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Suburban rear driveline, carrier bearing or one piece?

BadDog

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So I'm branching out into new territory with a Suburban. Everything else I've ever run was either short enough it's no question, or long pickups that came with carrier bearings. Now I've dropped most of my K5 drivetrain into the Suburban and need to put together a new rear drive line.

Nick runs a long one piece in the 72 and has liked it very well. Maybe it's my rock crawler days, but I get queasy just thinking about that long drive line combined with abysmal break over limits, so I can't get a carrier bearing out of my head. I've got an SYE on a 241 with double cardan down to the C14 now, so it's got to be all new, no likely donors out there.

The carrier option is certainly the most expensive requiring 2 shafts plus the carrier, but gives a good drive line angle for a shackle flip rear to give me a matching pinion angle and my ~4" lift with stock 3/4 ton packs. The long shaft is cheaper on it's own, but needs a heavier/larger tube, and likely requires either rotating the axle to get a good pinion angle, or some other mechanism to get it where it needs to be to align with the DC joint on the top.

Thoughts and experiences either way?
 
@mrk5 fought with several in his Crew. Can't remember what is in it now

My k10 is shorter wheel base than yours, but I eliminated the 2 piece shaft in mine
 
All 4x4 Burbs I've had were a 1-piece rear shaft. The 2wd's have had a 2-piece shaft.

The wheelbase really isn't a big deal, it's 2 inches shorter than a long bed truck.
 
4in lift and 37s. It’s not a rockcrawler. One piece driveline wont be a problem. Same driveline in my 87 sub with 10 bolt then 14 bolt. I’ve never worried about hitting it.
 
Mine is 4" with 35s, but mainly because I have it. It's possible I may go down to 2" and 33s when these die.

Seems the general consensus is single shaft. Same thing Nick (my Sub reference point, knows his $hit and same usage) has been telling me. Just couldn't get my head around that after all the rock crawler shafts I've seen eaten. Thanks!
 
Thanks. I've been browsing build threads, but they get so long...
 
Yes they do! Trying to search some of this stuff gets a flood of hits.
 
Doing good. Still working on various projects and going on road trips in the burb.
 

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