Carrier Bearing

[Andy4639]

Just wondering how many of you bought these and what do you think of it?
Are they worth the money?
I have a spear shaft for the 71 I'm thinking of doing this to it along with cutting it down and getting it to fit the combo I have now with the 700-R4.
Where is the best price to buy.
I sent CPPJEFF a PM on his post about them for $95.00 shipped.

[Wrenchbender Ret]

I would check to see if it has any give to it. There is no slip joint at the carrier brg. The rubber has to give to allow the yoke to slide in & out of the trans. Unless you plan on severe driving I would stick with the rubber type.

[Andy4639]

Ya'll are kidding right.
No one here bought one of these and installed it on there truck. Not one person.

[rsavage]

Originally Posted by Wrenchbender Ret

I would check to see if it has any give to it. There is no slip joint at the carrier brg. The rubber has to give to allow the yoke to slide in & out of the trans. Unless you plan on severe driving I would stick with the rubber type.

The slip joint on a two piece shaft is to the rear of the carrier bearing on the back half of the shaft. The yoke doesn't have to move in and out at the front. In fact, on a truck 4 speed, there is not a slip yoke on the front of the shaft, it is bolted directly to the 1/2 yoke on the output shaft of the transmission. The carrier bearing is bolted to the frame just as the transmission is via its crossmember.

[brad_man_72]

Originally Posted by rsavage

The slip joint on a two piece shaft is to the rear of the carrier bearing on the back half of the shaft. The yoke doesn't have to move in and out at the front. In fact, on a truck 4 speed, there is not a slip yoke on the front of the shaft, it is bolted directly to the 1/2 yoke on the output shaft of the transmission. The carrier bearing is bolted to the frame just as the transmission is via its crossmember.

Most early gm cars and trucks w 2 piece drivelines actually don't have. A slip in the rear shaft. Its a pretty odd setup but it seems to work.
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[Wrenchbender Ret]

Originally Posted by rsavage

The slip joint on a two piece shaft is to the rear of the carrier bearing on the back half of the shaft. The yoke doesn't have to move in and out at the front. In fact, on a truck 4 speed, there is not a slip yoke on the front of the shaft, it is bolted directly to the 1/2 yoke on the output shaft of the transmission. The carrier bearing is bolted to the frame just as the transmission is via its crossmember.

My 70 is missing something then & many other trusks from that era I've been under.

[rsavage]

Originally Posted by Wrenchbender Ret

My 70 is missing something then & many other trusks from that era I've been under.

My original 70 C10 Burb wasn't missing it



Here's another from a 20 series on ebay:
http://compare.ebay.com/like/1208955...Types&var=sbar

and here is one from a shortbed that doesn't have one but is a two piece shaft:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/67-68-69-70-...360#vi-content

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by rsavage

The slip joint on a two piece shaft is to the rear of the carrier bearing on the back half of the shaft. The yoke doesn't have to move in and out at the front. In fact, on a truck 4 speed, there is not a slip yoke on the front of the shaft, it is bolted directly to the 1/2 yoke on the output shaft of the transmission. The carrier bearing is bolted to the frame just as the transmission is via its crossmember.

This is the same setup my 72 SWB truck has.
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[hayhauler71]

I have used one for the last 6 years and have not had one problem. I use to have a 4 speed manual trans in my truck and use to tear up the stock ones I should have put them on with wing nuts. I think it was one of the best upgrades I ever did.

[chevelle]

I have had one on my truck for about three years now and for the past six months or so it has been make a squeaking noise at low speeds, it's really annoying. I sure thought it should last longer than that, especially with the price tag it has. Just my two cents
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[brad_man_72]

Wow almost 2 weeks without a new driveline question!

I sell them and you couldn't pay me to put one in my truck!

Why do you want one? The factory carrier allows the shaft to move as the suspension moves, it actually dampens any vibration, and will last 40 years at well less than half the price...

If you're having carrier problems you need to have your driveshaft ballanced.

Theirs about a dozen ways to put a 2 piece driveline back together and only one way is the right way, sometimes that even requires some machining, then you're messing with 40 year old parts that may be worn.

