The whole vibration issue caused by the propshaft has been covered many times in varying degrees of depth and no need to go into it fully again, however had the opportunity to take a few pic`s of a unit today that explains a less known or discussed area of the bearing support issue.

 

A short recap to begin, firstly failure of the proshaft bearing is really an inaccurate description as the steel bearing itself is not really the problem but the rubber donut shaped support section that houses the bearing.

 

This rubber section when new is very compliant and allows the propshaft when spinning to find its own nature alignment of the front and back section by centrifugal force, and assuming the propshaft is well balanced with good flange joints no vibration issues will be experienced.

 

However over time the rubber support gets less compliant and hence the props natural alignment can be harder to achieve especially when the rubber is cold like when starting off on a new journey, this also explains why as the rubber is warmed by the exhaust and the action of the rotating prop the compliance increases and the vibration will be much less or even gone all together when in the early stages.

 

So left as is not only will the problem get worse but in some cased it will oddly go away, but often it will then be replaced by a clunk from underneath when taking off, this will be felt worse in a manual zed incidentally.

 

This is the time when it can seem less of a problem, but the reality is shown in the photo's below, the non compliant rubber support has eventually torn and broken away, leaving the prop to align better than previously so less or no vibration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now given the bearing surround is encased in a metal hoop does mean the unit cannot fail massively and fall from the vehicle in any way, however it does increase load on the front joint where it enters the gearbox and in one case we dealt with a damaged gearbox tail section due to the eventual wear on the front joint transferring to the gearbox.

 

So if you had vibration that seems to of gone away get your zed on a ramp and get the support bearing rubber checked thoroughly as you can see it just may be on the next stage.

 

Jeff TT

Great advice as always Jeff!

 

Thanks.....

 

Richard:thumbup1:

bud...thats bad. Was someone driving on that!!??

That is bad lol, but when mine went the rubber had completely disappeared. I got the banging under the tunnel when pulling away, then silence once going along. Replaced with a secondhand one, but now got vibration :hammer:

Great advice as always Jeff!

 

Thanks.....

 

Richard:thumbup1:

 

Your welcome !!

 

bud...thats bad. Was someone driving on that!!??

 

Yes has come in for a manual conversion, the auto box had popped anyhow so cannot say how it felt.

 

Replaced with a secondhand one, but now got vibration :hammer:

 

Most likely needs balancing.

 

Jeff

And here's why not to buy a 2+2 TT propshaft from the US

:blush: like wot I did.

And here's why not to buy a 2+2 TT propshaft from the US

 

I made that mistake too some years back when i bought a 1 piece one, wrong length!

Suspose it didn't help that the US didn't have 2+2 TT's in the US lol

smithy

I'm about to undergo this, got a prop just incase but fingers crossed its just the bearing. Quite a bit of vibration between maybe 50 and 80 and sometimes when pulling away a knocking (although that could be my rear wheel bearings,which i'm also about to change) so thanks Jeff gave me a bigger insight to the problem :-)

 

Has anyone used a cheaper centre bearing (i've seen them for £40) and experienced any problems?

I bought a nissan 1 from the states as i didn't want to risk having to take it all apart again.

Hi Jeff

 

Maybe a note about Zedworld one piece propshaft prices here if people are buying from the states and getting the wrong thing ?