Hey guys, just half way through the t5 swap and decided to tackle the 2 piece driveshaft on my 66 c10. According to my calculations I will need to shorten the drive shaft 9 1/2"! This seems like alot to me becuase I thought I read another post from a while back and the guy said he shortened his only 3''. What I did was slide the s10 yoke all the way into the trans and measure from the center of the u joint on the yoke to the center of the u joint of the reared. I came up with 64 1/2'' centre to centre and subrtacted 1'' for play in the yoke. Is this the correct amount to subtract? Then I measure the complete stock 2 piece drive shaft and it measure 73'' from center to centre of the front and rear u joints. I did this with all the weight on the jack stands of the rear axle to load the suspension. Can anybody see anything wrong with the way I am doing this before I pay a driveline shop to shorten it? Thanks again.
Does the stock driveshaft have a slip joint in it? or does it have a support bearing at the end of the front driveshaft? (sorry, not familiar with C10's) Your measurements sound like you did them right, but you need to make sure that's enough play at the yoke. If it's riding stock or lower, it's probably fine.
It has a steady bearing at the back end of the front half of the driveshaft. The t5 does appear to be about 8 3/4" longer from the ear on the front to the back of the tail shaft so I guess I should be correct.
So you are only going to shorten the front shaft, right? and keep the steady bearing in the same place, with the same rear shaft? If the front shaft is long enough to do it that way, that's the best way. But it means your measurements aren't useful.
64 1/2" is too long for a one-piece driveshaft. Ask me how I know! And it was on a '66 C10 also........
o.k. now i'm curious. alot of vans are longer than that. i guess the way the supsession is made is the problem?
You are only going to shorten the shaft that runs from the transmission output yoke, to the mounted bearing. Remove that piece from the assembly and reinstall the rear half, and center bearing. Put the output yoke in the transmission, and pull it back out 1". Measure from the center of the yoke eyelets on the output yoke, to the eyelets on the yoke sticking out of the center bearing. That is your true measurement. Measuring any other way, WILL be incorrect. Short shafts between mounted components are not a problem:
Been down this road before and load it up on a trailer and take it to the professionals and let them do it and balance it. You'll be glad you did, Yes it will cost some deneros but it'll save you in the long run and run a lot smoother. I know it;s not the shade tree way but I v believe you'll be happy in the end, Did this to my 57 chevy pickup three on the tree to a t-5. YRUHOT.......doug
It's not that you can't have a driveshaft longer than 60", but it has to be a much larger OD tube and likely made of aluminum. Take a look at DS's from newer pickups. I see them often at my local driveline shop. They weigh next to nothing and the stiffness of the 5"+ OD allows them to be longer I guess.
You only worry about the front half of the two piece drive shaft. You want about 3/4 of an inch of the yoke sticking out of the trans when the yoke is put in the tail shaft of the trans. The simple way to cheat and not measure all day long is to take the front half of the driveshaft and slip the yoke into the tail shaft of the trans so you have the 3/4 of an inch exposed. Then hold the back half up and measure the distance between one of the bolt holes the center support bolts to on the crossmember and the corresponding bolt hole on the center support. That measurement is the amount you will have to remove from the driveshaft tube to get the center support to bolt up to the crossmember. My son did exactly that when he shortened my driveshaft for my 3/4 ton two weeks ago. The rear half doesn't need any change as the splines sticking out behind the center support are going to be in the same exact spot they were before. Just remember to put the front yoke of the back half in phase with the yoke on the front half. You can't go by someone else's measurements because they may have the engine further forward or further back then you do if one or both of you didn't use the stock cast iron bellhousing and bolt it to the stock crossmember.
I just did this conversion on my 58 chevy pickup. I did a one piece drive shaft and couldn't be happier! Got rid of the center bearing and the bracket that drops the bearing down about 3 inches. No vibes and works great. I didn't bring anything to the guy to cut and paid 250.
correct, you are only worried about the front half of the drive shaft as I explained in my previous post and a couple of the others explained. All you are worried about is getting it to the correct length so the center support will bolt to the holes in the crossmember. Even on long bed vs short bed trucks with the same trans the difference in the drive shafts is in the front half. The rear half stays the same.
Yep, and highway speeds were lower, but so were gear ratios, so IDK... Was told as a general rule 60" should be the max with small steel tube.
It's rather funny but over the past 50 years I have owned who knows how many rigs with two piece driveshafts and haven't had any more trouble with them than I have with the ones with one piece driveshafts. That includes 67 C-10, 61 and 61 Impalas, 70, C-10 64 C-10 and 71 C-20 along with a 77 K30 crew cab. Once in a while I had to replace a center support bearing and once in a while I had to replace more than one Ujoint but problem wise it hasn't been any more than other rigs. That's with probably putting 300K combined on those vehicles and using a couple of them pretty hard.
The '46 project in my avatar will have a 58" driveshaft with a T5, so I'm hoping for your kind of luck! Hope to have it on the road in a month or so.......!!!!!
So I took another look at the driveshafts and the steady bearing is actually on the front half of the driveshaft. So should I still remove the chunk from the front half when they cut off the front yoke?
I just picked up a t5 to throw behind the 235 in my 64 c10, I want to get all the peices together before I do the swap, I just have no idea how to tackle the driveshaft
come on guys this is not rocket science, mr 48chev gave you the best description there is, no matter which end the carrier bearing is attatched to they come apart. the rear end is stationary and distance to carrier bearing is not going to change all the cutting will be done on the front half tom
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