one piece driveline

[carl609]

Whats the word on changing to a one piece driveline in a long bed? Has anyone done it? Any problems?

[krue]

Lot's of driveline shops don't wanna make one that long.

[truckdude239]

alot of shops won't make one over i think 69 inches

[ratrod67]

I have one in my 72 LWB. So far so good.

[1970 CST Short Wide]

This subject has come up numerous times here and you'll hear lots of pro's and con's. My suggestion is to go to a reputable driveline shop and have it built the right way.
I have one-piece shafts in both my sons LWB and my SWB and have had no problems at all.

[70short]

What do the newer trucks run? Dont they have one piece drivelines? I run A one piece driveline in my short bed.

Gary

[corn]

A friend of mine told me his dad used a suburban driveshaft in his 71. I asked him again to find out the details from his dad. He said its out of a late 73-87 suburban & it bolted right in. I asked him if the 71 has the stock length trans housing in it & he said he will ask his dad. Im still on it, I may just go out there & crawl under it myself to find out. I want one on my long bed too...

[Longhorn Man]

A properly repaired 2 pice will be just as strong and offer more flexability than a one piece, but no one wants to go that route.
The new vehicles use one piece shafts, but they are alluminum, and rather large in diameter... like as big as your thigh. ok, as big as a skinney adult male's thigh.
6 feet is the magic number where most places draw the line. A SWB, is no problem, and many came stock with a one piece.
Once you hit 6 feet, a regular mild steel shaft, made in normal diameters, will start to sag a little under it's weight, and then whip at speed. Some shops will do it anyways, and some of those shops really shouldn't do it.
If they make the shaft in thinner metal, and larger diameter, then they know what they are doing, but then you'll have issues with the cross member.
In 73, they moved the engine back further. in addition to that, they started the longh shaft trannys, the two mods together, made a one piece do-able on some models of trucks.

Like I said though, a properly built stock 2 piece shaft will hold more power than your truck will ever make.

[Lemield]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

A properly repaired 2 pice will be just as strong and offer more flexability than a one piece, but no one wants to go that route.
The new vehicles use one piece shafts, but they are alluminum, and rather large in diameter... like as big as your thigh. ok, as big as a skinney adult male's thigh.
6 feet is the magic number where most places draw the line. A SWB, is no problem, and many came stock with a one piece.
Once you hit 6 feet, a regular mild steel shaft, made in normal diameters, will start to sag a little under it's weight, and then whip at speed. Some shops will do it anyways, and some of those shops really shouldn't do it.
If they make the shaft in thinner metal, and larger diameter, then they know what they are doing, but then you'll have issues with the cross member.
In 73, they moved the engine back further. in addition to that, they started the longh shaft trannys, the two mods together, made a one piece do-able on some models of trucks.

Like I said though, a properly built stock 2 piece shaft will hold more power than your truck will ever make.

I agree with Longhorn Man. I had a 70 LWB big block and the PO had installed a M21 4spd and a one piece driveshaft. It was very long and the truck had a nasty vibration at speeds above 40 mph. I had the shaft redone at an excellent shop in the area but it still had a vibration....could have been something besides the shaft. Anyhow, I sold the truck but if I had kept it, I would have put it back to the two piece.

I'm running a one piece in my SWB because I have a Gear Vendors overdrive unit. A two piece in that situation would have made for a VERY short front part of the shaft. So far no problems.

[Brad]

I had one built for my lwb w/Muncie 3 speed and it worked great for years! I went through 3 carrier bearings in about the same amount of time and I had had enough.

[Longhorn Man]

I guess it might be easier than finding what's actually wrong, and addressing the real problem.
A good, high quality, properly installed carrier bearing should last 30 years easily.

[Palf70Step]

My 96 had a 2 piece shaft. Still haven't figured out why the same year vehicle, Suburban has a 1 piece, but the ext cab had a 2 piece.

[yank]

That's odd Bill. the 96 ext cab chevy I had back a few years ago had a one piece dive shaft . I had to remove the tranny 3 times in it

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by yank

That's odd Bill. the 96 ext cab chevy I had back a few years ago had a one piece dive shaft . I had to remove the tranny 3 times in it

Was your's a 4wd? I am told the 4wd had one piece and 2wd had two piece. On the original subject and like Longhornman mentioned, they will hold up a long time if set upright. My 96's carrier went out at 140,000 because a yoke on the rear end broke and caused bad stuff to happen.

[72 Cheyenne402]

I also have an 05 Silverado extended cab trailoring package and power package it has a 2 piece drive shaft w/ a carier bearing although my 02 swb didn't

[truckdude239]

when i changed out my transmission i replaced the carrier bearing and i could tell its been on there since 71 and it was still strong i just desided to replace it while everthing was apart. i lornhorn said a good 2 piece driveshfat is just as strong as a one piece

[yank]

Bill no it was 2wd

[Palf70Step]

Hmmm.. Oh well. Standardization there was not I guess. Maybe it was a GMC vs Chevy thing?...I dunno.