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front drivesaft headaches?? help..SOS

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84caddyvert

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all right another good question for you gurus. To start off here is what i'm dealing with.
82 k5 11" skyjacker lift, 3" body lift, 2" wheel hop reducers in rear and 52" springs front and rear. My problem is my front drive shaft keeps "eating" the drive shaft centering parts (the three small angled pieces of metal, seal, and cup it fits into) and parts of cv joint where it bolts to my t-case. I have notched my transmission crossmember so i know it is not a bind caused by something else. When I say eating it turns metal into a fine powder. My front u-joint is also going through needle bearings too. I just pulled end caps off that I put on 4 days ago, went mudding twice and they are shot.?.?.? A. Do I need to have a higher pinion angle driveshaft made? Any other cool solution that can be made to correct this extreme angle. Also, I have noticed that for some reason my transmission, t-case, and even motor are all slanted towards the back of truck. I know some angle is appropriate, but I think it may be too much, which would also effect the front angle of the t-case yoke? my rear drive shaft does not have much of an angle at all, at least not for a truck on 44's. What should i do before I lose my mind? /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif
 
#1 get yourself an angle finder at home depot. The big magnetic one is $9.

#2 I would highly suggest you take this time to upgrade to a better CV. The stock saginaw CV is a piece of crap. I know I'm going to catch flak for this because others run it sucessfully, but it's too weak for this application in my opinion.

#3 I would suggest you grease your u joints better or use non greasables. It sounds like lack of lubrication is rough on your joints.
 
i'm already planning on the angle finder idea?
i agree about the saginaw thing?2
it's not a grease problem... They were full of grease, when I say powder if it were dry thats what they looked like. But there is tons of grease in all ujoints.
 
not to sound ignorant, but are "they" spinning inside of yoke????? I assume you mean the ujoits? If thats what you are asking when I put front drive shaft on a put truck in neutral I can spin shaft with my hand. It onlys binds or takes a dump when I am wheelin' or in the mud...In florida we don't have very good trails....lots o mud though
 
also i very conservative on using 4 wheel drive, I only use when getting bogged down or crossing straight slop
 
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also i very conservative on using 4 wheel drive, I only use when getting bogged down or crossing straight slop

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You need to break that habit now. If you continue to do this you're going to destroy an awful lot of parts. Saving 4wd for deep stuff is like saving your seatbelt until you see a serious accident coming.

I'm asking if the u joint caps are spinning inside the yokes when installed or do they fit tight?

Next question--you mentioned the word bind. If your driveshaft is indeed binding, you need to do something about that NOW. Any shaft that binds will fail very rapidly.
 
your u-joints have run out of the opperating angle, with 11" of lift you dont have many options other than a better driveshaft, BTW why so much lift?? dont like trimming??
 
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with 11" of lift you dont have many options other than a better driveshaft, BTW why so much lift?? dont like trimming??

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with mudd you need more lift to get as much as posible away from the mud.

did you fill the cavity with grease in the centering part of the CV? your front ujoint probably has too much load on it and is chrshing the needle bearings. you need something bigger that will handle the stress of 44s.

time to get a real driveshaft built
 
Click on the link in my signature and ask for the 42* CV. It's a heavy bastard but it's strong and it will take the angles you need.

I have it in the front of my truck.
 
I disagree here. Why have it in 4x4 when you dont need to?

You are not going to break more parts doing what you do. That makes no sense at all.


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also i very conservative on using 4 wheel drive, I only use when getting bogged down or crossing straight slop

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to break that habit now. If you continue to do this you're going to destroy an awful lot of parts. Saving 4wd for deep stuff is like saving your seatbelt until you see a serious accident coming.

I'm asking if the u joint caps are spinning inside the yokes when installed or do they fit tight?

Next question--you mentioned the word bind. If your driveshaft is indeed binding, you need to do something about that NOW. Any shaft that binds will fail very rapidly.

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I disagree here. Why have it in 4x4 when you dont need to?

