Need Some Driveshaft Advice

[broncogirl]

I drive my 1988 (4x4, AT) BII at highway speeds a lot. A number of times a year, I drive in icy or slick snow conditions. Once or twice a year, I'll have to bounce around in deeply rutted packed snow.

My mechanic says the terrible sound I hear when braking (and sometimes when taking off from a stop) is the driveshaft. He suggested a junk yard one. With mine only having 80K on it, I doubt finding one with much life left would be worth the hassle.

So, I've been reading about them online and called a local driveline shop. The only reasonably priced ($300 or less) replacements for my GKN-type CV-jointed shaft are all U-joints. Some of these (re)manufacturers are kind enough to mention that the U-jointed ones are not suited for highway speeds. I can't find any readily available newly rebuilt or new CV joint ones. The local shop said they would rebuild my CV shaft and it might be "$400 or more". Didn't sound like they were real interested in this, so I'm not thrilled about that.

I'm worried the U-joints might be wrong for me. I really don't want vibration issues at 60-70mph or any kind of jerkyness, but I also understand the stock design was crap. So, paying maybe $400 or $500 and waiting for who knows how long to have mine rebuilt but still fragile doesn't sound great, either.

Any thoughts, sources (local PDX or online) for purchase, etc. would be appreciated, but remember I'm not a rock crawler. My truck seems crazy to most Bronco people(especially early bronco folks), but it is a pretty darned stock BII other than the '66 body welded on. I use the 4x4, but I also use the cruise control.

Thanks!

 

[Bronco_Chuck]

i say go get one or two from a JY that would be about 20 each or so (thats what it is around here) swap it out if needed. just make sure that the boots (rubber thing that covers the CV joint) doesnt have any cracks or tears, and you should be fine. also its only like 8 bolts so changing it isnt very hard.
but thats just my.02

 

[4x4junkie]

A u-jointed driveshaft is perfectly fine. Just make sure it's a "Double Cardan" driveshaft (has 2 u-joints back-to-back at the rear of the transfercase, for a total of 3 u-joints).

 

[88_Eddie]

i have the james duff driveshaft with u-joints and it has never given me any problems. i got it about 6 years ago and did numerous drives from north carolina to alabama(about 460 miles one way) and i never had a problem.

 

[Jspafford]

I bought a u-joint shaft off here about 3 years ago. Mine is NOT a double cardon, it has a single u-joint at the transfer case and a single u-joint on the rear axle and I've put about 20K miles on it with no problems I know of. I've put about 12K on it just this last year. My commute is 35miles a day at 65-70mph.

A u-joint shaft will be fine at highway speeds.

 

[martin]

The u/joint shafts (double cardan, single cardan) were standard on the early b2's. Never had a vibration problem on my 84.

 

[NMB2]

not knowing how mechanically inclined you are makes it a little tough to say what to do. If you have the money, you can get a d-line from somebody like Tom Woods. If you have the money but still want to do it on the cheap, the best thing to do is get an explorer front shaft, have it rebuilt at the shop and put on. You will have to change the rear output yoke, and get a flange off of a ranger or something. All can be had at the j-yard for less than $100. then im thinking maybe another $30 to replace the single joint and get new bolts.

Regardless of whether or not you get a shaft from Tom Woods (or somebody else) or do the explorer shaft, you will still need to get a new flange and yoke.

EDIT: I just remembered that a double cardan shaft is probably not the best solution.... The best solution for you would probably be to get an earlier explorer rear single joint shaft, have new joints put in it, and have it shortened. Make sure you get the right flanges, then it will bolt right in.

Here is what they look like after being rebuilt/shortened.

 

[Jspafford]

not knowing how mechanically inclined you are makes it a little tough to say what to do. If you have the money, you can get a d-line from somebody like Tom Woods. If you have the money but still want to do it on the cheap, the best thing to do is get an explorer front shaft, have it rebuilt at the shop and put on. You will have to change the rear output yoke, and get a flange off of a ranger or something. All can be had at the j-yard for less than $100. then im thinking maybe another $30 to replace the single joint and get new bolts.

