Driveshaft swap-ability... and parts...

[scouthead]

My '88 blazer has been out of comission for a while because the rear ten bolt's govlock stripped the teeth off a side gear... swapped in a S.F.14 bolt...and a 4" lift...
now I'm setting up driveshafts and shocks... If i set the rear pinion angle up to run the stock driveshaft, the u-joints are almost running at their max. capacity with the truck on level ground... I don't really feel like paying to have a C.V. shaft made for a slipyoke shaft (np208), and I'm not really ready to swap in a different case with a solid yoke just because I need a C.V. shaft...

My question: I have a couple extra drive shafts... Could i take the C.V. cage off my spare front driveshaft, and put it directly in between the two yokes on the transfer end of my current rear slip shaft? basically replace the top u-joint with a front driveshaft's cage, and 2 new joints?
I know the axle end (single joint) of the front shaft uses a smaller U-joint than the rear driveshaft does, but the joints in the C.V. end of the front shaft appear to be the same size as the rear driveshaft's joints... (I havn't had the chance to take 'em all apart yet)
Has anyone tried this before? Or am I dreaming of this working?

 

[Blue85]

I had this same thought a few years ago. Sadly, this won't work. The C.V. joint is not just two U-joints. There is also a centering ball, so each of the two end yokes has provisions for this ball.

It might be possible to weld a C.V. yoke or flange to a cut-off slip yoke, but I'm not sure how you would get it all centered. The magic piece you need is a slip-spline C.V. yoke and the only vehicle I know of that these came on is an old Cadillac. Those C.Vs can be welded to your shaft, but the splines in the slip are not full-depth, so it's not an ideal situation. So you're pretty much left with places like High Angle Driveline, Tom Woods, etc.

 

[scouthead]

Well, crap. I havn't had the time to see what holds that ball in yet, but I guess I'll hold off on the home grown C.V. idea for now.

I just lowered my transfer a little(3/4"), and got the rear set up alright, but it didn't do the front shaft any favors... I'll have to clearance the crossmember, and change the exhaust crossover, but I'm going to try and make things work for now, and start dreaminig up a 203/205 doubler for this truck. Then I can redo everything!
And I'll try not to wack my transfer case on anything for a while...