You are not going to break more parts doing what you do. That makes no sense at all.


[ QUOTE ]
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also i very conservative on using 4 wheel drive, I only use when getting bogged down or crossing straight slop

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to break that habit now. If you continue to do this you're going to destroy an awful lot of parts. Saving 4wd for deep stuff is like saving your seatbelt until you see a serious accident coming.

I'm asking if the u joint caps are spinning inside the yokes when installed or do they fit tight?

Next question--you mentioned the word bind. If your driveshaft is indeed binding, you need to do something about that NOW. Any shaft that binds will fail very rapidly.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Because you're applying all of the power to the rear driveshaft and axle and expecting it to do all the work!! Split that power to both axles and let them both do the job, don't, "Save" 4wd, that is silly.
 
well. grease is not a problem, i always grease everything inside and out before oing wheelin........All U-Joints were filled to capacity when installed..... And why so much lift? Well water, and mud are the 2 biggest reasons, plus i look down at peoples shoes when they are in there own car.....hint hint skirts.......:) really i don't know why, alot of the lift was on there when i bought truck /forums/images/graemlins/doah.gif
 
I guess differance of opinions. I still disagree. I drive in 2wd low most of the day on slpw trails. Now, I am not talk obstacles. If there is a chance I need it, I will use it. But for jsut tooling around... 2wd. Or only slightly deep mud 2wd. No reason for the fronts. Depends on the type of wheeling also. MI trails are much differant the say Moab trails. If I was doing slow crawling stuff, I wouldnt attempt the stuff in 2wd. But, the typical MI 2 track with an obstacle every 1/4 to 1/2 mile, no reason for 4wd all the time. Plus I like to see if I can make it in 2wd first. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Plus, if you cant play in 2wd because you are going to break stuff in the rear end... time to upgrade some.


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Because you're applying all of the power to the rear driveshaft and axle and expecting it to do all the work!! Split that power to both axles and let them both do the job, don't, "Save" 4wd, that is silly.

[/ QUOTE ]
 
I just leave my truck in 4 low all the time. Hell it's in 4 low right now just sitting in the backyard.

You will break less parts by locking into 4wd as early as possible. The only time I ever take it out of 4wd is if the front locker is fighting me, which is rare.
 
Some of my buds run 12" lifts...to clear 44's..
They've moved there axles forward...2-3"...
welded in 10* shims..to tip the pinion...

Without doing that...they had...45* angles..
 
Are the joints binding? If you look inside the CV, there are little ears that limit the amount of flex available. Is there evidence if making contact in there? Same thing applies to the U-joint at the pinion yoke.

How much have you had the driveshaft lengthened?

With this type of driveshaft, there should be only a couple degrees of angle in the single U-joint and a lot of angle in the C/V joint. Is your pinion tipped way up and pointing at the T-case? It may take a lot of work get the right pinion angle and still have decent caster and steering angles.

Big lifts are hard. Maybe a double C/V would work? Another option is a divorced transfer case, but that is a lot of work and also makes the rear driveshaft angle worse
 
thanks blue85........... well the ears definately show evidence of being hit by the ears on "saginaw style" piece. When you say DOUBLE CV i assume you wean one at top and one at bottom of drive shaft.
As to the divorced transfer case, that just souds like a head ache waiting to happen. Oh, and it probably involves that thing called.....ohh shoot what is it....uhmmmmmmm oh yeah MONEY!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif on a serious note, Is there any sort of extreme angle drivesaft that can go more than 42deg. I have seen some agriculture style driveshafts, but thet don't hold the load nor speed that this needs to hold. I'm going to call the local driveline Specialists shop and ask them what they can create, what would a good jobber price be on a custom front dual cv joint shaft be ??? $200....$500.....more?
 
84 chevy k10...........No the joints are not spinning inside of yoke. they are very snug... with the c shaped clip on inside of cap. My small press has a hard time pushing them in and out
 
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