Driveshaft shortening

[OlSmokey]

hello so i have a 72 c10, and i have a long bed with a 2 piece drive shaft, and I am converting it into a shortbed. i am also cutting the frame under the cab. so my question is, should i just remove the front piece of the two part drive shaft, and take it somewhere professional to have it shortened, or should i take out the entire driveshaft and get a shorter 1 piece drive shaft? thanks!

[Robznob11]

Probably the same price either way. Your better off with a new one piece....

[Robznob11]

The reason I say this is because my drive shaft shop won't reuse the tube .They only use the ends so they get a perfect, balanced bullet proof shaft.

[OlSmokey]

ohhh okay that's smart, i didn't know if they had a machine where they could easily just shorten the tube thing on it, thanks

[brad_man_72]

You have to take both pieces, it balanced as an assembly.
Its pretty easy to shorten a shaft, I don't know why they would need to retube the shaft.
Strip the shaft, cut the weld yoke out with a lathe, cut the tube, renstall the weld yoke, time, straighten, weld, reassemble and balance. I've done it a few hundred times.

[Robznob11]

Originally Posted by brad_man_72

You have to take both pieces, it balanced as an assembly.
Its pretty easy to shorten a shaft, I don't know why they would need to retube the shaft.
Strip the shaft, cut the weld yoke out with a lathe, cut the tube, renstall the weld yoke, time, straighten, weld, reassemble and balance. I've done it a few hundred times.

Why run a two piece on a short bed? And a reliable shop like the one we have in Lubbock won't reuse a tube because they know the integrity of their tube and guarantee it to hold more power than you can throw at it. I mean your talking 300$ with new better than you can get at the parts store non greasable USA made sealed u joints installed , and painted pretty. A good builder also will want to use new good u joints to achieve the best balance. Just saying this is not the place to pinch a dollar. Do it right the first time and save the headache.

[OlSmokey]

so you're saying that a brand new shortbed 1 piece driveshaft would be about $300?

[Robznob11]

That's what they run here. they use your yoak and ends only everything else is new

[OlSmokey]

oh, i might do that then, that's way less expensive than what i was expecting

[SoCoC10]

I had my two piece shaft shortened, a new rear u joint installed and balanced for $144.

[bs46488]

I converted my truck to a SWB.

I ended up buying a new 1 pc shaft online from Tatton Driveshaft. It was under $300 shipped.