2 piece to 1 piece driveshaft crossmember clearance

[1972]

I have a 1972 C10 long bed with a TH350 and a 2 piece driveshaft. The carrier bearing area of the shaft is junk. Instead of repairing the 2 piece shaft I want to switch to a 1 piece shaft. The truck is stock height now, but I plan to have air bags someday. Will the 1 piece shaft clear the crossmember as the suspension cycles up and down? Will the 1 piece shaft work at stock height and lowered?

[98L150]

on my 72 sub I had to trim the upper part of the crossmember to clear the drive shaft when I let al the air out. My sub has a 1-1/2" lower block at the rear end and trailing arm as well as a c-notch in the frame, which is why I had to notch my crossmember.

[flip66]

I have LWB with a one peice that is stock Hight and I did not have to cut. So it should work untill you lower it.

[1972]

Off to the junk yard I go! Thanks guys.

[dubie]

Is there a direct donor for this upgrade? And can you do this on a coil truck or just a leaf rear? I have heard that you cannot use a 1 piece on a rear coil truck unles you do some bridge work on the cross member

[LUV2XCLR8]

Originally Posted by dubie

Is there a direct donor for this upgrade? And can you do this on a coil truck or just a leaf rear? I have heard that you cannot use a 1 piece on a rear coil truck unles you do some bridge work on the cross member

DID IT 2 MY 67 SWB, COILS, LOWERED, USED A F@RD DRIVESHAFT, WAS
EXACT FIT, HOWEVER I HAD 2 USE BASTARD U-JOINTS, NO ISSUES WITH
CLEARANCE, BUT I DID HAVE A HELL OF A TIME GETTING THE CARRIER OUT.

[see ten]

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

DID IT 2 MY 67 SWB, COILS, LOWERED, USED A F@RD DRIVESHAFT, WAS
EXACT FIT, HOWEVER I HAD 2 USE BASTARD U-JOINTS, NO ISSUES WITH
CLEARANCE, BUT I DID HAVE A HELL OF A TIME GETTING THE CARRIER OUT.

Do you recall what make model ford the shaft came out of?

[kbs71]

I've been told that some later model GM 1 piece truck drive shafts will fit in the 70-72 LWB. Some are exact fits and some have to be cut down a few inches. Can anyone verify this, and which front yokes will fit in the TH350. As i junked my two piece this week end when my third POS carrier bearing decided to desinegrate.

[gregfull]

1972,

Check out this link, they offer a bolt in crossmember that I'm going to buy for my burb. http://www.earlyclassic.com/home.aspx

lowburb,

I had a one-piece made at a local shop, it works just fine.

[dubie]

Hmmm I could see it on a swb but how bout a lwb? any donors for it?

[LUV2XCLR8]

Originally Posted by dubie

Hmmm I could see it on a swb but how bout a lwb? any donors for it?

LIMO

[low burb]

98L150, does your 'burb have a one-piece? When I asked the shop, they said it would be too long. Did you have one built? Thanks

[Alex Hayley]

gregfull,

Looking at that site, I only found one crossmember for that purpose. It is the Extreme Drop Center Crossmember. However, the catalog states that crossmember is for swb. Is there a crossmember I am missing?

[kbs71]

OK I went the the "recycler" this past weekend and found a 1 piece 4" Aluminum driveshaft out of a 95 1500 and 1 piece carbonfiber out of a 03 Yukon. Both were 5/8" shorter than the 2 piece I had. I got the aluminum one in case I had to do some modifications to it. All I had to do is to get special u-joints as the yoke on the rearend and the tranny is 3 1/4" outside diameter and the driveshaft is a 3 3/4". The 5/8" didn't make a diffrence at the tranny. before I had 3/4" between the end of the tranny and the yoke, now I have @1 1/2". I also had to trim out the center of the crossmember. I took@ 1" off the right side and 1/2" off the left side and I went ahead and took the bottom down to where it was flay and welded a doubler strap on it to increase the strength of the center crossmember. So far everything is working great. I'm going to have a custom made tubular yoke installed on the crossmember. Just whack off the center of the crossmember and have the tube yoke welded on. Will probably get that done the first weekend in January.