cardone. After I went to their website, It seems they are not carrying driveshafts for my vehicle any longer. I found the one I listed at Rockauto as a closeout item. The reason I wanted to replace the entire shaft assembly was the shop said they needed a full day to replace parts on my shaft and only 1 hour to change out the shafts. My drive shaft is in excellent condition. So unless I can find a quality shaft assembly I will make arrangements to leave my truck all day

 

Well, I guess what I'd tell you, other than "find another driveline shop, because that's not an all-day job", is this.

I used the sticky thread for parts finding in the EPC. I looked up a random DC that's 2WD for 2006 and pushed its VIN into the EPC.

It spit out 37100-0C071 as the driveshaft assembly for your truck, and Toyota still makes it (click that link). While it shows up as $1,300 MSRP for a complete end-to-end driveline at that link to the Toyota Parts site, when I chose "shop this dealer" for my nearest participating dealer in the Toyota Parts Program, I see I could technically pick up new OEM if ordering that way for $900.

That said, if you were to wait for the next parts sale, you could probably pick up the exact same part for as little as $650 (usually you can net 20-25% off w/free ship and such). And if you were to order from HERE, you could get the same shipped, free, and no tax. If it were me, I'd wait, get OEM, and pay the hour for install. But I'd also get a 2nd opinion from another driveline/driveshaft shop, because they should only need to replace for 2WD, what, the center carrier, and 3 u-joints? Dude. 2 hours work, max.

 

You know, you can rent a car for ~ $60

 

Thanks, found that the reason they wanted all day is because they were going to remove and send driveshaft to another shop to have parts replaced. I will find that other shop and go to them for a quote.

 

Here are the part numbers for 2wd (basically oem) I had a driveshaft shop do mine and it was about 250 I don’t remember. But they did everything. They had the truck for about 2 hrs, even drove it to my house to test it. I did have to drive the employee back for me to test it hahaha

bought from summit racing

 

I don't believe that's the correct carrier bearing. It'll technically work for 4WD, but it's not for 2WD nor is it the OEM equivalent, per Spicer.

I noticed the part number you have is the one Rock Auto will try to feed you if you put the Toyota OEM # into their system, but it's not what Dana/Spicer gives you when you look up the parts in their system. I trust Dana/Spicer over RA any day.