Well I replaced my front shaft on my 2008 Ford F-350 from a caspstrocic failure backing into my driveway. Long story short the entire shaft split like a tin can
So I have a little down time with snow for the last two weeks so I decided to remove and replace the rear shaft. Brought it to the driveshaft place and they said it would be a waste to rebuilt it considering it would be about 300$ to rebuild and 685$ for a brand NEW unit. One day later and it's in. Good peice of mind considering I only use this truck for plowing, salting and landscaping and can't afford down time. Who else has replaced their drive shaft ?

 

I haven't, but am curious how yours got damaged. I have a 2006 F350 that's mainly a plow truck; I worry more about rust eating thru everything......

 

The front rusted so badly that it split open like a soda can. I was worried about the rear doing the same thing or breaking off at the ears that connect by the u joints

 

Thanks.

Was it simple to change out? I've watched videos and it seems pretty straightforward, but I'm also wise enough to know that nothing ever goes right.....

 

I had the same problem on my 2006 F350 - front shaft rusted bad in one spot and when I was pushing into a snow bank with the plow, it exploded. Replaced the whole thing with a brand new one the local bone yard happened to have, and also had the busted one rebuilt for a spare.

Here’s a little additional story. I never added weight to my truck, figured the lighter it was the less damage was likely when hitting things plowing. But after the above incident it got me thinking I was probably wrong to not add weight, as with no weight in the back, the front axle is probably doing 90% of the work.

 

Personally if a drive line shop told me it made more sense to buy a new shaft instead of them rebuilding your old one I would question their quality. I have had several rebuilt over the years and the shafts rebuilt/built by a good drive line shop are much stronger and more reliable than the original, they use a thicker wall tubing and tend to actually build the shaft "straighter" than OEM, every one I have ever had done actually took less weight to balance and had less vibration than new OEM.

 

It's pretty straight forward change out. Just make sure you have a nice breaker bar. Those bolts get pretty frozen.

The one that was on my truck was original. The one from the axle shop has thicker walls. They didn't rebuild the oem one due to the rust.

Matt