Topic: Front driveline info

[84Flatbed]

There's a bunch of slop in the splined slip on the front shaft of my 84 pickup, so I think I'll have to look into a fix in the near future. It looks to be a long travel slip but I plan on moving the front axle farther forward and I think the shaft will then be short. Anyway I've read about driveline angle in relation to cv joints and u joints but Im still wondering why my truck and many others use a cv joint shaft even though the pinion angle isn't right for that type of joint. Is there a reason why it seems to be so common? Everything I've read says that the pinion should point at the transfer case with a cv joint. If I end up lengthening or somehow reworking this front shaft should it be swapped out for a standard u joint driveline? Or is there still some benifit to keeping the cv joint even though I won't be cutting and turning my housing.

[1985CRAWLER]

i would still keep the cv front driveline, it will keep vibes down, unless u go to a square one then i wouldn't worry about it.

u will also have to swap out or drill out the front output flange if u go to the basic u joint end since the bolt pattern is different, unless u have a triple drilled flange.

[moutaintoys]

grease the out of it, and run it

[84Flatbed [OP]]

grease the out of it, and run it

There is a hole but no zirk, I'm not sure what fitting would work in that hole.

i would still keep the cv front driveline, it will keep vibes down, unless u go to a square one then i wouldn't worry about it.

u will also have to swap out or drill out the front output flange if u go to the basic u joint end since the bolt pattern is different, unless u have a triple drilled flange.

Thanks for the info, Ill keep using the cv driveline. It does have a triple drilled flange. At the end of the slip side of the drive line its threaded and has a piece screwed on. Is that piece replaceable and would a new one take some of the slop out and hold the grease in longer?

[Dingman.]

Do you have a picture?

The screw on cap sounds like it is a long slip style.  There is generally some cork in there to help keep grease in.   Long slip spines generally have "some" looseness to them, but it shouldnt be crazy..

Fyi, i have ran a longslip driveline that had a crazy amount of movement, these were old parts.  The only thing this really did was allow it to make noise while spinning.  Pumping grease in there would make it shut up for a little while, then it would get noisy until i greased it again.



This was back in the day, before i knew better, i made a square shaft.  The cv blew apart the first snow run and i bought a long slip from a local shop.  But you can see the threaded on style there on the shaft on the top.



At work, we use boots and not those screw on style. 

[84Flatbed [OP]]

Heres a quick pic, you can also see the hole, thats where Im guessing a grease fitting would go but it looks kinda wallowed out, not sure what to do about that. So, would a driveline shop have the part that screws on, or boot? And is that something that has to be installed by them?

[toyodaaddict]

 With a single case the cv is a must  but with dual cases Ive found a non cv front shaft is best. This is based off running ruf/63'' suspension. From what Ive seen the angles are always alot closer to non cv angles. Ive run a cv before and got vibes at speed, 35mph +. Im currently running a highangle  non cv front shaft. I have to grease the crap out of it ALL the time or I get vibes at speed, otherwise its smooth. I will go with someone that uses a tighter spline next time.

That shaft looks like it needs grease bad!

[84Flatbed [OP]]

With a single case the cv is a must  but with dual cases Ive found a non cv front shaft is best. This is based off running ruf/63'' suspension. From what Ive seen the angles are always alot closer to non cv angles. Ive run a cv before and got vibes at speed, 35mph +. Im currently running a highangle  non cv front shaft. I have to grease the crap out of it ALL the time or I get vibes at speed, otherwise its smooth. I will go with someone that uses a tighter spline next time.

That shaft looks like it needs grease bad!

Theres a little grease up in there ha ha, just kidding. With the hubs locked it makes some noise. This truck hasn't been in 4wd for awhile, I do want to pull the driveline, clean it up paint it and grease it up but Ill need a way to keep the grease in there. Oh, and its dual cased.

[Dingman.]

you sure that isn't a flush style zerk fitting that takes a needle grease gun?

you could always take note of how it is phased, make a mark with a marker or whatever, and pull the slip out and put grease in by hand.. and reassemble it the same way it came apart

[84Flatbed [OP]]

you sure that isn't a flush style zerk fitting that takes a needle grease gun?

you could always take note of how it is phased, make a mark with a marker or whatever, and pull the slip out and put grease in by hand.. and reassemble it the same way it came apart

Nope, no zerk, I can see the spline through that hole. There isn't much depth for a zerk to fit in there either, I'm not sure what was there originally.
I thaught about greasing it by hand, that's how my brothers front driveline is. I'll have to plug that hole or find a zerk that fits, maybe I'll also stop by a driveline shop one of these days to ask about that screw on cap or whatever it's called on the slip.

[moutaintoys]

use one of those little grease guns for the bar on chain saw