Topic: Front driveshaft!!!! You gotta be kidding me!!!

[GotMyYotaBack]

PS: I have no idea how long a stock slip joint is. You said you have 4" of compression, how many inch's of decompression? I suppose if its only 1 then you do need length added.

[yoshaleng]

go with a sqaure tubing up front....cost about 50.00 and you can decide your own slip length. that's what i'm runng on mine.

just make sure you weld 1/2" bead to each corner then grind them down slowly to where it barely fits in the other end to eleminate noise.
 THE BEST PART IS THERE'S NO NEED TO BALANCE IT! try that if the problem persist, i know you'll be happy with it.

[emsvitil]

These trucks dont need that much slip, remember the axle flexs left and right, the Pinion really never goes full drop unless you are catching air. I have seen plenty of trucks (well built) go up on a lift and drop a shaft. Its like you said, youve been using it, it never seporated before. If want a super cheap fix, throw a limit strap in the center of the axle, you will still get all the flex you have now, and some piece of mind.

 my  let the flaming begin   

I'd go with this...............
(no flame)

[pumkin toy]

I used the long travel spline from TG (used dont hate) and have laid on it with out ever bending mine. These trucks dont need that much slip, remember the axle flexs left and right, the Pinion really never goes full drop unless you are catching air. I have seen plenty of trucks (well built) go up on a lift and drop a shaft. Its like you said, youve been using it, it never seporated before. If want a super cheap fix, throw a limit strap in the center of the axle, you will still get all the flex you have now, and some piece of mind.

 my  let the flaming begin   

i dont think any flaming is necessary  lol  I ran a limit strap for a long time before i could afford a long slip shaft

[BLACKDOG]

square tube is definitely the way to go.    Mine chattered a bit, so I threw 3 wraps of duct tape around the inner shaft, now there's hardly any noise at all.  Make sure you square it up with the yokes on the driveline, and you'll have negligible vibes, if any. 

Its the easiest, cheapest, and strongest way to go in my opinion. 

[MiniSimp]

These trucks dont need that much slip, remember the axle flexs left and right, the Pinion really never goes full drop unless you are catching air.

Full droop front and rear (I needed the travel)

[emsvitil]

Full droop front and rear (I needed the travel)

Looks high-centered to me......

 

[MiniSimp]

Yep, but it's a damn good thing my shaft didn't fall out.

[Yoat Goat]

And your point is? What driveline place? your quote " the cv was gonna work fine if it WAS broken" "my front d-shaft is 24" at ride height" what does that mean? Your not very clear in your writing on what your trying to get across to us. We are trying to get some answers, not someone to throw a few words of discouragement into the mess that we are already trying to fix. Give us a rundown of your whole suspension system so that we can maybe get an understanding of what you really meant to say, Pics would be nice too. Try again!! Thanks for your input though.......

I guess what i was trying to say very crapily was I could run a cv joint and still have enough room for slip, He mentioned something about the cv takes up room for slip in his OP, His shaft is 27", mine is 24" and I could use a cv. That is what I was trying to explain... Get me? Sorry if I seemed like a jackass throwing nonesense out. 

Im running RUF's up front, bout 4" lift, S-10 springs out back... I was going to use a CV joint, but I was told it was messed up by my driveshaft shop, Im running a single joint both ends.

[broke40]

square

[dweinberg01 [OP]]

This may help when it comes to length, I cut both tubes (excluding the joints) the same length

Okay fellas,
Here's what I got.

A-B= 24"
B-C= 12"
A-D= 54"

24+12=36
54-36= 18

So I can have a driveshaft that is 18" from flange to flange. Does that me 18" fully compressed or fully extended. Also by flange you mean mounting points right?

Also, I pulled the old driveshaft off pulled it apart.  From where it sat at ride height (4" of compression stroke) I had 2" of extension before I could see the splines. About another 3" of spline before it bottomed out. Talk about long travel, I mean WOW!?!?!?

[MiniSimp]

Your shaft will need to be less than 18" when compressed. Good job.

[kauai_fab]

brah! you even can get a rear driveshaft cut it to your specs and weld the other piece on for your transfercase

[dweinberg01 [OP]]

Okay. So I followed instructions as given. I cut the square tubes equal length. I tacked them in place, made sure that the whole length compressed was 18" from mounting flange to mounting flange, went to install it and it came apart. It is about an inch too short to meet the mounting flange.  My length extended is 24" and that is with about 1/8" inside the larger tube. My stock drive line is 24" with ~3" of extension.  How did I screw this up?

[Jud]

one was trail gear and one was marlin if i remember right.. and ive bent a stock slip before.  would much rather run a square or some tractor spline, and you can build a square to be tight.

I have the High Angle 8" slip that Marlin sells, it's sloppy as hell and is bent really bad. Same design as the Inchworm one linked in this thread and the TG one. IMO the PTO style slip joints like High Angle makes are by far the best.

[dweinberg01 [OP]]

Bump for HELP!!!

[MiniSimp]

Okay. So I followed instructions as given. I cut the square tubes equal length. I tacked them in place, made sure that the whole length compressed was 18" from mounting flange to mounting flange, went to install it and it came apart. It is about an inch too short to meet the mounting flange.  My length extended is 24" and that is with about 1/8" inside the larger tube. My stock drive line is 24" with ~3" of extension.  How did I screw this up?

Not sure what happened.
The 18" measurement insures that when you bottom out you don't snap your transfer case.
Looks like you are going to have to make the tubes longer though. (and don't bottom out)

[emsvitil]

Anybody ever make a telescoping driveshaft (tube within tube within tube) ?

[Jud]

Anybody ever make a telescoping driveshaft (tube within tube within tube) ?

That would not work. The center section would fall out.

[emsvitil]

That would not work. The center section would fall out.

Only if you didn't design in some stops............  (groove on inside tube, bolt on outside)

[OOPS]

Here is the one I am now running.

http://www.davezoffroadperformance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=296

[Quick Draw]

Damn...that looks beefy...  I wonder how well it balances?  I would hope pretty well for $350.

[Volcom]

Here is the one I am now running.

http://www.davezoffroadperformance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=296

I'd love to go that route over my square front shaft.  Don't get me wrong, the square front shaft has been great.  I'm just tired of the noise and out of balance issues on the trail.  It would be nice to be able to go over 20 mph without the front of the truck shaking to dead.  Nice front shaft Davez builds!

[hilux-1983]

I'm out at KOH right now. I spent some time with Dave and his crew from (Dave's Offroad Performance). I looked at his rig and he's only running a single t-case and one of his own d-lines. He explained to me that he uses u-joints from 85 and newer toys since they are able to work at more of an angle than the 79-84. Getting rid of the cardan helps cut down on the angle too. When I get back home I'll be ordering one from him.

[dweinberg01 [OP]]

Someone else on the board mentioned that you can't run a single case with 6" springs because of the distance from 3rd member to t-case flanges causes the driveshaft to seperate.  If I go to 4" springs, how will this affect the driveshaft?  I'm guessing that 1) it will somewhat cure any angle probs and 2) will keep the driveshaft from seperating on full spring extension.  However, will it cause the driveshaft to bottom out more easily or will it not change the 18" length I already measured for?