Where is the best place to buy the best quality SAD coupling kit ??

I noticed this one on Ebay and did not know if it was as good as it says. Any information would
be appreciated. I am a long term Previa nut and looks like I will be driving these for some time to
come. http://www.ebay.com/itm/321330123915...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

We've had this discussion numerous times (lots of great detailed information here on the forum). The cool thing about the term "sads", is it's a great search term (very specific). For a while you could search the forum and find what you wanted right away. Unfortunately we keep getting new duplicate threads about them so the search results are getting cluttered. I should probably go through these threads and merge the good, delete the ones that are a waste of time.

As to your original question, I wouldn't trust anything aftermarket. Just bite the bullet and go with the genuine Toyota ones. If I remember right they're around $250, but they typically last into the 200k+ mile range. We've heard lots of stories of the aftermarket ones failing after only a few thousand miles. Your Previa is a 95, so you have the good shaft, you just need the OE flex couplers. For specific info, please use the search feature. Good luck. Tim

The link to the ebay item you posted shows the polyurethane units. I would avoid these like the plague.
But at the same time, I've not tried them. Maybe they're the cat's pajamas.

The OEM part number you want is 04374-28011. But there is a lot of shlock being advertised as matching this. Certainly Tim is correct that getting a pair of genuine Toyota parts is the safest bet. The most enticing option to me is the Febest TDS-LCB. You can find them with google, and they are currently going for $18 each. I just bought a pair to put my money where my mouth is. When the weather warms up I'll put a set in my '97 and give them a whirl. Of course it will take me 50 years or so to get 250k on them. ;-)

Thanks for the information , this forum is the BEST !! :thmbup::thmbup: Happy New Year to All :wave2:

I used that type of "lifetime" aftermarket bushings (although not those exact ones) about 9 years ago on my 92 and they are still going strong. The Seller swore by them and so far so good. The OEM bushings started slaping and banging when shifting into drive (at around 125k). Been about 25K and the replacements are still going strong. I Dont know if they will last another 150, but then OEM are priced outrageous. I dont drive my previa to death either. She only has 153K. As Tim states, OEM are the best! However, they do go out just the same. They arent really that big a deal to change out either, just another maintenance situation. I Just thought id chime in..good luck. May the force be with you!

Question:

I purchased a 95' Sads shaft off a supercharged model for my 92 off ebay. I did this because I hear the supercharged models come with more durable shafts and I read that the later shafts are compatible with the earlier engines (not vice versa). I am considering installing a Jdm or rebuilt engine in mine. I have concern over balancing issues. The FSM makes a big deal out of installing the shaft in the same location it was originally installed at the factory. SO does that mean I risk vibrations and premature failure without some kind of balancing when I go to install this thing? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

The straighter the shaft the longer the rubber parts in the couplers will last. If the shaft is crooked, the rubber will flex with every rotation and it won't last as long. So it's just a good idea to check alignment of everything before putting it back to work. Speaking of alignment, other things effect this (like damaged motor mounts), so check all the rubber mounts before putting the vehicle back into service. You should mark the parts of the shaft before disassembling it and put back in the same orientation. Put some paint marks or something on any part you move/remove that could affect alignment then put back the same when assembling. If you are careful and follow the procedure (as outlined by Toyota) you should be fine. The only change in balance would be if there's a problem with the new flex couplers, and if you get quality parts it's hard to imagine it could be a big issue. The shaft was balanced by Toyota, so as long as you orient the components correctly, and assuming it wasn't banged up or otherwise damaged, it should be fine.

Personally I'd like the shaft balanced as an assembly AFTER changing the couplers, but it's my understanding there's not a lot of places out there anymore capable of doing it right. I'm sure any competent drive shaft shop could do it, but it would require some special set-up and for some reason attitudes are different in today's world. With any luck you'll find a competent old-school shop with a tech that has some ingenuity, but those are becoming rare (last time I went to a drive shaft shop they botched a simple job). In attempting to have a technical conversation with the guy, it became apparent to me he didn't have the aptitude (or desire) to do anything outside the box (even the stuff inside the box was iffy). I'm hoping somebody here will eventually find a balancing shop that can do the job correctly. It would be nice to have a contact where we could send these shafts to for correct balancing, but until then I wouldn't stress about it (unless you have a new vibration after working on it). For more specific information, use the search feature. There is detailed information on this subject in other threads. There's also a service bulletin from Toyota with specific instructions on how to assemble (I've posted that in multiple threads). There's also a section in the manual (cooling section if I remember right) that talks about alignment (also posted in 1 or 2 other threads). Tim

This is excellent. Thanks Tim. I am committed to taking lots of pictures and posting here in a few months when I do the work.

LOL. I've asked this question before.

Since most on here are OEM guys and I haven't heard anything about the polyurethane ones, I went with the trusted words of these guys.

A few guys on Yahoo are using the BMW couplers. I don't know yet if they are working out better than the current aftermarket couplers available.

2 instances I've seen these polyurethane SADS couplers being used.

1. Found one in the junkyard on a previa and it was in good condition, but don't know how long it was on there.

2. A guy was selling his show previa, all VIP'd out, and he had the put on the polyurethane couplers. He said they were installed 2 yrs prior and had no issues.

