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Slip yoke travel

C

COKE

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Vitoria(Spain)
Good day

My slip yoke is showing 3" out of the T-case(Np 208).

Willl this be too much?I have been searching the forum and i have found a post where a member say that it should to be 1 1/2"-2".

My suppension is stock,no lifted truck.
The only thing i did is to swap the rear axle wich was a 10 bolt for a 12 bolts,but the external dimmensions seem to be pretty similar on both axles .

The truck is an 88 k5.

Thanks.



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Thanks 454

I ask because i think my driveshaft is bent and i,ll probably need to get a new one,so i did need to know if i would be better a longer shaft.
 
You should only have about 1" showing. With how far out that yoke is sticking you could very easily end up dropping the driveline should you get much flex and also the yoke is not fully engaged in the tail bushing of the t-case and you'll probably end up cracking the tail housing of the t-case.
 
The slip yoke on my '82 k2500 sticks out about that far from the tail of the t-case,(NP-208)--I thought the driveshaft was too short (no lift,stock suspention)--but when I saw another truck like mine at the junkyard half stripped,I noticed the slip yoke on it is a good 5-6" long,and I've not had any leaks,vibrations or any truobles with the shaft falling out over hard enough bumps to get the rear end off the ground--so I guess its OK?...I'm used to only seeing 1-1/2" of space between the tail and yoke on stock trucks,so it did concern me some..
 
if you are getting a new one, make it a touch longer
if you are going to find another one at a junkyard or where ever, same length would be fine
My truck was like that with a 2.5" lift and all was good.

Spain huh? It's always cool to see other countries and their Chevys represented on the boards here.
 
It looks to be a ill too far out for my liking as well. How much is left inside the tail housing? Should have at least 2-3 inches goin into it so when it flexes it won't pop out. If it is too far out it will start to wear out the tail shaft and bearings. It would wreck the seal first and you would get a leak there. I'd pull the u joint on the axle side and see how much yoke is left inside the tail housing. Then you will know for sure how far it can move before it pops out or bottoms out on the transfer case.
 
That yolk is around 8 or 9in long, give or take a bit. Mine has almost twice that amount hanging out and its never leaked, popped out or anything. And thats with softride 6in springs and ORDs shackleflip with the 6in shackles. To long and it WILL bust the output clean off the t-case, as I have done that before. And if your really lucky it busts the tranny tailshaft off as well, and the transfer case falls off and renders the truck basically unmoveable. You can see where the seal "polished" the driveshaft and its out a inch or so past, I wouldnt go through the hassle of buying a new one, just added unnecessary expense. Factory suspension like you have has nowhere near the amount of droop to pop that out, from the factory they were basically set up for compression rather than alot of droop, but thats just my uneducated opinion
 
chulisohombre said:
It looks to be a ill too far out for my liking as well. How much is left inside the tail housing? Should have at least 2-3 inches goin into it so when it flexes it won't pop out. If it is too far out it will start to wear out the tail shaft and bearings. It would wreck the seal first and you would get a leak there. I'd pull the u joint on the axle side and see how much yoke is left inside the tail housing. Then you will know for sure how far it can move before it pops out or bottoms out on the transfer case.
Click to expand...


It is 3.54" inside,today i have marked the part where it meets the seal and removed it from the truck (Sorry for the metric tape :rolleyes:)


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I have been checking the lengt between caps centers on a online shop wich sells remanufactured shafts for k5,s and it does match,so it isn,t from other truck. I never had a seal leak in 12 years.

The trouble is since i swaped the rear axle i have horrible vibrations on the floor.
The pinion angles seems to be ok,and the 12 bolts meassurements seems to be pretty similar to the original 10b.

If put the truck with the rear axle on jack stands and shift "D" at idle speed, i can see the shaft turning out of center until i rev it up ,then it seems to turn more centered.


Thanks for all the replies.
 
I thought the rear yoke on the diff is different between 10 and 12 bolts??...you might need a "conversion" u-joint or swap the yoke to the 12 bolt if it's the same splines and O.D...
 
It looks like you got enough of those odd looking measurement lines left in there to me :D
 
Does the back of the T-case leak as well? You may need a new slip yoke just to get a tighter fit. There is also a bushing in the tail for the outside of the slip yoke to ride on. Obviously if it can ride off center it's going to cause vibrations. I've also heard of them getting bad enough to break stuff and fly off.
 
Looks like you got enough goin in the transfer. You can try to spin the driveshaft 180 on the yolk and then bolt it back in to the rear. Ujoints are old or new? Maybe pull them apart and check them and regrease them. Just a couple things to try.
 
If its not running true at any speed, you need to find out why before something goes bad.
Check the obvious first. Chock the wheels so it can't roll on you, put it in neutral to take the load off the shaft, and grab the shaft and wiggle it as hard as you can. If any of the joints move or have slop in them, replace them.
If you still have the shaft out, bend the joints as far as they will go in each direction and feel for stiffness or roughness.

And like Diesel said, make sure the rear U-joint fits the rear yoke correctly. If the shaft is moving up and down as it turns, there has to be something loose somewhere unless its bent.
 
I thought my drive shaft was too short in the picture below.

DSC01321.jpg


After I lengthened my drive shaft.

DSC01323.jpg
 
Blue85 said:
Does the back of the T-case leak as well? You may need a new slip yoke just to get a tighter fit. There is also a bushing in the tail for the outside of the slip yoke to ride on. Obviously if it can ride off center it's going to cause vibrations. I've also heard of them getting bad enough to break stuff and fly off.
Click to expand...

Years ago i had to weld that cap in the center of the slip yoke cause it was always throwing fluid.No leaks since then.

I didn,t have any vibes with the 10 bolts.It was a 3.08:1 and now i have 4.11 on the 12 bolts.It turns faster ,but it is not enough reason for these vibrations

I have tried a several things,to turn the U-joints position 180º degrees in the yoke,to use a couple of hose clamps around the shaft...
The last thing i did is to build this "tool" using a pencil, a grommet and a jack stand:

propshaft1.jpg

The pencil does not paint one "side" of the shaft.That is why i think that it is bent.
 
I just remembered, there is one thing that could be causing all this. Did you change out any of the factory u-joints with the plastic holding them in place?

I don't know how long it went on, how many years, but for a long time there was a problem with the factory yokes.

They did not machine the insides where the locks go correctly. I don't think it was on purpose, just sloppy.
When they installed the crosses at the factory, they put the shaft in a jig that centered the crosses exactly in the yoke.
Then they injected the plastic.

After that, the shaft ran true.
Until it came time to replace the cross. Since you did not use the plastic method, you were stuck with using the inside locks.

But the inside was not centered on the shaft, even though it was the correct distance apart.
So, the locks would fit just fine, but the cross would be offset from center, and there was nothing that could be done about it. No way to shim it.

A friend of mine has a machine shop and he specializes in building and repairing driveshafts.
I don't know how many dozens of them he had to cut the yoke off and weld on a new one.
I saw one come in with the caps offset by at least 1/16 of an inch or more.
Both locks were on, and the yoke turned freely.
It just was not in the center.
 
Fordum,

I changed the one wich goes on the axle side cause the original one lost the needles.
I ordered it from LMC truck,and they sent to me one with inside locks and greaseable(The original one was not).

But i did this 3 years ago with the other axle and never had troubles.
Maybe i should to use the yoke from the axle that i removed...

Thanks
 
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