DS Carrier Bearing Play?

[DSM90AWD]

I purchased a new rear Carrier Bearing a couple years back to help remedy the driveshaft "thump" under hard acceleration. It has < 2K miles on it and I can push the driveshaft up and down to the stop within the CB housing with little effort.

I cheeped out on the front CB.. so instead of replacing.. pumped it full of silicone as per the VFAQ. It is still very solid with little allowable DS play.

Question is.. why would the rear wear out so quickly or is this amount of "play" normal (didn't check it when I first put in so no reference)

I ended up doing the Silicone fix to the rear one this morning so hoping the "thump" will be nomore in 24hours curing time

 

[DSM90AWD]

Drove the car this morn and can feel a pretty bad vibration when I get to 20+ MPH.
Am wondering if by taking away the "play" in both the front and rear CB.. all DS vibrations are now feeding thru to the chasis via the CB mounts

Anyone experience this before?

 

[DSM Jeff]

i've just rebuild my entire drive shaft. my new carrier bearings do allow for movement. they are firm. all carrier bearings will allow the drive shaft to move around. the mounts for the carriers are rather solid as i'm sure you've seen, its a metal sleeve with 2 rubber isolaaters that do have washers molded into them. possibly your drive shaft may not be balanced or a bad universal is the problem. there is the yarbro (sp?) joint, check to see if the boot has any greese around it. if that has worn it could cause it as well. fair warning, parts from the dealer will cost around $400 minus a new yarbro joint. its rather easy to replace UV joints and even the carrier bearings aren't too hard. check the joint and then possibly look into a shop that does drive shaft balancing and talk to them. they maybe able to help pin point a problem. oh and the now solid carrier bearings will leave you feeling more vibration.

 

[DSM90AWD]

The Lobro joint was rebuilt ~4years back and is in good condition.
There were no vibrations felt (well 'cept for the lack of BS' ) before I pumped the rear CB full of silicone so am 99% sure the issue is with it.

Just hate to have to blow another $55 on a new rear CB only to have it crap out in 2 years time

 

[DSM Jeff]

i hear ya, but now maybe the time to do both. the retainers or mounts for the carrier shouldn't make too big a deal. also be sure the uv joints move easy when you have the shaft out. maybe one is a bit bound up.
and was the CB put on the right way, i believe its the brass side facing into the cup on the drive shaft? i dunno how much of a difference it makes but that could be something? good luck, hope this one lasts for ya.

 

[DSM90AWD]

After my unsuccessful search for a "local" shop to balance my driveshaft (seems no-one will touch a 3-piece shaft ) I tried a DIY method I found mentioned in a diff forum by a driveshaft mechanic.

With my car securly on 4 jackstands I affixed a small worm clamp on the rearmost section of driveshaft in near the Rear CB. I then accelerated my car to the 35mph point where I felt the orig vibration. After repositioning 3 times I got to the point where no vibrations were felt.

I then took for a test ride to 60+ MPH with no more vibratrions

BTW.. the rear CB silicone fix did eliminate the "thump" I was hearing. Still have a bit of excess play in the rear but isn't causing me any issues

 

[DSM Jeff]

good to know. i guess thats like balancing a wheel, chaging the weight location? glad everything got fixed, sucks no shops would do that, not too sure if any around me do.

 

[DSM90AWD]

While my car was down I replaced the Driveshaft yoke/U-joint and rear the U-Joint.
No more vibrations and the driveline thump is gone

I'd speculate that a high% of 1G AWD DSMs have one or more bad U-Joints but don't realize it due to the dampening by the Carrier Bearing and rubber mounts.

 

[01rbuild]

u mentioned $55 for cb where?
where can i find u joints ?

ty

 

[DSM90AWD]

u mentioned $55 for cb where?
where can i find u joints ?

ty

I got mine from Josh at JNZ Tuning. Though you can also try Tallahassee Mitsubishi since you're in FL.

The U-Joints cost $55each if purchased separately, but if you buy the $35 DS Yoke Rebuild Kit, you get a U-Joint with the new yoke. Yea, Mitsu has some funny pricing WTF.