Yeah I'd bet the blue coating has a mark in it right where the broken piece is which would indicate that's where the piece was when it broke.
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
How much front driveshaft slip?
- Thread starter Mastiff
- Start date
I'm gonna completely disagree with your driveshaft guy. There is no reason whatsoever to think the t case would have broken.
Hence the reason I wanted to see the male end of the slip. If those splines still left in are twisted, you don't have enough spline engagement or you have enough power and gear reduction to twist them which means you need a finer spline shaft.
Now finer spline shafts do exist but they are super insane money. Pure custom.
Hence more surface area is needed to prevent twisting.
That is an odd break. It doesn't appear to be any twisting at all.
I'm sure this is the reason @truck-oholic said it's for lack of spline engagement.
I'm not there it's hard to tell from one picture but the situation you were in is almost the absolute worst case for a front driveshaft.
Hence the reason I wanted to see the male end of the slip. If those splines still left in are twisted, you don't have enough spline engagement or you have enough power and gear reduction to twist them which means you need a finer spline shaft.
Now finer spline shafts do exist but they are super insane money. Pure custom.
Hence more surface area is needed to prevent twisting.
That is an odd break. It doesn't appear to be any twisting at all.
I'm sure this is the reason @truck-oholic said it's for lack of spline engagement.
I'm not there it's hard to tell from one picture but the situation you were in is almost the absolute worst case for a front driveshaft.
So it disnt slide. It is not sloppy at all. What happened we believe is the splines were adequately engaged but us it sheared it pulled apart. The twisting would naturally pull the yoke down the splines until it either separated or tore the yoke.
If it was fully extended it would have pulled the yoke completely off.
Here was some good shock loading going on. Towing the trailer limited the forward motion dramatically causing the tires to dig and bite repeatedly
If it was fully extended it would have pulled the yoke completely off.
Here was some good shock loading going on. Towing the trailer limited the forward motion dramatically causing the tires to dig and bite repeatedly
Is the female end splined all the way through the tube? If it is my point was not accurate about it being stuffed.
@4wheelinfury so what is the solution here and how do you and your driveshaft guy plan on engineering out the problem?
Personally, I see only one solution. Send me that 450hp 6.0 and take my 330hp 5.3 so your driveshaft doesn't do this again
Hopefully this gives you a laugh
Personally, I see only one solution. Send me that 450hp 6.0 and take my 330hp 5.3 so your driveshaft doesn't do this again
Hopefully this gives you a laugh
Too bad you don't still have the shaft or more pics, that blue coating could tell you a lot about what happened.
I think it's good you were able to finish getting up the hill w/ the trailer and not beat the shit out of your oil pan.
It can get quite confusing, especially when you are getting misinformation from some sources. Post #244 explains the math, just substitute your numbers for the different lengths in and you will get the proper amount of slip.
I wouldn't assume that's where it was at the moment of breakage. Remember that shaft end thats connected to the T-case would have bounced around a few times
@4wheelinfury so obviously you have to get another slip yoke, is the spline stub reusable or do you have to replace that too? Is the driveshaft guy going to warranty this or is it all on you?
So does anybody have a source for a nice slip spline in the 8" range that doesn't rely on blue coating? Or is the general opinion that it's better to replace it every several years for the lack of sticking in the splines? I think the key to the all metal ones is a good dust seal above and limited exposure at the end. Most of these "long travel" splines are open at the end and the dust seal has to travel through the splined area, so a sealed on would be really long.
EDIT: anybody running the Tom Woods X to XB setup? The pictures kind of look coated. They are claiming only 4.5" of stroke, though.
http://www.4xshaft.com/ChevGMC.asp
EDIT: anybody running the Tom Woods X to XB setup? The pictures kind of look coated. They are claiming only 4.5" of stroke, though.
http://www.4xshaft.com/ChevGMC.asp
Last edited:
I'm running the Tom Woods, it's called the U1 spline. Pretty sure there's a picture of it in this thread somewhere. It's not blue, but the splines are coarse. He doesn't sell them for applications where the front shaft will be spinning all the time (no lockouts).
This shaft was done by Jesse at High Angle. it took us awhile to get a good working seal, but this one has a 1000 race miles. It isn't cheap, at over $700, but it is the best shaft that I have found in 15 years of looking.
CrpMag122
1/2 ton status
I am sorry if I missed this somewhere already, but I was curious as to how you ended up figuring out how much slip you needed? I called Woods Custom Shaft today to inquire about my front shaft. They said I would have to compress the front springs down as far as they would go then measure, let the axle got full droop and measure their, and then measure while at ride height. The last two steps are easy, still trying to figure out how to sompress the front springs.
Since it virtually impossible to fully compress leaf springs without drama, the easiest way to get a good measurement is to take the leaf pack apart, and only use the main leafs to test. Use a wood or metal spacer to make up the difference of the height of the spring pack.
The very first post of this thread has my fuzzy math (if you're not up for tearing apart your spring pack). It doesn't take much to exceed the standard shaft limits with soft leaf springs. What I realized/learned is that front leafs are the worst because as the suspension articulates with the rear shackle, it pulls the pinion down and away. Coils can have huge travel without the shaft changing much. The back of our trucks is like this because the shackle location helps keep the pinion in an arc.
The biggest thing in the rear is the most centered pinion.
