What are the signs of the drive shaft carrier bearing failure?

For the past 2 weeks I've had a slight vibration. Not from a wheel or any suspension component. Now the vibration is noticeably getting worse (bad).

To day it was noticeably bad. Kinda felt like it was the driveshaft. I pull into a gas station to look under the truck. Nothing chafing against a rim or anything. Then I look at the rear drive shaft. The carrier bearing looks like it's seen better days.

My quest's are.

1) What are the signs of carrier bearing failure?
2) How long do I have before the d/s craps the bed?

3) Anything special about installing a one piece drive shaft?

I really need a 2 week window before I'll be able to replace the drive shaft. If things go sour before the 1st of the month I’m walking to work.

Here is a little bit of info for 98-00 carrier bearings. Don't know if it will help you or not.

This fix worked for me. I drove it from AZ to MS like that (1500 miles) and for the next three or four weeks following. I replaced it and the replacement started to tear, so I did the same thing, but with 3/8" fuel line and smaller cord. A few zip ties here and there for good measure.


It holds the bearing centered while allowing it to slide longways.

If you still have some rubber keeping it from turning, leave it there, but cut away all of the frayed junk and pack it with hose.

ZmagDnim- Thanks for the link

Reserector- My carrier bearing has very little rubber left. So you used 3/8 fuel like and some zip ties?

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Originally posted by LordBiotre:
ZmagDnim- Thanks for the link

Reserector- My carrier bearing has very little rubber left. So you used 3/8 fuel like and some zip ties?

Yep! Go for it. What have you got to lose? Cut the pieces about 1 1/2" long and stuff as many in there as you can. Zip-tie and/or lace them with strong cord to the outer loop.

What Res did was basically a trail fix (read - not a long term solution). You dont want to do that unless its absolutely necessary to get you home.

Just replace the bearing outright.

Scott

Mine has been trail fixed since March. The trail fix is holding up better that the replacement bearing. Now that you said what you did, I will have to leave mine trail fixed just to prove that I am not dispensing BS.

Besides. He asked for a solution to hold him over for a couple of weeks. I gave him what he asked for.

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Besides. He asked for a solution to hold him over for a couple of weeks.

I have a one piece d/s on order from ABC. I need a temp fix to get me to and from work until I get the part in. I was going to order from a junk yard. Then I would have to take it to a drive shaft shop to have the rebalance or check the balance of the d/s.

I just went with a new one piece. I know it's balanced and don’t need to be checked.

Further info about one piece drive shaft.

I ordered the part # on nissannut's web site. Because that part # has been tried and proven to work correctly on my truck.

373009Z000- Fits 2000-20004 short box crew cab and 2000-20004 frontier king cab. When I ordered my D/S from ABC I asked them to run the p/n and tell me what it fits.

Drive shaft came out to be 283.00+shipping. They have to order the part(2-3 days) then another 5 to ship from AZ. without N4W discount it's 330 something.

OMG, man that is crazy for a driveshaft. I had a one piece made to Nissannuts specs and it was only 93 bucks using my stock yolks.

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OMG, man that is crazy for a driveshaft. I had a one piece made to Nissannuts specs and it was only 93 bucks using my stock yolks.

was it dynamically balanced?.... Everything on a drive shaft is designed to go together. The yokes, hardware. It's all dynamically balanced as a assembly. If things are not balanced it will cause abnormal vibrations on a components. On a daily driver vibrations matter. I drive my truck 2-3K a month.

Yes it was dynamically balanced, i had a shop that does d-shafts for 18 wheelers make it. Not one bit of vibration, and it is my DD. You got shafted(pun intended).

That is steep for a driveshaft, but keep in mind he had to get new yokes and flanges too, and probaly has new u-joints as well....

For a new d-shaft, I had to spend close to 300 bux for my rear... using new schtuff. The only thing I didn't buy new, was the slip yoke that goes into the tcase... his is gonna be drop and swap, no messin with u-joints or anything.

Yep. I'm looking at $400 for the rear, and $300 for the front. Using .25 wall DOM tube and all new stuff. My center mini-shaft (H-yoke w/2 u-joints) was $65. All new.

My rear shaft was $468 delivered. My front shaft was well under $100 for all materials including a funky conversion ujoint.