2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission why does my truck have an aluminum driveshaft?

[Forrest Nearing]

so I bought this 98 quad/short 2wd auto and it's got a one piece aluminum driveshaft... I've never seen this before, and I'm assuming someone put it in there aftermarket.



sounds like one more thing I get to replace...

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Some did come with aluminum shafts.

 

[Royal]

They save weight and are strong. GMC used fiberglass on some trucks ,but they had troubles.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

that's surreal, I thought surely someone put it in after the fact...



I'm putting a disk brake D80 in the truck... will this driveshaft bolt up or does the 4x4 D80 have a different yoke/u-joint than a 2wd D70?



also, I'm hoping to eventually lay down 700+rwhp... assuming the aluminum driveshaft bolts to the D80... should it be replaced w/ a 2 piece steel shaft or are they similar in strength?



thanks!

 

[zstroken]

yokes should be the same unless someone changed it too!

 

[lumberjack98]

not sure about the yokes but there are some conversion joints out there i have a dana 60 (1350 u joint) in my jeep where a dana 44 (1310 u joint) once lived and the driveline shop had in stock a 1310 on one side and a 1350 on the other for @ $20. 00 after 2. 5 years of abuse in the jeep still no probablems. the jeep is on 38. 5" swampers with 4. 10 gears a t18 tcase a np435 trans and a t18 trans behind a 302 ford so at 269:1 low the driveline takes quita a bib of torque. hpoe this helps

 

[ata]

I think the drive shaft will be about 1 1/2 inches to long. The D-80's pinion is about that much longer. I think?

 

[Cooker]

I think the drive shaft will be about 1 1/2 inches to long. The D-80's pinion is about that much longer. I think?

This is correct. I don't recall exactly how much I had to shorten mine but 1. 25" sound about right.