18+ A10 1 Piece Aluminum DS Issues!!

[Lo Pony]

Damn man really? Good grief man that sucks. Well for me it was hit right off the bat.

Congrats, Brent. And yes, that’s really sucky that is so hit or miss.

They get back 50% of the shafts that they sell. Easy enough. Will a new shaft cause vibrations in your car? Or fix them? Toss a coin. The case is where it makes a drive train vibration worse is probably more than 50%, because some of us don’t take the time to send the driveshaft back.

I hate many of these driveshaft companies, because they mislead that an aluminum or composite driveshaft is a cure all. It isn’t. What the situation is saying, is that the drivetrain tolerances in a mass produced vehicle are so variable that you can’t mix and match off-the-shelf parts. From the factory they pair shaft A with flange A to get it smooth. Shaft A will not work with flange B, C or D for instance. Its just the way Ford assembly processes work. Then the problem is magnified with the folks who have the 2015 through 2017 cars in which the vibration was so endemic, and sometimes they want a new shaft for performance, sometimes they want a new shaft to fix the vibration. Which the shaft manufacturer happily tells them that it will do. And then it’s wrong 50% of the time or more. My 2016 had the vibes. After 20 years of experience with this problem, I decided it wasn’t worth it to fool with. I traded it in with warranty remaining.

Please try to understand the caveats before committing to buy an aftermarket driveshaft, whether it’s aluminum or carbon fiber. It will still vibrate. Please use the search function because I, and a few others, have posted mountains a very good tech info on this problem. Please do not rely on word-of-mouth, in this case it is unreliable more than 50% of the time.

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[Lo Pony]

Is driveline angle still relevant when you’re using a one-piece shaft with a universal at one end and a CV at the other?
Eg. A CV can operate at any angle whereas if you’re using 2 x uni’s, they need to be within one degree of one another (ideally).

Driveline angle is especially critical when using a one piece driveshaft on these cars. However, in itself, Drive line angle is rarely an issue unless you have a vibration on acceleration or deceleration specifically. In extreme cases when the driveline angle is really off, it can cause a constant vibration, but this is not common. The issue is almost always a mismatch between the balance of the shaft and the balance/run out at the pinion flange.

 

[NastyPumpkin]

All done with the installation and a good ol’ fashion beating with the QA1 Carbon Fiber driveshaft. It is Smooth as silk up to around 100/110 MPH then there is a very slight vibration (not bad). I might mess with it to make it perfect. It might also go away when I put the 3.15 gear in for the Whipple. Racing this Sunday, I will give my racing review soon!

 

[TX-Ripper]

I would be good with a vibration at 100 or more as long as it doesn’t do it from 0 to 80

 

[NastyPumpkin]

I would be good with a vibration at 100 or more as long as it doesn’t do it from 0 to 80

Absolutely perfect till over 100.

 

[Lo Pony]

Good luck! How is the noise compared to aluminum? I would think CF would be quieter

 

[NastyPumpkin]

Good luck! How is the noise compared to aluminum? I would think CF would be quieter

Thanks! It is completely quiet.

 

[Lo Pony]

Thanks! It is completely quiet.

Good. You can probably minimize the vibration at high speed by indexing relative to the flange. OtHerwise, a little tiny bit of weight in the form of machine washers under pinion flange bolts, and moving that around, should do the trick.

Please note that this does not necessarily apply to all cars! Some may vibrate with this exact same shaft!

 

[Lo Pony]

All done with the installation and a good ol’ fashion beating with the QA1 Carbon Fiber driveshaft. It is Smooth as silk up to around 100/110 MPH then there is a very slight vibration (not bad). I might mess with it to make it perfect. It might also go away when I put the 3.15 gear in for the Whipple. Racing this Sunday, I will give my racing review soon!

Dude, you have a beautiful shaft.

 

[NastyPumpkin]

Dude, you have a beautiful shaft.

Why thank you, sir! Also, thanks for the info.

 

[Brent Davis]

Guys, so that Shaftmasters isn't thrown under the bus for previous years' driveshafts, their units do work well for the 15-17 A6 and manual cars as well as the 18 manual cars. They do agree that the A10 is a tough one to get right so they simply don't make those anymore. I can appreciate a company that recognizes something like this and stop selling a product rather than keep making and selling something that they know is a problem.

 

[NastyPumpkin]

The QA1 driveshaft is now 100% perfect! I clocked it 180* on the rear pinion flange end only. All vibration at high speeds are gone. I also checked the run out, at the driveshaft end, run-out was .003, the pinion flange was a .001. Thank you Lo Pony for the advice.

Also put my driveshaft safety loop back on.

Ready to race tomorrow!!! View attachment 383186

 

[Lo Pony]

That is excellent! I really love it when I can help someone. You did just right by measuring the runouts and employing a little bit a weekend work in indexing to improve the vibration . Because now you have a reference. Just out of curiosity, do your runouts line up on opposite sides of the rotating assembly now that your vibration is gone? In other words, do you have them lined up to where they seem that they would cancel?

Congratulations and happy racing.

 

[NastyPumpkin]

That is excellent! I really love it when I can help someone. You did just right by measuring the runouts and employing a little bit a weekend work in indexing to improve the vibration . Because now you have a reference. Just out of curiosity, do your runouts line up on opposite sides of the rotating assembly now that your vibration is gone? In other words, do you have them lined up to where they seem that they would cancel?

Congratulations and happy racing.

Yes, that is correct on the other end the high spots were opposite, run-out was about .005.

Thank You!

 

[Lo Pony]

Yes, that is correct on the other end the high spots were opposite, run-out was about .005.

Thank You!

There we go! That’s remarkable, and again congrats. I edited my post above and included a bit more detail, maybe this will help others in the future. Thanks so much for posting All this along with photos.

On my 2016 the driveshaft run out was 0.020, and the flange was zero, and I improved it a lot by indexing but never get rid of it. That amount of runout for a shaft that I had is just ridiculous

Also the fit of the driveshaft onto the flange was kind of sloppy on the 2016. I think the 2018 and above cars have got a tighter interference fit that makes it less prone to slippage over time which can re-introduce a vibration.

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