rear driveshaft

[penski61]

wb is 120" and because of that i would constantly hit the driveshaft , so i decided to try a thicker wall driveshaft which held up for 2 runs and had to get rebalanced twice , this time i decided to go with even thicker wall (suggested by the builder)
put the driveshaft on the truck and truck wouldnt get out of its own way , and i was running 2500 rpms where as before i was at 2100
so now im cutting down the driveshaft they re-tubed and goin with a 2 piece design that will give me about 3" more clearance at the point i kept hitting before
ill post pics of the finished project but here is a mockup of before and after
oh and if i do for some reason i mess up the driveshaft i can pull it out swap the front to the back and go rear wheel again , but more than likely will get a trail spare in the future
 

[theking]

I'm running 3/16 wall.  It's a heavy bastard, but seems to run OK.  I wouldn't think the weight would affect the performance much while just cruising, just heavy acceleration.  Clearance looks good with the two piece.  

[penski61]

when your up to speed its ok , its was getting to cruising speed that was the BIG problem lol

i had 3/16 on the truck before this and it was alright but i kept hitting the DS at pretty much the same spot
so im hoping this will help out a bunch to where i dont hit the stupid thing

the advantage ill have now is the front and rear driveshafts will be pretty much the same thing , so if i want to i only need one spare driveshaft

[theking]

I like the idea.  Let us know where you source the carrier bearing, if you would.  I might need one for a rig I'm working on.   

[penski61]

im having the front section made up by a local driveshaft shop , same place that has done pretty much all my stuff

the front section is gonna run around $155-165 , then the second half is just the normal driveshaft with high angle cv  and 9" slip

[penski61]

i think this is gonna work out better than i hoped
here is the driveshaft cut down and i have even more clearance than mock up and better angles as well!!
i should be able to just shim but ill have to re-do the shock mounts in the back

[penski61]

tried shims but wont work with the anti-wrap perches so need to cut and rotate then make a new x-member to mount the carrier bearing to

[salad_man]

it looks good, wondering how it will hold up, I might be redoing my rear, ha ha

[penski61]

got the x-members almost in , taking a lunch break then need to finish welding them up then comes out the driveshaft and the rear axle
got to cut the spring perches off and rotate the axle up , im hoping to get it done and do a test run to see how the balance is

[penski61]

got everything all put back together
few pics of full droop and the x-member

[penski61]

and now the carrier bearing and yolk protected

[gitarboyx]

thats awesome!

[penski61]

thanks  , im hoping it should do the trick
before and after shot

[BlackX]

Thats cool.  I like that.

[salad_man]

Looks great

[gitarboyx]

are you gonna link it?

[penski61]

that is the plan but probably wont be for a while
if i do link ill swap the housing to a ruffstuff housing or spidertrax
maybe ill make a trip out to cali and enlist the help of a guy that does some awesome work 

[helix66]

Wow, that looks cool!  Nice to have solid welding skills!

[gitarboyx]

yeah you know, i know a guy.