I have a vibration coming from the drive shaft on a Tribute '01 4WD. Somebody said to me it maybe a consequence of towing as the drive shaft needs to be re-balanced.

My question is can I remove the driveshaft and still use the car as a 2 front wheel drive?

Any advice?

 

I now a friend of mine did it with his 80's gmc truck but i wouldn't do it for to long. hope this helps

 

I have an 01 Tribute DX that had a similar problem. Low speed vibration. The issue was found in the carrier bearing on the center of the drive shaft. The vibration mount wears out. The issue I had was that Mazda wanted to sell me a new drive shaft for $750. No parts available at your big box parts stores. The bearing is available at Shaftmasters in Lincoln Park, Michigan...OEM manufactured by Dana Corp. Website: Shaftmasters.com The cost was $85 and they are in stock. The same bearing is used for the Ford Escape and Merc Mountaineer.

 

Towing unbalances drive shafts?? Okaaaaay. Sounds to me like its either the carrier bearing as stated before or a U-joint going out, those give some nasty vibrations. Crawl under the car, in park with brake on, and try to wiggle the drive shaft up, down, left, right and rotate it, if there is any movement find where it is, if its at a joint of any kind that needs to be replaced, there should be no movement in the driveline EXCEPT for a slight bit of rotation as it takes up the slack in the rear end and transmission, if its the joint you will see the shaft end of the joint turn before the diff/trans side. That is if this uses u-joints and not CVs in the driveline(s).