Do you need to balance drive shaft?

My first career in life was working at a Driveline repair shop with all the latest technology.
I later had my own shop and now have a friend who has his own.
Driveline balance is a very critical part of the drivetrain.
If your driveshaft is out of balance it will cause damage to the rest of the drivetrain. i.e. transmission,differentials,axles etc.

Make sure your driveline shop has a high speed balancer.
If you are near Columbus Ohio my friends shop is Driveline 1 and I highly recommend him.
We both started at Columbus Joint and Clutch in 1974 when it 1st opened.
He was employee #1 and I was employee #2.

 

Take it out

 

The weights are punched or spot welded on, not glued.
I also second the marking of components before removal to ensure everything is lined back up the way it was before.

 

Run it with the new parts installed if it vibrates get it balanced.

 

Changing u-joints how the hell does anything get out of alignment? I've literally changed 100 u-joints and unless you're pulling the slip yoke out there is no way possible to misalign anything.

 

You should just mark it. Pull it, replace joints, put it back, same way. Use torque wrench. It’s already balanced. I stress torque wrench, since I overtorqued a cap bolt, and a couple weeks later, the head broke off, had to remove,and get a new yoke welded on, after breaking the ez out off in the bolt. Pita. Which reminds Me, inspect yokes for eggholing. If egghoked, new u joint won’t last. New yoke, welded on and a balance for good luck. That would be a good case for taking to a shop. They got a shop near Me that balances both driveshafts as a unit. Something to consider, depending on what type you have. I did all of mine a few yrs back.New yokes, no balance. Next time, I think I’ll let them do it, along with balancing both together. Funny, the same shop, along with another, both claimed it wasn’t important. Now that they have the machine, it’s important, I guess.

 

Anybody ever use the Balance Masters ring for balancing a drive shaft?

 

Who has time to do the work twice

 

Then pay someone to do the job if unsure.