Sometimes its best just to hand it over to a pro at a driveline shop. Make sure they ballance the shaft complete as installed in the truck, apparently not all driveline shops do this. I fixed one last week for a guy who had his ballanced at another local shop then he replaced his trans, motor mounts, tires, and pinion yoke. He was very excited I fixed his out of ballance driveshaft gave me a nice tip.
It sucks that the other shop didn't ballance the shaft correctly (several times) it makes all of us look bad, but its nice to know I'm better at my job than the next guy and fixing the guys truck was a pretty nice bonus.
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[brad_man_72]

When installed correctly you need to add a slip and stub to the rear shaft because the billet bearing doesn't allow for suspension movement so add another $100 to the price of the bearing and ballance.

What the billet bearing is great for is the guy who just wants his driveshaft to stay in the truck, he has hacked up the driveshaft so badly that the factory mounts don't last. He doesn't want to fix the cause he just wants the symptoms to go away. His old truck vibrates but that's what old trucks do, right?

When for about the same money as just the bearing he could have had the shaft actually repaired and ballanced by a pro.
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[Andy4639]

brad_man_72,

Why do you want one?

All these people talked about buying them back a few years ago but I never herd what anyone thought about them. I asked the question to get some real world info on them. The companies that sell them aren't going to talk bad about their own products so here is the best place to ask about a product.

OK guy's this is what I wanted to know.

Mine is fine and I had it done several years ago by professional shop.
I'm trying to get the truck all ready for the 3000 mile round trip Pour Tour in June and was thinking about having one installed in the truck just since I want everything to be right on the 71 when I head out.
Mine is fine but as stated several years old, maybe 10 are more years on it. I have a backup shaft I plan to take with me just in case and this was the one I plan on installing it on.
This is what I wanted to know the Good the Bad and ugly on them.
Thanks Andy

[brad_man_72]

Just replacing the carrier bearing will upset the ballance even when done correctly, so it will need to be reballanced.
If yours has lasted 10 years id give it a quick look to make sure nothing is way wrong with it and hit the road.
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[BB72CHEVKT]

I just had one installed but have not driven the truck enough to have an opinion.

[Andy4639]

The spare shaft will have to be cut and welded back together to fit the truck now with the 700-R4. It's a stock length shaft I kept out of my 67 LWB truck. It will get all new universal joint's along with a balance job by the same people who did the first one.The first bearing they installed lasted 13 years before I changed over to the 700-R4 this one is 10 years old and doing a 3000 mile ride I figured it's going to be good insurance to have it as a backup.

Just curious about the bearing itself and how people like them. Not so much on what needs to be done to the shaft. That is covered.

[brad_man_72]

Its a great bearing. Pretty sure its the same part number as the bearing in the factory style mount.
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[Wrenchbender Ret]

Mine is a short bed & it looks like the one in the E-bay photo.

[doubleb's69]

I bought an O'reillys carrier bearing and havn't had an issue. I also must have put it back together correctly because I have no vibration issues at any speed. I just marked the front and rear shafts and the splined yoke thats bolted to the rear shaft and put it back together at the marks.

[TBONE1964]

That is really strange. I have had a 67-72 pick up for most of my whole driving life ( 30 + years), all with 2 piece shafts. I have replaced u joints and center support bearing on most of them with a hammer and some other general mechanics tools. I have never once had a vibration or a failure from using any parts store ( precision, spicer, napa or off brand) parts. Even after some neutral slams and severe abuse. I also have never had one balanced. Chalk it up to good luck I guess.

[brad_man_72]

Id rather be lucky than good any day. I've ballanced thousands of 2 piece shafts (a couple hundred 3,4 and 5 piecers) using the best specialized tools in the industry and anytime I've replaced a carrier bearing the ballance around the bearing always changes. Maybe not enough for some people to notice, but some people don't notice a vibration even after 3 broken transfer cases.
Granted my ballancer is pretty sensitive and doesn't have 2 tons of steel trying to hold the shaft still.
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