front drive shaft upgrades

[Jschafer]

I spit the front drive shaft out of my truck this weekend. It's only the second time ive locked it in. I was playin in the sand for about five minuets before it broke the cv joint. My truck is a 90 model with a getreg it has a few tweaks, but i know some of you guys are puting a lot more power to the ground than me so how are yours holding together. I couldnt believe how small the DS was the cv joint is the same as my half ton chevy . Is there any conversions for a stronger shaft out there. Thanks in advance for wat ever help you can give.

 

[TKingsbury]

Is your truck lifted? If so, you may have maxed out the angle. The stock driveline is not a very high angle piece. You can use a die grinder with a carbide burr to clearance them some, but if you have a ton of angle change through your suspension cycle you may need to get a higher angle driveline made. With the lift on my truck, my shaft is pretty much maxed out. I haven't wheeled it though, mostly use the 4lo for maneuvering.

Travis. .

 

[McCRam]

I was going through a lot of joints on my 84 chevy until I upgraded. The ball in the original was about an inch in diameter. I replaced it with a spicer ( I think) and that ball looked about twice the size. It took a lot of abuse after that. I would call a driveshaft shop and ask them what they can do for you.

 

[ARhine]

Highangle driveline makes some nice stuff. They are popular in the offroad circles.



They will make anything to your spec. Nice guy.

http://www.highangledriveline.com/

 

[Jschafer]

the original owner put a couple extra leafs in the truck. It sits level a clears 33's so i dont think that it is too much angle.



I have the tooling to build driveshafts. Is it possible to eliminate the cv joint and just go with 1 u joint. I know that older vehicles didnt have cv's. I think I have or can find bigger yokes for the front end and t- case to build a stronger shaft but it's pointless if i cant eliminate or find a better cv. Do you guys know what vehicles would have bigger drive shafts that i can find for parts.



thanx for the reply's

 

[ARhine]

Don't these trucks already use a 1350 joint in the front? That is about as strong as you will ever need.



The problem is just that the stock CV does not have enough clearance to run at a higher angle. Put it on the truck and rotate it, notice how close the ears on the CV get to each other, even on my stock truck. When those ears grind together (like when the passengers side is in a droop condition) it is going to break something. Taking a die grinder to the CV would help a bunch.



I bet if you look on yours you will see marks where the CV has been binding on its self.

 

[DieselTweaker]

Jschafer



Yes there is an option you can go to 35spline axles very beefy axle shafts but it will run you some coin.



check out this link very good info http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/60_front/index.html

 

[Fred Swanson]

Check the CV for marks. It can't droop much without hitting. Either clearance the CV, or since it is busted, order up a beefier CV from one of the driveshaft companies. Try Tom Woods, too.

You may want to pick up an extended skip yoke for the times you droop the passenger side. The stock one will slide apart with minimal lift and longer shocks.