Need Some Driveshaft Advice

[Jspafford]

Thanks BlackBII! I guessed right.

If I had more time, I'd have fun rebuilding the GKN CV joints as dangerrangerstx recomends. I plan to tear into it just for fun and curiosity, but that main shaft is so scrawny and rusty, it doesn't seem worth the money and time to rebuild. I was glad to find a beefy replacement with easily replaceable u-joints and especially glad to spend just 20 minutes to remove and replace - just in time for snowboarding!

I too was amazed at first when I saw how small the factory shaft is.

 

[broncogirl]

i actually run mine splines down because that side is stronger.

Uhoh, more controversy... Not thrilled about crawling under again in my very muddy driveway. Sounds like this isn't real important in my case, though - right? It's usually me crawling under the bronco and not the bronco crawling over rocks and busting stuff up. I'm thinking I'm more likely to eventually wear it out with all the fine gravel grit they use for snow around here.

I am still curious, though, why it's better to have the stronger end at the axle instead of at the transfer case. Does it have to do with the torque, etc. under normal function, or is it an impact thing - like the axle end of the shaft is more likely to directly hit a rock and possibly get busted by the impact?

I'm also curious why the slip end would be considered stronger than the solid end. With it's skinny shaft, I'd guess that it is less likely to withstand various sorts of hits or torque forces the shaft might encounter.

 

[4x4junkie]

If you're rockcrawling, that end of the shaft can take a harder hit from a rock than the thinwalled tube that makes up the other end.
If it's just a winter driver (or will never be used for anything more than mild offroad use), you can leave it how it is