I was reinstalling my rear drive shaft yesterday after a long drawn out clutch job and noticed that its toast! Apparently I've been driving on a bad U joint for so long that it busted through where it seats in the drive shaft. I could be a bum and replace the U joint cause its not all the way broken, right? Not with winter coming!

I need help sourcing this part. I live in Alaska (not anchorage) so this is a challenge- no good junkyards for 2.5 hours from here. I know of a bunch of older- early 80s fords parked in a buddy's yard that I could pick, but no idea as to the interchangability of this part.

My truck is a 87 F350 4x4 with the 6.9 diesel. Its single cab with 4 spd trans.
How specific to my make year and model do I need to be when buying the new part?

Could I pull a part from a F250 4x4 gas burner single cab, for example?
Also I've looked online for parts and see one thats 161" (single cab) and 168" (crew cab). The 161" part is close, but its for a 5 spd ZF, and i've got the 4 speed (someone fill in the blank please I forgot what kind of tranny I have...its a borg warner) If I was to pull tape on my drive shaft what would I measure? U joint to u joint, or do I go down the whole yoke?

I dont want to end up with something thats gonna shimmy and shake and take hours of my time to balance out. I want to source the correct part to minimize this possibility. Will it shake anyway and require balancing, even if purchased new?

Thanks in advance for any help- these forums have been a great resource of info!

 

Buying a used driveshaft is tough. There are dozens and dozens of different lengths because of all the wheelbase, engine, transmission, and transfer case combinations. Some transfer cases are slip yoke so they use a solid shaft. Some are fixed yoke so the slip joint is in the shaft.

Unless you personally witness the removal of the driveshaft from the vehicle, I wouldn't even try to get a used one.

To make matters worse, trucks are usually moved around inside a junkyard with a forklift. When you pick a truck up with a forklift, guess what gets destroyed. So even finding a used driveshaft that isn't destroyed is a challenge.

If it were my truck, I would take it to a driveline shop and have them fix your existing shaft. You will drive yourself nuts doing it any other way. I know you are probably hours away from a shop, but I really think it's the way to go.

 

I think I understand. This makes me sad. Sounds like I need to find my trucks twin in order for it to work. A gasser wont work because its going to be different engine dimensions from where the tranny comes off.

Here are some pics of the damage. Look where its broken- how would they fix that??

 

They would cut the yoke off, weld a new one onto the end of the shaft and then balance it.

 

Andy-
Thanks! Thats what I'll do. Earlier I went over to the shop its in to measure the length of the driveshaft. I noticed that its basically a big heavy duty pipe with the yokes welded on, and thought- hmmm, maybe someone could cut it off and weld on a new one. The important thing you're telling me is that such a service exists and that they will rebalance it when they are done, which is key!

Sure it will be a pain to take it 2.5 hours to anchorage but I have to go there every once in a while for big shopping (tho I hate to go there). Theres a local trucking company who makes the run and pick it back up for me for like $30 when the shop is done with it, so now to find said shop. Thank you, and I'm really happy to have a workable solution for this problem. We Andys gotta stick together.

-Andy

 

We have a chain called clutch and brake here that does this too. Or just giver them numbers and they will custom make it.

 

I found a shop in Anchorage who can do it same day or next day. He quoted me $225-$250 over the phone and thats for a yoke weld, new u joints installed on both ends, balancing, and all ready to be reinstalled. I'm ok with that price. Any Alaskans on here can PM me if they want to know the name of the shop or how it all went. I'll probably get it done sometime next week.