But it's a show van, so he didn't daily drive it.

Http://youtu.be/Q0AiRkVsusA

You Definitely want to do it correctly the first time as Tim suggests or you'll have to redo it and it does consume a day of labor. Anytime I have to lie under PREVIA to do repairs, I hurt for a couple of days. I may procure a 95 shaft this year and have it ready to install on my 92, although the aftermarket ones are holding up okay. Feeling a lil bit of vibration while in drive at red lights. I did a visual inspection and they look and feel good. So far. I definitely dont want to wait till i find them looking like that guys in video.

Ooooffff.... Bad news regarding the Febest couplers.
I received a pair a couple of days ago-

Attachment 3250

At first they looked fine. I measured one of the bolt sleeves and it was a bit over 14mm as I'd expected. Later as I was fussing over it, I noticed what appeared to be some rubber flash over another of the bolt sleeves. Picking at it I realized that it was a 12mm bolt sleeve with 1mm of rubber cast over it. In the picture below that one is in the foreground and a good one is in the background:

Attachment 3251

Wow. So Febest, or their Chinese supplier, is either unaware that there is a difference between the two, or they just don't care.
They appear to be rebuilt from cores. And they don't sort old/new cores, so all the bolt sleeves go into the same bin. Their tooling to compression mold new rubber into the inserts accommodates the larger sleeves, and the smaller ones just pass through the process. No one in the operation is paying attention.
I'll try to contact Febest and see what they have to say. I've long thought it odd that they list two part numbers, but don't describe their applications correctly as applying to early or later years. I'm not optimistic that they'll fix it. They're probably more likely to just sell their existing stock to unsuspecting suckers like me and then drop them from the price sheet.

That sucks. I see so much of this type issue with Chinese parts these days. With some things occurring on trusted brands we've used for years (manufacturer sold out or moved manufacturing to China). At 1st I was thinking it was just a temporary glitch, and on some things, it was.......but on others, lets just say I don't buy from those guys anymore. If you only got one bad bushing out of the bunch, then perhaps it was an oversight. I guess we'll see how their customer service is. Please keep us informed. Tim

Well that sucks. But atleast it's been confirmed they are not that well made, as Tim said, let's see how customer service handles it.

But it appears that OEM is the way to go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tbkilb01

Http://youtu.be/Q0AiRkVsusA
You Definitely want to do it correctly the first time as Tim suggests or you'll have to redo it and it does consume a day of labor. Anytime I have to lie under PREVIA to do repairs, I hurt for a couple of days. I may procure a 95 shaft this year and have it ready to install on my 92, although the aftermarket ones are holding up okay. Feeling a lil bit of vibration while in drive at red lights. I did a visual inspection and they look and feel good. So far. I definitely dont want to wait till i find them looking like that guys in video.

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Wow.. that video. Good find!

Yeah, that video made me laugh. So many people just drive things to death and totally neglect everything. Then the day they won't move anymore they call the junk yard. When I went to the salvage yard to get my shaft, the 1st one I looked at was a 95 Previa with >300k miles and it was just like the video one. I'm sure it could have been repaired, but I moved over to the Previa next to it and got my shaft off that one. Tim

Not a peep out of Febest customer service. I'm not holding my breath.
In the meantime I made some simple tools to press the rubber bits out of the aluminum body. As it turns out, they two couplings I have each have three of each (bolt sleeve) size, so I should be able to assemble one old and one new style coupling.

I was able to remove the smaller-sleeved units from one part, the big ones from the other, and reassemble them as uniform parts, one old, one new. Here's a 12mm part coming out:

Attachment 3260

and a set of the 14mm parts staged for assembly.

Attachment 3261

I pulled an older SADS out of my parts heap, knocked out the old buggered coupling, and got ready to install the newly rebuild one with the 12mm sleeves. Hmmmm. Not a chance. The sleeves are in the general neighborhood of 12mm in diameter, but more like 12.5, whereas the holes in the shaft components that they must fit tightly into are a shade under 12. A half-millimeter is WAY too much interference.

So I devised a way to mill down the diameter on the sleeves to fit. Even put a 2 degree taper on them so they are easy to start -
Attachment 3262.

They fit nice. I had to draw them in with the bolts, so they're a tight fit just like stock.

So the Febest couplings are so poorly constructed that you need a machine shop to render them useful. The rubber is the difficult part, though, and I can find no fault with it. Of course, only time will tell.

That's interesting how they make these rubber assy's independently inside their own little metal sleeves. Too bad Toyota didn't do that, then we could just buy the 12 little rubber/bushing parts, press out the old, then in with the new. Seems like Febest had a good idea, but it was executed/assembled with complete incompetence. It's interesting how they are using bushings that are neither 12 mm or 14 :dizzy:.

I'm impressed you were able to accurately reduce diameter. I have to admit I never checked hardness, but I assumed these bushings were hardened steel. Did you install this on a bolt & spin in a lathe? It all goes to show that with a little ingenuity and a lot of time a person can accomplish almost anything. :wnk: Tim

PS: I had to look twice at one of your above pics as I could swear I was looking at my bench. I have the same exact shears, brown & sharp dial caliper, and yellow rubber boot for my fluke meter :thmbup:.