Axle help

[kitasjimmy]

I recently trashed my front axle shafts (drivers side). Busted the wheel joint (u-joint) and chewed up the ends where the u-joint was. Found a replacement at the junk yard but the new shaft is smaller in diameter on the splined end of the long shaft. It came out of a 91 Chevy K5 and mine is a 91 GMC Jimmy. Everything else seem to be exactly the same. Obviously there are different size shafts. How can I tell which front end will have what shaft? If I get the gears from the other truck will they swap over. How do I tell what my gear ratio is. Both front ends are 10 bolt 1/2 ton. any insight woul be greatly appreciated.

 

[dremu]

Count splines on the long end... the short, outside ends are all the same, but the insides come in 28 and 30 spline, IIRC. Odd, 'cuz the later trucks like yours and the donor should both be 30, but

-- A

 

[Hossbaby50]

They should both be 30 spline 10b assuming neither truck is a 1 ton and they are both really 91's. The only answer is that one of the 2 trucks has a swapped in diff.

Harley

 

[kitasjimmy]

what about cutting and welding. Taking the newer u-joint end and welding it onto my shaft. Is this not a good idea?

 

[Hossbaby50]

Nope, your weld will never be as strong as a shaft. If it was a trail emergency then it might work but that is the only real scenerio that I would even consider that.

You need to verify the diff that is in your truck and find a matching diff to get shafts out of.

Count the number of splines on the inner axleshaft. If it is 30spl it is either a D44 or a 10bolt 30spl. If it is 28spl then it is a 28 spl 10bolt. Count the number of splines on the replacement axle you got also.

Harley

 

[abig85]

are you sure you dont have a dana44 and you swiped a shaft from a 10 bolt? i tried putting a 10 bolt shaft into a dana 44 before and thats basicly what happened

 

[kitasjimmy]

Thanks all for the help. I researched a bit and found that they do make a 30 spline 10b, which is what mine is. Those LMC Truck catalogs have quite a bit of good info in them. Thanks again guys.