2 piece driveshaft with bearing- ditch it?

[monster man]

hey all, I'm trying to decide what to do on this driveshaft when I lift my K20 (this weekend? we'll see). It's got the stupid carrier bearing, am I going to be able to leave it as is for now? I'm sure it would be fine with a 4" lift if it were one piece, as the angles would barely change, but it's two piece, so the rear half is like Blazer length. Should I automatically count on having it lengthened into a one piece? At some point, hopefully soon, the wheelbase will be shortened at least 20", so I'm not sure what to do right now. Is it easier/cheaper to lengthen or shorten a driveshaft?

Is there any chance I'd find a 1-piece at the Pick n Pull that I could swap in, or were most longbeds 2-piece?

thanks

 

[sweetk30]

change it out to one piece shaft. i had a 1 ton with the 2 piece shaft went 1 no problems. that was so the factory could use up some left overs or also the truck was to be a 2x4 but was switched to 4x4 from the factory.

 

[mtnman]

2 piece shaft

Lower the carrier bearing about half the lift height. A piece of 2" tube and a couple of extra bolts - at least that is what I plan on doing as a no buck solution.

 

[willyswanter]

If it's 1350 and fixed yoke at the t-case I'll buy it from ya!

 

[tarussell]

Nothing wrong with a two piece 1350 shaft as long as the angles are in spec.
Two piece shafts were most likely used on long wheel base trucks to keep from having a very thick , or very large diameter tube in a one piece shaft. There is a rule of how long a given shaft can be with out bowing under load therefore it was probably more cost effective to offer a two piece set up instead of a beefy one piece.

If you are hell bent on using a one piece shaft look for an older K-20 that used a 4.5" diameter one piece shaft with 1350 joints. I have seen these shafts get the snout beat out of them with good results.

In the end a two piece set up is not weaker by any means it is just a different way of doing the same thing.

HTH , Tom

 

[monster man]

thanks guys, I may lower the carrier bearing- Pick-n-Stick had NO 4wd 3/4 or 1 ton trucks to steal a shaft from. They must pick that stuff before putting it out to the yard. There was a Suburban but the shaft was bent in two DOn't want to spend money on a whole new shaft either