Regardless of whether or not you get a shaft from Tom Woods (or somebody else) or do the explorer shaft, you will still need to get a new flange and yoke.

EDIT: I just remembered that a double cardan shaft is probably not the best solution.... The best solution for you would probably be to get an earlier explorer rear single joint shaft, have new joints put in it, and have it shortened. Make sure you get the right flanges, then it will bolt right in.

Here is what they look like after being rebuilt/shortened.

That looks just like mine.

 

[4x4junkie]

EDIT: I just remembered that a double cardan shaft is probably not the best solution....

Why is that? :icon_confused:

 

[NMB2]

Why is that? :icon_confused:

well man, im just thinking that from her post, and the fact she still has the CV, its probably stock ride height and pinion is setup for a single joint shaft, with the double cardan shaft there is a good chance it will be out of phase.

 

[Totalled]

well man, im just thinking that from her post, and the fact she still has the CV, its probably stock ride height and pinion is setup for a single joint shaft, with the double cardan shaft there is a good chance it will be out of phase.

This. The pinion won't be pointed at the t-case. It will be even with it.

 

[4x4junkie]

Ford originally used Double-Cardan shafts on early BIIs, you think they actually bothered to change the pinion angle on the rearend when they started sticking those POS dual-CV things in? I can't see any reason for it myself... (people are always swapping those early shafts into later BIIs too, I haven't yet heard anyone complain of it vibrating).

Even if this is the case, just put some angle shims under the leaf springs to correct the pinion angle.
The DC shaft is miles ahead of a SC shaft on a short-wheelbase truck, especially if you ever lift it later on. Having an Explorer front shaft shortened to fit like mentioned earlier is probably the cheapest way to get a DC shaft for the rear of your BII.

 

[Totalled]

Yes, they did. My original 7.5s pinion pointed at the t-case when it had the factory double cardan shaft.

 

[NMB2]

Yes, they did. My original 7.5s pinion pointed at the t-case when it had the factory double cardan shaft.

x2, so did mine on my 84.

 

[4x4junkie]

Ok... so use the shims then. Why the big fuss here???

I would never want to use a single-cardan shaft on this application, myself.

 

[NMB2]

ya, not that big of a deal to throw some shims in, just saying its even less of a deal to do a single joint shaft. Not sure why you would never want to use a single joint shaft, matter of preference i guess. Ive run both, i only went to double cardan when i did a doubler.

so either an explorer front shaft and shims, or explorer rear shaft and no shims. Those are the cheapest best options available.

 

[4x4junkie]

Perhaps so, but when you can get a DC shaft for similar cost, why not? The OP here did express some concern over vibration, the DC shaft would be least likely to exhibit a vibration when setup correct.

 

[NMB2]

Perhaps so, but when you can get a DC shaft for similar cost, why not? The OP here did express some concern over vibration, the DC shaft would be least likely to exhibit a vibration when setup correct.

oh I agree with you 100% man about getting a DC shaft for same cost, then why not. Its just hard to say not knowing their mechanical skills and how much they want to spend/do, reason i threw all of that other stuff out there. the explorer front shaft is the better choice because it will perform better if the truck is ever lifted, but will require changing the rear yoke which for somebody like you and me isnt a big deal, but not everyone has a 32mm non-impact socket and wants to deal with doing that. Ya know? On a stock vehicle, i dont think there would be any difference in performance if done by a good shop.

 

[4x4junkie]

On a stock vehicle, i dont think there would be any difference in performance if done by a good shop.

True enough :icon_thumby:

 

[BlackBII]

Having an Explorer front shaft shortened to fit like mentioned earlier is probably the cheapest way to get a DC shaft for the rear of your BII.

This is exactly what I did on my BII. Worked great. :icon_thumby: