Driveshaft - 1 or 2 piece?

[havahockey]

I need to replace the driveshaft on my 2WD Toyota Tacoma. It comes stock with a 2 Piece driveshaft and I wanted to know your guys opinion on whether I should stay with a 2 piece or get a 1 piece.

If it helps any I am running 62" Deavers with 21" travel. What are the advantage/disadvantage of running a 1 piece?

Thanks,
Jason

[orvacian]

It looks like my stock 2 piece drive shaft is working fine, did you not locate the front hangers in the right spot?
If you do change the driveshaft, stick with the 2 piece. It is a lot harder to bend or break. If you change to a one piece the diameter will have to be huge because of the long length. Probably bigger then 5" dia with an aluminium shaft!

[rdc]

I was wondering the same thing about my ranger...I've gone through three rear U-joints, because they are really dinky. It is a two piece with the carrier bearing and all that...should that be eliminated and run just one big long one? somehow it needs some beefier U-joints...
thanks, Jaron

[motoxscott]

The front hangers are in the right place, and the axle is in the correct location. The drive shaft slip yoke is seized up, and rather than fixing the stocker, we thought maybe going to a 1 pc might be better because you wouldnt have such a severe angle of the shaft by eliminating the 2 pc shaft & carrier bearing.

If their are no major advantages to going to a 1 pc, we'll fix the stocker.

[drtdevil93]

you dont need to have a huge tube. mine is i believe 3 or 3.5" and i have never had any problem. and i do enjoy full throttle launches when i see a honda that needs taming. one thing: stick with steel. you dont want aluminum out in the dirt. a steel shaft will take a lot more abuse.

erik

[J_Dog]

JDogg,
There is a good driveline shop in West Sacramento. I believe it is called Driveline Service. They do pretty good work. I used to have an 88 Ranger that broke the u-joints and they told me the Ranger, basically, was a down-sized F150. They down-sized the u-joints and they were really weak. The solution was to put larger u-joints on from a full-size truck (I don't know the u-joint numbers). They had reasonable prices, too. Stop by and say hi to my partner and I at the September VORRA race at Prairie City. This will be our first race in our new 7s truck (# 707).

Jeff Matlock

http://www.race-dezert.com/wwwthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

[orvacian]

dirtdevil, you have a single cab truck right? You have a short shaft (no, I have not looked at your shaft). On a extracab, the shaft is rediculously long, hence the 2 piece stock shaft. A one-piece would be prone to breakage because it would hang down so far, even if it is steel.

[drtdevil93]

what do you think scott sells runs?

also, i have hit my axle on lots of things, i have never had a driveshaft hit anything.

call a driveline shop, see what they say.

[DMSRACE]

Call JE REEL 909-629-9002....They do really great work..


Kevin

Racer

Racing isn't everything, it's all there is

[billymanfroy]

You should call around and talk to people but DO NOT do anything with drivelines before you talk with Steve Johnson at South Bay Drivline. Really. The guy has been doing them for years, and he is by far the most knowledgable, friendly, helpful guy in the world when it comes to this stuff. He's usually busy as hell, but will always take the time to talk to you and make real suggestions. We've had 4 or 5 done by him over the years, and without his help we never would have gotten our trans/rear end stuff squared away. Now that we have it sorted out, he made us a 4" two piece, and it rocks. He knows a lot about rock crawling, too. I can't say enough good things about him.

Oh, yeah, please make sure you tell him that I said to call... ;-)

Billy

Steve Johnson
South Bay Driveline
573 W. Julian St.
San Jose, CA 95110

Tel. (408) 995-6000
Fax. (408) 995-6513
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.sbdriveline.com>http://www.sbdriveline.com</A>
steve@sbdriveline.com

[Kritter]

I suggest JE REEL he supports off road racing...he did RObby G's when he lived out here, Riviera's and he does ours too.

Kris

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.dmsrace.com>www.dmsrace.com</A>