Rephasing a driveshaft

[85_Ranger4x4]

1985 Ranger, standard cab longbox one piece driveshaft.

When I had it retubed in 2011 it seems they didn't get the yokes lined up on the shaft exactly right when they put it together. I was wondering if I could take the boot off and retime the one end to get it closer to being right or if one spline is bigger inside and it is basically stuck how it is?

 

[adsm08]

There is a jumbo spline or two. As far as the clocking goes, what are you trying to do exactly? Do you just want the bolt holes aligned at bolt ends? As long as the shaft is balanced properly it doesn't matter one bit if the bolt holes don't line up perfectly. Re-clocking the drive shaft will take it out of balance though.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The yokes don't line up from one end to the other.

There are no weights on the shaft and all things considered it ran pretty smooth. If it beat up my cross though it is probably doing the same to my pinon bearings.

 

[adsm08]

I don't know that that would cause that. I have had a few factory drive shafts that were not lined up that never had a problem. If it is tearing up joints I'd check and make sure the drive shaft is straight.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Joints are undersized too (stock sized) but with a transmission/front axle swap in the works I don't want to redo them just to redo them again. No dents or dings in the tube, and the tube was new when the shaft was done.

When I picked up a new cross this morning (they had to order it in) the parts guy asked me if they were for the front axle of a pickup or a truck PTO... they are little.

The rear one on the rear shaft lasted 6 years, the front one looks to still be an original non greasable Spicer (and is fine yet)

I didn't know of the yokes would cause a problem but if it was easy to set it right I was all for it.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Re you talking about the phasing of the yolks? As in the flats are not lined up after new tubing?

 

[Doofy]

I think I would take it in to the drive shaft place and have it re-balanced. They are supposed to be the pros...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Re you talking about the phasing of the yolks? As in the flats are not lined up after new tubing?

Yeah, I was going to get a pic tonight but forgot. Maybe 1/8 off from each other. If one yoke is at 12:00 the other is at about 2:00. Not a lot but not really a little either.

I think I would take it in to the drive shaft place and have it re-balanced. They are supposed to be the pros...

The place I had it made quit doing driveshafts shortly before the guy doing them died 3-4 years ago... so I can't really pitch much of a fit.

I don't put a ton of miles on the truck, MAYBE 5k on the swap so it really didn't run that long. But like I said it is getting redone with bigger joints and different shafts when I change 3/5 of the drivetrain within the next year. Just going to change the cross and hope it runs until our wedding this fall.

And if it wasn't for reading about the deal with the D35 where you have to phase the one shaft correctly I never would have thought a thing about it.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I looked into the mechanics of phasing driveshafts a few years ago. My understanding is the outer perimeter of the u-joint speeds up and slows down as it travels the circumference. The more the angle the bigger the speed differential. If the opposite ends are in phase then the speeding up and slowing down are in phase. If they are off, like yours, then the two will be speeding up and slowing down at different rates in relation to each other and something will give out eventually. I can't say for sure but I think your pinion bearings would be OK because it is outside of the two u-joints. It's the two u-joints and points between that have the stress.

 

[Shran]

Some Ranger driveshafts have one large spline and others don't. Later model trucks are less likely to have them but it's a crap shoot. I just modified a 91 Ranger x-cab rear shaft and a 94 Explorer front shaft and neither had the large spline, and can be clocked an any direction.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Changed out the bad cross. The grease zerk in the one cap had about half a thread holding it in, and that cap was full of broken rollers, black matter and all sorts of hate. The other three were fine... so maybe the loose zerk was the problem.

 

[Terry]

Looks like it got real hot. Takes lots of heat to turn hard metal that color.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looks like it got real hot. Takes lots of heat to turn hard metal that color.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

The dark one is just dark grease.

The bad one is the one that is coming apart.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Did you try to clock the slip yoke? Was there an index preventing you from lining up the flats of the joints?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Did you try to clock the slip yoke? Was there an index preventing you from lining up the flats of the joints?

No, I just put it back together because I needed the truck to move brush (easier on my yard than my F-150)

I am going to take the driveshaft apart from my '86 parts truck and see if it has the jumbo spline like adsm08 mentioned.

I am kind of blaming the cap failure on contamination from the loose zerk and I question how much grease they had in it to start with. I probably should have greased it but I really didn't have many miles on it either. The new cross was the same brand as the one I replaced (Moog) and hardly had any grease in it.