MOPAR Ball and Trundle ???'s

A good friend of mine owns a custom drive line shop. Today we were shooting the shizzle and I asked him about replacing the ball and trundle stuff on my Plymouth. He said it is a quick process and easy to do. Do to my complete lack of being able to ask the right questions at the right time. I neglected to ask him how to do it.

ssssoooo How do ya do it? Is it something I can do completely lacking my own machine shop? If I had this done what can I look forward to as far as lightening up the wallet?

The drive shaft on my Plymouth is fine cept I know it could use an upgrade. I keep my eye on the ball and trundle but I would like something a little more reliable. Specially since that monster flat six produces such ungodly amounts of torque!

Thanks all

Justin

 

BTTT! I'd like to know too.

 

If it's a stick shift, you should be able to change it by just using a universal joint yolk that fits the shaft, and changing the driveshaft to a universal joint one.

With pushbutton automatics it's a little more involved because of the parking brake arrangement. In the case of my '64, I would have to use a '65 tailshaft and mainshaft, because it has the same parking brake. The trouble with earlier (pre '64) torqueflites is that the parking brake is a drum on the mainshaft, and the ball and trunion bolts to it. You would lose the parking brake if you remove the drum.
Maybe fourthirteen has more info.

 

I kind of wondered about this too, although mostly because I wanted to know why they used it to begin with. Is the rear suspension set up so that the axle moves completely vertical or what?

 

t r u n i o n, ball and TRUNION

 

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I kind of wondered about this too, although mostly because I wanted to know why they used it to begin with. Is the rear suspension set up so that the axle moves completely vertical or what?

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I can't answer why they used it as long as they did - probably cost.

Here is a NOS rebuild kit on E-Bay right now. The driveshaft slides into the housing on the right. The trunnion is pressed through the end of the shaft, and the balls with roller bearings go over the ends of the trunnion. The two caps with the studs, above the balls, fit over the outside of the balls, studs down in the bearing, retaining the bearings and enabling the balls to slide in the bulges in the housing. The plate covers the end of the housing, where it bolts to the transmission, and the bellows slips over the end of the housing and the driveshaft, held on by bands. The entire unit is packed with grease. When the driveshaft moves because of suspension travel, the shaft slides in the housing, like a yolk on a universal joint. It's strong - it was used behind 426 super stocks. It's just that some parts are difficult to find for repair now, such as the bellows. Hope this helps...

Dan

 

ah yeah ball and trunion.... heh heh heh oops