This driveshaft is manufactured by a driveshaft specialist that has a state of the art facility. They make these exclusively for Van Cafe. Every shaft is balanced and goes through a quality control inspection. Let's all admit that no one is perfect, but these guys are pretty great at what they do. 

Here is the tricky part, Vanagons are well...Vanagons. They are old, quirky, and often have a variety of other issues that can contribute to drivability issues. The most common issue with the Syncro driveline shaft is a vibration at 30-45 mph. We would say this is not always a driveshaft related issue, however there are other variables that play into this and we can't diagnose your van for you over the phone nor email. 

Here is what initiated this article and information. We have had customers that said their driveshaft is faulty and it is creating a vibration in their van. We returned it to our shop and then to the manufacturer for a quality check and rebalance. Well, the manufacturer says it is properly balanced and should have no issue. The next step is to install it in our shop Syncro which is a very tight 80k mile van. What do you know: no Vibration, so the driveshaft is good. Now we have to work to remedy the situation with you, the customer. Well, as you can imagine, this is a sticky situation. A lot of shipping back and forth, the time to schedule with the manufacturer, the expense of paying a mechanic to install and then remove the driveshaft. It is a lot of "doing" to prove the driveshaft is good. 

It is about $150 worth of time in today's money/time-ratio. We also recognize if it is bad, the customer is out time and money. So where is the balance? Here is what we have come up with, we pay you for your time or you pay us for our time. If the driveshaft needs to come back for testing and it is deemed good, first by a quality inspection from the manufacturer, then by an install/test drive by our service department, you as the customer are responsible for the shipping charges and the $150 of time to get the information. If it is deemed bad, we will pay for all of the shipping charges and give you $150 store credit for your inconvenience. We are trying to be transparent and make it fair to all concerned.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. 

Back to Vanagon Knowledge Base