broken drive shaft

[wilsonmotors]

I just bought a new shaft from high angle drive line it is a one ton shaft with a 1350 cv and a 1410 at the axle. But the first time I went out and used my truck to pull a buddy out I broke the cv cluster I have only had the new shaft like a month. Has anyone else had any problems with them or does anyone have any ideas on a new person to call to get a beefier drive shaft for my k5. I have a d60/14bolt and a 205 8in lift shackle flip with 4.56's lockers with 37's if anyone has any ideas on a new shaft please let me know.

 

[Cruz89K5]

Have you called HAD? Was the shaft installed correctly? Too long? Too much angle?

I'm far from a High Angle nutswinger. I've got a 74" 1350 2 piece driveline in my GMC and I havent been nice to it and have no issues. I didnt care for his attitude on the phone (the first set of drivelines for my K5 I had Woods build after calling HAD, I even had Woods build my front in this truck) but Jess was the only one that would build what I wanted for the rear and guarantee it to last. His prices may be absurd, and he may not be the friendliest guy to talk to on the phone, but he makes a quality product. I'm willing to bet he would stand behind it if the failure was from bad parts.

 

[MNorby]

how much angle is on the shaft? how about full droop? I have ran shafts from HAD on my old rig with same configuration (1350 CV to 1410 at axle) for quite a few years and only had one failure. It was at the CV on the front during a front dig in a twisted up obstacle. I have seen other failures though and all were because of pinion angle change binding stuff up and/or too much angle for CV under droop.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Did you have your pinion angle set so that the pinion is 2* down of being directly in line with the t-case output? If not then you have too much angle on the CV and it probably bound up which caused it to break. Give Jesse a call and he'll walk you through what needs to be done and i'm sure he'll take care of you, he's a great guy and an awesome vendor. I've been running a CV shaft of his for probably 10 years now and still have the original joints in it that he installed when he built the shaft with no issues.

 

[MNorby]

Worse thing about leaf springs in these type rigs is as the axle droops the pinion points down more then puts more angle on all the joints. Here is a friends with the same 1350 CV/1410 axle and dropped out getting hung up on a ledge and leaf springs allowed axle to walk and bound up at pinion and broke it off. He has also broke 2 of the CVs while in Moab with us because of same problem after he corrected pinion angle and added straps.

 

[4X4HIGH]

I see a couple bad leaf springs there also.

 

[454Sub]

Thats the new superflex springs

 

[MNorby]

lack of straps and retainers. he fixed after that mishap.

 

[4X4HIGH]

lack of straps and retainers. he fixed after that mishap.

Then i'll bet that's what caused his driveshaft failure.

 

[MNorby]

After he fixed that and added shims to correct pinion at full droop it would still bind up the CV side and first time broke the centering pin and second time broke the flange yoke. Mostly the way the leaf springs dropped out and the angle of the springs wasn't the greatest geometry. On my Sonoma I shortened up my shackles and lowere the front down a few inches to make my leaf springs flat instead of at the big angle you see when people do 52s and longer shackles. By doing that I eliminated teh need for shims to correct pinion and the axle travelled more vertiaclly instead of swinging forward as bad. I also ran straps/bumps and limited my front to around 11" of travel. I figured I was better off lifting a tire every now and then than breaking a leaf springs or binding up a shaft.