Anyone have a custom rear driveshaft made for a lifted 1500 RCSB 4x4?

[Abrams117]

Curious if anyone has ever had custom shaft made for the rear of a lifted 1500 regular cab short bed 4x4. Mine has the 5 inch rear lift springs from Zone on it and I have been chasing down a clunking noise since it was lifted. I had a shop diagnose it and they supposedly found that the rear end had metal in the fluid so I had them rebuild it with new bearings and LSD since I could'nt get it warrantied due to the lift. Well I still have the noise after the rebuild and I'm beginning to wonder if it's the slip yoke on the back of the transfer case not getting enough spline engagement from the stock shaft being too short. The truck makes a clunking like noise when coasting/decelerating about 50mpg and above. I'm determined to get this build to work and be functional. My truck is a 2022 Ram 1500 Classic.

 

[DILLIGAF]

Id start by checking your pinion angle to you output shaft angle. Mine were way off after my 6" rear lift. You need adjustable control arms to fix this issue.

The fact you had issues with metal in your housing tells me it might be off like mine was, causing lots of vibration on the pinion, causing premature wear on bearing resulting in lots of metal in the housing.

When the angles are off it will also cause clunking noises as the U-joints aren't clocked properly.

 

[Abrams117]

Id start by checking your pinion angle to you output shaft angle. Mine were way off after my 6" rear lift. You need adjustable control arms to fix this issue.

The fact you had issues with metal in your housing tells me it might be off like mine was, causing lots of vibration on the pinion, causing premature wear on bearing resulting in lots of metal in the housing.

When the angles are off it will also cause clunking noises as the U-joints aren't clocked properly.

The shop did check the angles and said they were good. I do have adjustable control arms upper and lower from Core 4x4. I'm tempted to take it to a Jeep shop to see what they can do. Interesting enough there was a whine at 60mph and above which is gone now after the rebuild but the clunk is still there. I may have to try measuring the angles myself. I dont know how much play there is supposed to be on a stock truck but the slip yoke on the output of the transfer case does have a slight bit of movement when I push the shaft up and down.

 

[Wild one]

Curious if anyone has ever had custom shaft made for the rear of a lifted 1500 regular cab short bed 4x4. Mine has the 5 inch rear lift springs from Zone on it and I have been chasing down a clunking noise since it was lifted. I had a shop diagnose it and they supposedly found that the rear end had metal in the fluid so I had them rebuild it with new bearings and LSD since I could'nt get it warrantied due to the lift. Well I still have the noise after the rebuild and I'm beginning to wonder if it's the slip yoke on the back of the transfer case not getting enough spline engagement from the stock shaft being too short. The truck makes a clunking like noise when coasting/decelerating about 50mpg and above. I'm determined to get this build to work and be functional. My truck is a 2022 Ram 1500 Classic.
View attachment 529192

You have a standard steel shaft,with a slip yoke,any decent driveline shop can lengthen and balance it,probably won't be cheap as you'll need a new tube,unless you can find a longer shaft the same diameter,and they can just cut it to length. Pull the shaft and see how much engagement you have on the output shaft of the transfer case.While you have the shaft out,check your pinion angle to output shaft angle

 

[Abrams117]

You have a standard steel shaft,with a slip yoke,any decent driveline shop can lengthen and balance it,probably won't be cheap as you'll need a new tube,unless you can find a longer shaft the same diameter,and they can just cut it to length. Pull the shaft and see how much engagement you have on the output shaft of the transfer case.While you have the shaft out,check your pinion angle to output shaft angle

Think I'm gonna buy an actual inclinemeter. I was using an app on my phone (with driveshaft attached) and am not sure I have accurate readings.

Pinion angle - 4.8°

Driveshaft angle - 14.6°

Transfer case - 3.2° (I went off of the flat seal)

Gonna grab a digital angle finder from lowes tommorow and remeasure.

 

[Wild one]

You need the angle off the flange at the rear-end,and the angle off the output shaft of the transfer case,compare the 2,and hopefully you only have at most 1.5 degrees differance,with the pinion/flange being no more then 1.5 degrees lower,the driveshaft angle is nice,but it's not what you actually need.
Your measurements if accurate are close to being good with about a 1.6 differance,but try to get the angle off the output shaft ,and the flat face of the rear flange

 

[DILLIGAF]

My output shaft is 4.52 Deg
My diff is 4.59 Deg at the flange

 

[Abrams117]

You need the angle off the flange at the rear-end,and the angle off the output shaft of the transfer case,compare the 2,and hopefully you only have at most 1.5 degrees differance,with the pinion/flange being no more then 1.5 degrees lower,the driveshaft angle is nice,but it's not what you actually need.
Your measurements if accurate are close to being good with about a 1.6 differance,but try to get the angle off the output shaft ,and the flat face of the rear flange

I haven't taken the shaft off yet but with the digital angle finder I got today, I was able to get measurements that were within a degree of each other. I did get some video of the acceleration shudder though, you can see the whole powertrain shaking on take off from a dead stop.

Acceleration Shudder

I think I am going to stop driving it on the highway to prevent destroying the rear end for now. Luckily I have a car to get around in.

 

[Abrams117]

I haven't taken the shaft off yet but with the digital angle finder I got today, I was able to get measurements that were within a degree of each other. I did get some video of the acceleration shudder though, you can see the whole powertrain shaking on take off from a dead stop.

Acceleration Shudder

I think I am going to stop driving it on the highway to prevent destroying the rear end for now. Luckily I have a car to get around in.

After watching my footage some more I beginning to wonder if my rear suspension for whatever reason is allowing the axle/pinion angle to shift on acceleration causing my shudder and then shifting again on coast/deceleration causing the rumble/clunk noise. I think I'm gonna get some footage with the camera point towards the axle/pinion. I've seen plenty of other regular cab short bed Rams online with 6 inch lifts with no issues. So only difference I can think is that mine has rear Core 4x4 parts back there.

 

[Abrams117]

Got some footage of the rear axle accelerating from a stop, does look like it is moving a little. I just don't know if that is a normal amount of axle wrap or not. I feel like this is not my issue based on how little it moved though.

Axle Wrap?

 

[Wild one]

Got some footage of the rear axle accelerating from a stop, does look like it is moving a little. I just don't know if that is a normal amount of axle wrap or not. I feel like this is not my issue based on how little it moved though.

Axle Wrap?

Find the gas pedal and give us a shot of it under full throttle from a stop,as that video shows squat,lol