Need 10 More Inches of Driveshaft

[stickshift_or_walk]

So I've changed from the I6/3spd to V8/4spd, and that's pretty well buttoned up. But it would be nice to get the new setup connected to the rear wheels, and that's where I need some advice.

All the steps that got me to this point are covered in this thread:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php3?t=110405

But here I am with two problems:

1) The old engine/tranny combination put the rear of the transmission 10" farther back than the new one, and

2) The slip joint in the rear of the 3spd won't work on the SM465 4spd since it has a solid yoke on the back to accept a u-joint, with no slip.

The original driveshaft has the small carrier bearing forward of the center crossmember (the one the trailing arms mount to). The front section actually passes through the crossmember, where a center u-joint connects it to the rear driveshaft. If I just fit up a front section that will bolt to the yoke on the rear of the SM465, I won't have any slip in the shaft and it's bound to need some, even though folks tell me it doesn't need much because the trailing arms don't compress the shaft like leaf springs do. The other problem would be fitting a longer shaft, since I'm having trouble locating longer lengths of that size tubing, and my local shops can only change yokes, because they don't have a way to balance a whole new shaft.

I do have hope because my '72 C20 has a different setup. It has a much larger carrier bearing mounted behind the crossmember, with a slip joint on the rear section of driveshaft. That way, when I made the automatic-to-manual swap in that one (also SM465), I just got a longer front shaft made and mated it to the rear slip-joint. I believe the front section ends with spines that mate through the carrier bearing and into the female end of the rear section.

So one solution would be to find a whole setup like the one in my C20 and refit it to the C10, with a longer front shaft made up to fit. The tricky part of this is the different bracket I'll need to mount the larger carrier bearing to the rear of the crossmember, and removing the riveted bracket that held the smaller carrier bearing in front of the crossmember.

Does anyone know a better way to do this, or know something I'm missing?

Thanks...SSOW