Technical Tranny tailshaft/driveshaft question

Got a stock 350/350 setup and had to have a driveshaft made to fit the system. "Measure twice and cut once" - remember? Well I THOUGHT I took care of that until I connected the driveshaft. Turns out the driveshaft yoke MAY not have enough bite on the tranny tailshaft. From my measurements it appears that I have about 2" of bite on the tailshaft. The yoke I used was shiny from previous use for about another 1" that is now unused. Rear suspension is quite heavy so I do not anticipate much movement. As I said above, it's a stock 350 and I'm not doing anything to beef it up. As a stock setup am I going to be OK with the current "bite"?

 

how far did the yoke slide out, from being bottomed out, to where the drive shaft is bolted in place? It should be about one inch. If it's much more than that, I'd worry about it

 

squirrel,
I will check. Old age and limited movement will make it take a little while to unbolt from rear end and slide forward to get the measurements but I'm hopeful that the shiny exposed part of the yoke being an inch is a good indicator of what I will find. Thanks for the input. I've been a member here for a few years and you've provided some very useful information many times. Thanks

 

glad to help!

 

There are different length yokes out there. Found out the hard way. After moving a substantial chunk of front weight rearward in our stock car we needed a new driveshaft. Grabbed a yoke off the shelf, measured it up and had the driveshaft made. When the new shaft came in we saw a beefier yoke on the shelf and used it. Oops! The beef was between the base of the splined tube part and the "U" joint bosses. It effectively made the yoke longer.

If need be a junk yard crawl may reveal a longer GM yoke. You can buy "U" joints that will mate an internal clip piece to an external clip piece.

 

Think Speedway and others sell longer yokes. Probably harder on the tail housing bushing, tho.

 

I bought a 1 inch longer yoke from Summit for my '34 rear end swap. I went from Jag back to 9 inch.
The longer yoke works great so far.

 

I did the same thing....bought a "cut to fit" slip yoke from Speedway and cut it to fit! Muy bueno...

 

If at all possible move the engine and trans back an inch.

 

Speedway for sure. We use their long ones in our dirt car with a lot of rear end movement. A no brainer.