Bronco is eating driveshafts

[InsanePyro]

When I first got my Bronco I ended up finding out the driveshaft was too short (was driveable but the slip joint grinded). Ended up dropping out and me replacing it with one that fit perfect. That lasted a few months until today. Was driving and she dropped out again. Was going maybe 15 on a paved road so I was by no means beating on it and haven't done any offroading since I owned it. What in god name could be causing this? The only thing I can think of is when a truck is lifted does the rear axle need to be reangled as to make the yoke "aim" at the transfer case? Because it appears it still is "aimed" as if it was not lifted

[cajunrebel]

Post some pictures to illustrate what your talking about. If your truck is lifted though you should have adjusted the pinion angle of the rear driveshaft to correct for the lift. If not you are going to kill a lot of U-joints.

[BRONCONUT]

X2 pics would help and some info on the lift size.

[InsanePyro]

Alright guys will do once it warms up a bit. I'm still cold down to the bones from last night.

[87Roughneck]

Originally Posted by InsanePyro

Alright guys will do once it warms up a bit. I'm still cold down to the bones from last night.

And that'll be about mid-March...

I feel your pain, brother; my wife's from Appleton.

[Kingfish999]

unless your truck is lifted more than 6" it shouldnt be a problem. with it being too short

defiantly need pics. i love florida for not getting cold

[Fox005]

Does the shaft eater have a name ? These Broncos are generally woman like and needy!

[Alvin in AZ]

LOL :)

Was re-looking up the stuff I'd read about "pinion angle" and found that piece of crap. :)

#1 -straight- is bad, there needs to be at least 1* of angle at both ends.
#2 -Z- is good, and is the best way to do it, no kidding. :)
#3 -mismatched- is bad, as in: rRRrr...rRRrr...rRRrr...rRRrr...rRRrr...rRRrr...
#4 -U- is not how it's usually done but works (read where Land Rover used it)

I'm using the U configuration in my -2wd!- '91 Bronco right now and wanting to
switch to the Z configuration as soon as I can, but it works ok below ~70mph.

My main problem is I haven't got them exactly the same degree of bend at both
ends and besides that, they got a little too much angle on 'em too... like 4+1/2*
at one end and 4* at the other... or something like that. ;) It's only going to get
worse when I swap in a 3.73 gear for the 3.55. See how it works? :)

----------------------------------

One of the the tools needed...

...their main use doesn't need such precise/accurate readings so they're
made pretty sloppy (IME) but some of them are right on the money so
grab all of 'em off the shelf and find the best one in the stack. :)

Bought two different Starrett-brand ones from Grainger and the first one
was useless for anything! :/ I kept the second one but it reads about 1/2
degree off. :/ The label is glued down crooked, see? :)

The first one's pivot pin was crooked and the needle'd stick. Might've got
dropped? Took it apart and fixed it, but it was still messed up in another
way. :/ (at Grainger there wasn't a stack of 'em to choose from)

On the phone Starrett made like it was my fault, good customer support,
they got there. ;)

So don't just go by brand name. ;)

Alvin in AZ
ps- One thing about Classic Bronco's website, it seems to have well
thought out articles on {there} and they're easy to find too. :)
http://classicbroncos.com/tech/measure-pinion-angle

[TheUnforgiven]

Alvin got ya spot on with the advice and references. get us pictures. stop bitching about the cold. put on a jacket, gloves, and go out there for 10 minutes to get a measurement and pictures.

[cajunrebel]

Originally Posted by TheUnforgiven

Alvin got ya spot on with the advice and references. get us pictures. stop bitching about the cold. put on a jacket, gloves, and go out there for 10 minutes to get a measurement and pictures.

10 Minutes? Maybe if he stopped for a smoke before he took the pictures. It really shouldnt take more than 2 or 3.




Just messing with ya man and trying to encourage you to get out and do what you need to. But seriously it would take longer to go outside and smoke a cigarette.

[TheUnforgiven]

I was giving him extra time for getting suited up for cold.

[Kingfish999]

from what i was reading before, on a normal drivesahft you want them to be parallel. but for Double Cardan driveshafts, you want the axle pinion pointing directly at the transfer case yoke.

[JBfab]

Im so glad my drive shaft is five foot long. I dont suffer from these problems as easy as the rest of you. Last problem i had was rock related. Thats one of the downfalls of a five footer.

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by Kingfish999

from what i was reading before, on a normal drivesahft you want them to be parallel. but for Double Cardan driveshafts, you want the axle pinion pointing directly at the transfer case yoke.

This is correct, so long as it's DC.

[smiggey]

how do you mean it fell out. was it on deceleration or acceleration. is the end of the output shoft boogered up from the previous driveshaft. and like most everyone else has stated......pictures.

[InsanePyro]

Originally Posted by Kingfish999

from what i was reading before, on a normal drivesahft you want them to be parallel. but for Double Cardan driveshafts, you want the axle pinion pointing directly at the transfer case yoke.

This answers it right here. Don't even need to take pics. It has a CV joint but it was not reangled. And to clarify I'd say it was on acceleration but the moment I felt it bind up so to speak I let off the gas. And it seperated at the slip joint. Both joints were still bolted in. No bolts were sheered or anything but it did destroy the slip joint. Instead of it being a circle so to speak it looks like someone put the slip joint in a super vice and squeezed it.

Its like this

[Shadofax]

yea, so the double cardan is the joint up top, and you need shims between your leaf spring pack and the axle pad to "turn" the front of the axle up some.

[InsanePyro]

Is there a write up on this? I now have no clue what you're talking about

[Kingfish999]

between the axle and leaf spring, there suppose to be a facrory angle block. this helps the angle of the rear axle. does it have it? its only about an inch high and looks like this.


if its alot taller than that or has more then 1 block per side then it has a block kit installed. a pic of how yours looks would help. basicly you jsut buy different angle blocks of the correct angle to help fix the angle.

[InsanePyro]

Oh so I don't angle it by hand? Thats really awesome. Haha dunno why I thought that I guess....but I've never messed with the running gear before. Oh I thought of one other thing...what if I were to just get a driveshaft without a CV joint? Because based on the one diagram I'm assuming you can run without one. What exactly do they help with? I do have lift blocks by the way. That I do know. Massive buggers

And I'll snap a pic of whatever block I have tomorrow...would have gotten them today but I didn't have any batteries for the damn camera