Single Piece Driveshaft Conversion

I may seem like an idiot, but I just went to a nearby shop (Wellbuilt axle is the name of it, it’s up here in Grand Rapids) and had a 1 piece aluminum driveshaft made to replace the OE 2 piece.

The shaft doesn’t seem to have a slip yoke on it, is this normal?

And when I install does it matter which rotational the shaft is when bolting it up? I know it only bolts on way, but I mean how the shaft is rotated.

I’ll post a pic if it’ll help.

 

Here are some photos of the driveshaft.

 

They messed up. Yours has a slip yoke not a flange like the 4x4 they gave you.

 

There’s a slip joint under that bellows near the top, I’d bet. If there isn’t, the driveshaft will effectively prevent articulation of the suspension through its normal range of travel, which would be a Bad Thing.

As long as the flanges on the ends of the driveshaft are phased correctly (looks like they are in the photo) then it’s fine, the t-case and pinion flanges can be rotated as needed to bolt it up.

All that said, a single piece driveshaft will hang down quite a bit lower than the stock 2 piece, so if you do much off-roading that might be a concern. Likewise, aluminum won’t take much abuse before being compromised. Lastly, the pinion angle is different for a conventional driveshaft like you just bought vs a CV (double cardan joint) driveshaft like the stock one, see the photo below. If your truck is not lifted it may not matter much though.

 

So are you saying there might be a slip joint hidden in the driveshaft? Perhaps near that black covering at the top? Is there a way I can check. I’d like to know before I toss it in the truck…

also the truck is lifted 2 in the front, and ~2.5 in the rear… she’s a pavement princess for now, I just couldn’t fix the driveshaft vibes. I’ve done everything I could think of for the last 5+ years so I just bought an aluminum one piece hoping it would cure it. That being said it would suck if it didn’t have any slip joints and busted something else…

edit: I’m an idiot, you literally said there’s probably a slip joint under that thing at the top. Lol

 

Just checked. Very happy to say, that with a little more force than I was giving it, that there is in fact a slip joint under the black thing. Very happy. Thanks guys.

 

Dude, is your truck 2wd or 4x4?

 

I probably would have recommended measuring your driveshaft angles first before ordering the new shaft, but if you haven’t changed the rear pinion angle relative to the transfer case after lifting it, there’s a good chance that is what has been causing your vibrations. I chased that down for a long time as well before cutting the perches off and rotating the axle to point the pinion at the carrier bearing.

If you take a digital protractor (or just download one of those free angle finder apps in your phone), and hold it flat on the t-case output flange and the rear pinion flange, they should be the same angle. If so, that’s the correct setup for your one piece driveshaft and theoretically shouldn’t vibrate.

There’s also bent axle shafts, out of round brake drums, imbalanced wheels/tires, etc etc etc that could be contributing. Hope the driveshaft solves your issue.

 

It’s a PreRunner, but the shop guy crawled under there and measured out the flanges on both ends, so I was just worried about it not having a slip joint.

 

I definitely knew that changing the pinion angles would probably have been cheaper, but it’s cold and I have nowhere to work but the parking lot so I think this’ll be easier to do, and if it works I’m happy. Plus no more CB to maintenance

thanks you guys for the correspondence! This forum is always the best.

 

Lots of good advise ^

Looks like a very nicely built unit. Read up on drive shaft angles. Double cardon joints

Watch out for high centering the (aluminum especially) drive shaft.

 

I can’t see from the pics, but you also need to see if you have serviceable u joints or not. If they have a grease fitting, plan on adding that to your oil change regiment.

 

They are serviceable joints, so I’ll definitely be adding them to the maintenance rotation. I’ll read up on high centering the driveshaft so I know about it, thanks for the advice!