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Old 10-23-2021, 01:55 PM   #1
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Tranny/ Drive Shaft leaking - what else to swap?

Hey guys

My 3.5“ lift on the rear changed the angle of the drive shaft and seems to have my sealing destroyed. It‘s dripping slowly and needs to be replaced.
So far so good.

Now I‘m thinking:
I have a 2006 2WD 5.4l with 270k miles. Swapping the joints makes sense once I have it in my hands already.
But the driveshaft itself also seems a little short (can see at least 2-3“ of the yoke…).
I also have the issue that my rear tire rubs on the rear wheel well, so I could move the axle forward a bit.

What else?
Would you swap the whole drive shaft (2006…heavy washboard, offroad as far as my 35‘s, ARB locker and winch take me)? If so: which brand? Dorman seems fairly standard and I have the feeling there‘s more rugged parts available..?!
I‘m reading that the sealing itself didn‘t help 100% and some replaced a bushing as well. Does it make sense to do it at the same time?
Junk yard, get a drive shaft and replace joints?!

I guess I‘m ending up at 500-700$. So anything below 1.000$ will be taken into account :-)

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Old 10-24-2021, 08:35 AM   #2
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If you have never changed the u joints at 270k miles, strong change they are bad. I would take the driveshaft off and :
Check the front u joint first for
Slop, if it's bad it will allow the section that goes into your tranny to "wallow" out the seal, bushing and the splines portion of the driveshaft.
A driveshaft shop can rebuild it or you can buy the parts and do it yourself. I'd lean towards the shop, they will see things that you don't.

I don't know the magic number for how much "insertion" your driveshaft needs. I do know it's around 3" minimum.
If your lift is with blocks you can buy blocks with offset holes to move the axle forward or back. Be sure to buy new u bolts if you take the old ones off.
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Old 11-18-2021, 10:57 AM   #3
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uuuups, didn't respond here! Thanks first of all!

Eventually took off the transfer housing and replaced the bushing as well as the seal. Took care about the leak and now I also don't have any "up and down" movement of the driveshaft.
The old bushing was done and more or less non of the copper plating was left...

u joints didn't had play and therefore I left them in. the driveshaft is so easy to take out that I can do it anytime.
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Old 11-19-2021, 09:49 AM   #4
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I'm not saying this IS your problem, but if your stock driveshaft has been modified, shortened, lengthen, a spacer added, check it for runout with a dial indicator in the van. Also check that there is sufficient sliding travel, where the driveshaft isn't 'bottomed out' at either end of the suspension cycle. Both can cause binding, and bushing wear, and seals to start leaking.



I learned a painful lesson years ago, after doing a rear axle conversion. I needed the drive shaft shortened, a different rear yoke, and balanced.



It was my truck, but had had me chasing a vibration (only at certain speeds) for months. Balanced then re-balanced the new tires, re-balanaced the driveshaft, new shocks...



It turns out the driveline shop really 'fornicated the canine' the lathe work must have been done by the shop's toothless floor-sweeper, the shaft tube was misaligned to the yoke by a whopping and easy to measure .09" or so. I took it back, a-gain, he could get it to balance out at the balancing machine's fixed rpm, but spin it higher or lower rpm in the truck and the shake was unavoidable.
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