I have a '72 F100 Sport Custom long bed with a 360 and a C6 and I need to replace the front part of the two-piece driveshaft. It has the bolt-up yoke on the back of the tranny and the slip-yoke on the back end. I'm having trouble finding the correct driveshaft at the local boneyards when I ask for parts for a '72. Most of the places here don't have data that go back that far. Is there another newer truck or van I can ask for that has the same driveshaft configuration?

Here are the specs I have on it right now?

-3" dia main tube
-16 spline, 1 3/8" slip-joint shaft
-24" length from center of u-joint yoke to center of carrier bearing.
-U-joint looks to be about 3 5/8" from from the end of each endcap to the other.

Thanks!

 

JUst keep looking the older mom and pop yards are the best...or just look around your town you can normaly find parts trucks sitting around..did you high center it..and bend it? if not all you need is new u-joints or carrer bearing you cant hardly hurt those shafts...good luck bill

 

Try calling some boneyards in the wichita area i know of a yard in Andover (just east of wichita) that has a few of these older trucks cant think of the name off the top of my head though.

 

I was going to have the current one rebuilt, but some idiot scraped all of the blue plastic stuff out of the splines and put it back together. This caused the splines and on both the male and female end to wear considerably. They are wobbly as hell. Now it makes a ton of noise when the tranny shifts, when I apply power or let off to coast, and it vibrates like crazy at road speeds. The rebuild shop wants almost $400 to rebuild the front driveshaft. The guy said it would be cheaper to just get a longer or shorter one with good splines and make it the right length. I'm just looking to confirm that a driveshaft from, say, an '87 E150 will fit or something like that.

 

You might think about rebuilding it yourself...the carrer bearing can be a pain...but all in all its not to hard..Im shure people here would give you advice...

 

since ya got a c6 it should have a slip yolk at the end of the tail shaft so why not get rid of the carrier bearin and two piece shaft and run a one peice saft i have one from an eary 80's f100 in my 71 with a 460/c6 the only thing i had to do was get one of those oddball ujoints one side is a lil wider than the other cant rember the number off hand or if ya get the new shaft from a junkyard grab the yolk off the rear end and save the trouble of findin that oddball joint

 

Wizzards right...I run a 1 piece shaft.. the carrier bearings dont like drag racing very much..I just matched up shafts at the junk yard till i found somthing that fit..good luck

 

There are shops nationwide that can build you a new shaft...or rebuild yours. I would assume that your front d'shaft could be cut at the weld joint, and a new front section added and rebalanced.

There are several shops locally here in L.A. that specialize in this work...there's gotta be someone in your area...you might check with a big rig parts house for a reference.

 

Fellows, he cannot switch to a single piece driveshaft unless he changes out the transmission.
Not all C-6s came with a slip yoke in the rear.
Many came with a bolt-on yoke instead, just like you find on the back of a 4 speed transmission.

Now he does have another option, but it is probably not worth it unless his current transmission needs rebuilding.

Find an FE patterned C-6 with the slip yoke rear, and have it rebuilt. Be sure to get the slip yoke out of the rear like wizzard said. Buy the whole bent up driveshaft if necessary to get it. They might even throw it in for free. You can then have a single piece driveshaft built.

By the way, a driveshaft is never lengthened, it can only be shortened. If additional length is needed, the yokes are cut out and welded into a longer new (or different) tube.

Good luck!

See my next post.

 

 

Well, to clarify.

I do have a bolt-up C6 with no slip joint. I don't want to drag race it. I just want it to go down the road without giving me a massage from all the vibration. Now I like a massage as much as any other guy, but I already have a little import road race car with solid motor mounts and an uncounterbalanced 4 cylinder so I get my fill of vibration in that thing.

The reason I'm looking for other alternatives, is that the spline shaft was quoted at $130 for just the part, another $70 for the slip yoke that goes over it. Toss in U-joints and the labor and I'm right around $400. The only reason I have to do anything is because the spline shaft and slip yoke are worn out. The driveshaft is fine otherwise. It has a brand new carrier bearing. I'm going to get the U-joints changed because there is a tiny amount of play in them. Oh, and I'm having Inland Truck Parts do the work. They are the cheapest I have found around here if you want it done right.

The reason I've been having trouble finding parts in the boneyards around here is another story. I heard that several years ago, the city or some action group decided to "reclaim" an area near downtown that had a bunch of old junkyards to make some creek a nice place. Well, they bought out all of the junkyards and crushed everything. Consequently, out of the 20+ junkyards we have around here, most of them only carry vehicles as far back 1990 or so.

In the end, I found a used slip yoke for $15 and a longer used driveshaft with the right spline shaft on it for $50. So far, I'm $135 ahead of the game assuming labor and U-joints stay the same.

Anyways, I was asking because of the whole "many van parts up to 1986 fit our trucks" statement. I was hoping I could find a vehicle to ask about when looking for the driveshaft for my truck. I did find one that was exactly what I needed, but it looked like it had been sitting in the weather since 1972 as nothing was usable on it at all. I appreciate all the suggestions though. That's why I love this place!