I'm trying to isolate my drivetrain vibrations. With the car up on jacks, I have removed my prop shaft. I drove to up to speed with the wheels off the ground and the car no longer vibrates.

Question: Is it OK to drive the car with the prop shaft removed?

I want to take it up to highway speed on the road, in front wheel drive only, to see if the vibrations go away. If they do, that will isolate the issue to the prop shaft or the carrier bearing.

Please advise. Thank you.

 

RESULTS:

I tried... no go. Just revved up and CRAWLED forward. Couldn't get any real, usable power to the front wheels without the driveshaft in place.

Also, without the driveshaft in place, when attempting to place it in PARK, I got a loud grinding noise. Had to turn the car off in Neutral, and then put it into park.

Driveshaft is going into the shop tomorrow. We definitely noticed a strong vibration in the shaft when driving at 50+ mph. Hoping they tell me that the shaft is unbalanced, and that they can fit it. $577.00 for a refurnosbhed shaft at the dealer (installation NOT included.)

Will let you know what I find out.

 

Actually $577 is not that bad at all (well of course it's totally crazy for two pieces of metal, some grease and a bearing). A shop that did some work on my Jag, damaged the rubber boots on the prop shaft, so I forced them to get a new one. It was something like $675 and it was the cheapest one, as other dealers around were asking more than $1k(!).

 

There was a TSB issued for the 2002-2004 driveshaft vibrations. See if this procedure makes sense to you: http://www.jagrepair.com/images/TSB/...0Vibration.pdf

Sounds like they want you to take it off at the rear diff, put it back on, and hope the vibrations go away? Otherwise... new driveshaft.