Hillbilly long slip front driveshaft solution

[CyberSniper]

Anyone got a hillbilly long slip driveshaft solution that doesn't involve a square driveshaft?

I pulled apart my front driveshaft climbing up the side of a DeVille today and need a cheap solution. Chances are whatever I use the driveshaft won't be the weak link... the front axleshafts and joints will go first.

Anyone ever do anything really crazy like a extend the splined area by making the female half "longer" by making it so the male end stuck through it more? Plus you'd have to modify the male end by cutting it off and rewelding it on something the same size so it'd fit inside the female end.

I can't really afford to spend big money on a long slip driveshaft... especially when a long slip driveshaft would cost me more than 1/5th what I have into the rest of the rig.

 

[supersize75k5]

which rig is this for?

In my 75 I am running a factory shaft and the thing flex's pretty darn well. I am not running much of a lift now though.

I say do something funky, redneck and innovative so we can all learn from ya!

 

[Hossbaby50]

If it comes down to it you can put limiting straps on the front suspension so you don't slip the driveshaft out till you can afford a good longspline unit. Other then square I don't know of any cheap redneck cures.

Is your driveshaft the right length currently or did it get to short when you installed 52's and the 52's outflex the shaft? If it is to short at normal ride height chop it and extend it out till it is the right length and see if that will work.

Harley

 

[tRustyK5]

Find a 2 piece driveshaft from a crew cab or similar. They have a really long slip joint near the steady bearing. You could rob that part and make a front shaft with it.

Rene

 

[CyberSniper]

It's for the project rig. The 4" BDS springs on my daily driver only flex enough to move the slip spline about 1.25".

I'm running stock 56" springs in the front. I have just barely 4" of lift. With 7 leaves in the pack I only have around 2" of uptravel before they're flat and hit my bumpstops. On the downtravel I run out of brake hose before I run out of droop.

Right now the front driveshaft is 39.25" long compressed. The "longest" I could go compressed is like 40.25" and still have a margin of error for spring bushings deflecting and the springs "S-shaping". I'm terrified of snapping the transfer case off if I make the shaft too long. I was aiming for 39.75" in length but when I put it together I overshot. The driveshaft is constructed by cutting the driveshaft and "sleeving it" using like 14" of cold rolled 1.75" roundstock. So basically, I heated up the original driveshaft and "dropped" the cold rolled into the tube. I'd have used tube but 1.75" OD tube is damn near impossible to find.

I've got my 13.5" travel el-cheapo Superlift shocks at a pretty steep angle anticipating I'd have a lot of wheel travel... but right now I'm partially limited by brake hoses which is cheaply/easily fixed and now apparently by the slip spline in the driveshaft. I know a large part of it is due to the asymmetric springs but I've got keepers on the springs. I figured the 1310 yoke would bind on the pinion before I ran out of slip... but the rig has fought me the whole way so why not this too.

I'm trying to avoid the square driveshaft thing also due to fearing tearing the transfer case off when it decides not to slip.


The Cadillac I drove up on is the white thing in the background... I drove up the door onto the A-pillar at full lock to the left and was on my way up to the roof when the shaft fell apart.

 

[CyberSniper]

Find a 2 piece driveshaft from a crew cab or similar. They have a really long slip joint near the steady bearing. You could rob that part and make a front shaft with it.

Rene

I was looking at these a couple months ago...

The one off my 77C20 is pretty large in diameter but it's got relatively few splines. The one off my 87C10 has more splines but is pretty small in diameter. I'm afraid if I don't have enough splines that it'll be hard to compress while under high torque. I know Tom Woods is known for using these parts for their "long slip" driveshafts but I don't know what application he gets them from. Do you happen to know what my best bet would be for a large diameter high spline count carrier bearing shaft? I assume something crew cab... but would later be better?

 

[leadfoot067]

off road use kenworths or peterbuilts have a super long splined shaft for the steering on cabovers that use a 1310 u-joint..., or go to the tractor store and poke around there look for a pto shaft....

 

[tRustyK5]

I'd go with the larger diameter version. It is bound to be a ton better than a square tube shaft as far as slip goes...plus that is it's intended use anyways.

Rene

 

[willyswanter]

I ordered a bunch of mid ship carrier bearing assemblies from late model dodge 1 tons off of ebay a while back. They have 7" of usable travel and the spline is at least 1.75" in diameter, all 1410 joints. My new 2 piece front shaft and rebuild of my old 2 piece rear shaft will use these. Yes you know your truck is too long when you have a 2 piece rear AND 2 piece front drive shaft

 

[CyberSniper]

I guess I'll be perusing the junkyard looking for two piece shafts. I don't know if I'll find anything that came off a fuel-injected vehicle though. The main junkyard I go to is all old stuff. Maybe I'll try the later-model junkyard and see how much they want to rape me for a Dodge 1 ton shaft.

 

[willyswanter]

Yeah I got lucky on ebay. Got 3 complete assemblies for $45.

 

[CyberSniper]

Yeah I got lucky on ebay. Got 3 complete assemblies for $45.

Rub it in some more, will you? haha. Maybe I'll go peruse the local Pick-n-Pull (Wal-mart) for some easy pickin's. haha.

 

[CyberSniper]

I think I might've found a solution for my front driveshaft problem... in the meantime...

My limp front driveshaft: