1997 ford ranger drive shaft

[HM12460]

my above noted vehicle has the 2.3L/5 speed manual/shortbox regular cab configuration. heard the most awful clanking and banging around this afternoon coming from under the truck. upon inspection i discovered the damper on the drive shaft by the front u-joint had come loose, the rubber bushing was pretty much gone. i slid it up the transmission tail shaft and secured it in place so i could get home. i assumed this damper was for balancing purpose's, but have come to understand it is for damping gear vibration from the transmission. will i damage anything if i just remove the now useless junk damper? i suspect the good ol' boys from ford put it there for a reason...

 

[punisher]

It was put there mainly for NVH concerns. Without a damper you can notice a hum/whine at certain shaft speeds. No idea if the harmonics/vibration will have an adverse effect on the transmissions output shaft bushing.

 

[JTK]

I don't recall a carrier bearing on my dad's 1998 w/ the same configuration, but if I recall, we replaced both u-joints because of the noises you describe.

Joel