Hanger bearing with suspension drop

[1970Tex]

Hey I'm looking for some feed back on my hanger bearing issue. 1970 GMC 1/2 ton, 350 engine, TH350 transmission, 4" rear drop springs, 2 piece drive shaft with solid rear (no slip yoke on rear shaft) and a clam shell style carrier bearing. I current have the transmission out at the moment (fresh rebuild) and noticed the bearing is shot. To be clear it separated from the shell. I've got a new one along with new u-joints on order. The old bearing was completely seized on, and i had to cut it off. After i got the old bearing off i noticed 2 things. 1- the front "horn flange" (i assume is to keep dirt out) had indentations consistent with internal cage/retainer of the bearing in it, and 2- the washer that keeps the rear yoke (front shaft) on was basically embossed to the pattern of the splines. Both telling me that there was extreme force pushing the carrier bearing forward, until the clam shell broke, finally relieving the stress on it by separating itself from the chassis. Now I've read many past posts on this issue, and the consensus is that the rear end moves forward approx 1/2" forward with a drop like mine. Other members have commented to switch to 1 piece drive shaft, made in China bearings, weld gussets to strengthen the housing and other say they blew the pinion bearing etc. My thoughts are to drill out the rivets that attach the bracket to the cross member, and re-attach it with about 1/2" spacers or washers to move the bracket forward to compensate for the forward movement of the rear end. The side effect of this would be the slip yoke in the transmission would go in and extra 1/2"? Has anybody done this? It sounds like a simple fix? The other alternative is take to a drive line shop and get the rear shaft shortened 1/2". Thanks!

[Richard]

Your driveline is not correct. You cannot run a fixed shaft between the carrier bearing and third member. Even if you adjust the bearing to take stress of it while static. The rear axle moves forward and back as suspension cycles. This true on both leaf sprung and coil (trailing arm) suspensions. A fixed shaft can be run between the carrier bearing and transmission. There should be a slip yoke on the rear shaft.