Do I need a longer front Dshaft?!

[Ben B.]

'78 K10. 4" rough country lift. sm465/np205


Been making a ton of grinding and noise when engaging 4wd. Just went out and checked my front Dshaft.

Now I'm a noob so excuse my wording here.

There a shaft coming off my front end, then my D shaft coming from my Tcase slips into it with a skinny extension.

The skinny extension from the tcase Dshaft, is very wobbily in an up and down motion.

That particular part seemed alot more unstable than the Ujoints I thought it would be.

What can I do. Tell me what do go out and look for and i'll get right back to you.

 

[YZEATER]

can you get a pic and point to exactly what your talking about?

sounds like you talking about the slip yoke.

 

[Ben B.]

That whole front section wobbles up and down. I'm hoping just front Ujoint.

 

[pauly383]

Thye can wobble a little bit and still last a long time , they can wobble a little bit and break tommorrow . Its a crap shoot .

For what its worth I have 4 inch front springs , and the same driveshaft my truck was made with in 1983 . Its been wobbly forever and I have just been wheeling it ( I carry a spare ) .

 

[Ben B.]

Thye can wobble a little bit and still last a long time , they can wobble a little bit and break tommorrow . Its a crap shoot .

For what its worth I have 4 inch front springs , and the same driveshaft my truck was made with in 1983 . Its been wobbly forever and I have just been wheeling it ( I carry a spare ) .

Well it sounds like WW3 when it's in 4wd lol. Feels like it's gonna fall apart also. I'm gonna replace the front Ujoint here directly. The whole "front section" of the shaft coming off the front end it wobbly. Man I suck at mechanical stuff lol.

 

[YZEATER]

it's pulled out more then it was before. it has less engagement into the splines. does it only have movement there or does the cv joint move too?

 

[pauly383]

U-joint , bearings , locking hubs , the CV .... could be a number of things . How close to the exhaust are you ?

Maybe the stops on the CV need grinded down a bit . Some guys need to do that if it binds .

I would also remove the shaft , lock in the hubs , and drive around on some dirt in 4wd and see if it the noise is still there or not .

 

[dyeager535]

Are you saying that the piece the u-joint is held into, (that's the pinion yoke) with the 4 small bolts in that picture, ALSO moves up and down with the shaft?

If so, don't waste your time and money on u-joints, as your pinion nut has probably backed off.

 

[gmc4cw]

when you installed the lift did you also install a transfer case crossmember drop. when I first did my lift I dropped the crossmember down with the spacers provided. the driveshaft would rub on the crossmember. I raised it back up and everything was fine. It sounded terribly when you put it in 4wd and went faster then idle.

 

[burbanbeast]

the larger part of your front dshaft that accepts te skinny part should have a grease fitting somewhere in it i do beleive. grease that up and see if it helps.