Drive shaft failure/Mechanics Special 05DC Refresh

Hello all, purchased a 2005 DC 4x4 last week w/ 255k. We've owned a 2002 Sequoia for 30k miles up to 275k so we're relatively familiar with the format.

Purchased from a mechanic who was flipping the truck. Mechanic told me he replaced the gears in rear diff, all new drive shaft, and radiator. Also did all fluids. He told me he purchased it with failed rear gears and drive shaft. I did a thorough test drive and had a 24 hour grace period to have my mechanic (very solid independent shop) give the OK. Truck drove smooth as silk and was given approval from my guy to buy.

Did a 100 mile drive Wednesday without any major issues and parked it for a few days. I did notice a whine coming from power steering at the end of that drive, topped off reservoir which was a bit low and that solved that issue.

Today left for a drive and within 1/4 mile felt a vibration/shudder. By 1 mile out was a pronounced shaking of the whole truck, where I pulled a U turn and attempted to limp home. Truck rolled OK up to 15mph then vibrated horribly above. Obviously I was very concerned but so close to home, felt I could limp back. 1/4 mile from the house, hard vibration and metallic clunk, the drive shaft fell out from the bottom of the truck.

I guess I'm just looking for some wisdom from this brain trust. I found 3 of the 4 bolts, 2 of the 4 nuts, and a couple lock washers scattered on the road. They were coated in rust protection but I didn't see any loctite on the threads, not sure if this is standard procedure or not? Hoping to gain some knowledge as to *why* this *might* have happened, and wonder if it's worth whatever it will cost to fix the problem?

The truck is at my mechanic now and I will get a quote for repair in the morning. Any opinions on what I should pay and what is fair price for a new drive shaft?

 

Maybe the mechanic stripped the threads in the process of replacing the shaft and that’s why it came apart? Just a guess.

 

I think you need to tow it back to the mechanic who sold it to you and make them answer what they effed up, then repair it. Then have your mech look over the work.

 

Seems pretty clear that the original mechanic messed up. I wonder if he forgot to torque everything down.

 

Bolts left loose. Torqued to five finger inch pounds…

 

Definitely on the table. I think I have a couple avenues to apply pressure to the seller, just not sure exactly how I want to do that yet. Also wary of towing it down to ask him to work on it any more, as I have little confidence in his ability to do the job right at this point.

I will DIY a lot of stuff on this truck but this drive shaft thing I want repaired by a pro. My confidence in the truck is shaky at this point, but overall it’s a very good looking Limited and has all the features I want. Just want the thing to roll so I can use as a weekend/hunting/go to the dump vehicle. I have another car as daily driver.

 

Agree to this assessment at this point. Just wondering if anyone else has had a drive shaft failure and these symptoms could be caused by anything else that should be evaluated in the drive line?

 

Honestly I can't recall a single member having a failure like this. We've had a few rear diffs blow and a few bad u joints but nothing like this comes to mind.

 

Can you post some close up shots of where it failed? Are the bolts broken? How do the threads look?

 

Brain was going in 100 different directions today. Never took photos of the hardware before dropping off at my shop. One of the bolts was slightly bent with 4-6 threads stripped but assumed that might have happened while backing out of the flange. The nuts looked fine and lock washers same. No thread lock was my primary takeaway. Will try to get photos of hardware in the morning.

 

Guess now is a good time to give the bolts the old checkaroo. Yep yep. Added to the to do list.

 

Hopefully you can get the PO to explain what they actually did to the truck. When I’m looking for used vehicles, I stay away from anything owned by a “mechanic” and anything with bullshit linglong tires or similarly shitty chinabomb specials. They signify that whoever owned it doesn’t care about the vehicle or humanity in general.

 

...or humanity in general.

 

I wonder if the driveshaft was aligned properly when replaced.

 

There were a couple red flags and that was one of them. He claimed the tires were on the truck when he bought it. It was a legit mechanic and I bought the truck directly from his shop, that was relatively highly rated and has been in business in that location for over 15 years. I literally said to him that fact gave me some recourse if something goes wrong.

I sent him a message and he did respond, which kind of surprised me. All he could muster was "wow maybe the hardware was bad quality?" Yeah pal, i'm sure that was it.

The whole situation sucks but I did buy it cheap enough that I will still feel OK if my shop can make it right for around $1k. Will just delay a headunit/tire swap. Much more money than that and I will feel some regret. I'm going to throw the bill at the guy when I get it and see if he'll do something to make it right.

 

Just between us girls, I think he should make it right for $0...unless the failure can reasonably be established to be caused by proton decay or some other cosmic phenomenon, and not the bolts weren't properly tightend

 

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone who has posted in this thread, but the more I take apart and investigate on the internets the worse this gets.

It appears the driveshaft itself was the correct shaft for the truck. But he may have installed the wrong gears/companion flange in the rear differential for the truck.

I removed the "new" driveshaft today to take it to a driveshaft shop to see about getting one made or sourced. Upon removal, I discovered there were 8 holes in the companion flange. The "new" driveshaft guy installed has a 66mm bolt pattern, which is correct for 05-06 double cabs. The companion flange, however, is a 60mm bolt pattern, which according to other threads on here is correct for 00-04 trucks. So the guy drilled 4 new holes in the companion flange he installed, so close to the edge of the flange there was hardly any metal between the bolt and outer edge of two of them, so he could cheap out and install the driveshaft he already had on hand.

I have ZERO idea how the test drive or first 150 miles went so smoothly. The thing rode like butter I swear to it.

So even if I source a new drive shaft for a 05 double cab tundra, it will not properly match up with the bolt pattern on the rear differential companion flange on there now.

The only reasonable answer at this point is to install the appropriate companion flange in the diff, which I don't even know if it can be done without installing a whole new set of gears in it? And even if I could, I'm not sure if the proper gears/ratio are even in the pumpkin right now. If they're the wrong gears and don't match my front gears, would it have driven even 150/200 miles as-is???

Any questions about how I'm going to deal with the asshole that butchered this truck are on the side for me at this point. Idk what I'm going to do but I'm going to do something. I'm just trying to figure out how I can get the truck usable again, and will probably go trade it in on something else because of the bad juju.

 

Classic mechanics special. Now I gotta ask, how's the frame rust situation? I see some paint bubbling by the rear door trim. And the rear end thing makes me think the old one rotted out and he grabbed a replacement from another truck, and since he's a "real mechanic" he didn't realize they were not compatible and got home and had to cobble something together to make it work. And then had the gall to sell it to you without disclosing any of this, but that you should trust him, cause he's a mechanic.

 

Bet he sanded/spraypainted the frame with black matte rustoleum to make it look better. Clearly he's a shady asshole, despite his internet/Yelp reputation. Or someone was.

 

He told me up front that the rear gears failed and thats what bricked the OE driveshaft. He told me he replaced the rear gears in the original housing and installed a new drive shaft...so I was aware of all that, but he definitely didn't disclose the hack job he did to make it all work.

The rust situation is not bad at all (relatively speaking) to other first gens I've seen. Again, my personal mechanic I trust very much gave it the all-clear as far as the frame and xmembers etc. There's clearly some surface rust and I have the typical rust spots under the bedliner, but the primary frame is solid. I got a carfax and there is no record of frame replacement. The drinkers side of the truck has some wavy paint/bubbling from a poor re-spray job, there was a collision reported on that side via carfax, but noted as minor and the title was clean. It's a 19 year old 255k truck, I expected as much.

 

That really sucks @Burgmane. I hate that for you. Maybe best, as you say, just to get it back on the road and trade it.

 

Underside was sprayed/coated yes, he did disclose and I was well aware beforehand. Again, I inspected the frame thoroughly and had my guy inspect as well.

I'm trying to decide what is best to do re: driveshaft and gears situation, if anyone has advice there. Replace all gears/companion flange to 2005 spec and new drive shaft? Or possible to just replace companion flange with proper bolt pattern? Or possibly find a 2004 double cab drive shaft with 60mm bolt pattern to keep current gears????

 

This, to me, seems like it would be the quickest and easiest option.

 

Perhaps a donor truck of 2005/2006 vintage to get the third member and driveshaft from?

 

Take the drive shaft to a shop, and have it balanced. Replace u-joints as necessary. No need to buy a new shaft.

I have a new 3rd member for my truck that I've yet to install. It's the exact opposite of your situation...my unit is from a 2005-2006, and has the larger companion flange. I haven't decided whether to replace the flange, or drill out the existing flange (not a problem since there's plenty of real estate for new holes). I'll probably just do it right, and replace it with the right flange. However, that requires the preload to be set, and may entail a new crush washer. Of course while I'm at it, I may as well change the pinion seal and bearing, right? This is all at the edge of my skill set.

If I were you, I would get the right flange and get a competent gear shop to install it. Assuming, of course, that the new 3rd unit has the right gear ratio to match the front.

 

I’m betting the seller didn’t tighten, or forgot to come back and tighten fasteners. The torque spec on those nuts are something like 50 or 55 ft/lbs! It would be VERY difficult to reach that torque with just a simple combination wrench.

 

The whole story of “rear gears failing and bricking the drive shaft” doesn’t make any sense.

 

?

 

Holy crap lol

 

Facepalm emoji. If you zoom in you can see how close to the edge of the flange this idiot drilled these holes.