whey were 2 different driveshafts used?

[Chris]

on my 04 i have a 2 piece steel with a carrier bearing and a buddy's truck has a one piece aluminum. is there special options that decide this

[MikeNH]

Typically 2WDs have the 2-piece DS (to make up the difference in length with the transfer case not being there) and 4WDs get a 1-piece unit.

[Chris]

in this case both trucks are 2wd though

[gmtech4]

engineered different for a reason,

 

what are the differeces with the 2 trucks?

 

4wd gets 2 piece shafts with the box being 8ft for MikeNH

[Chris]

my 04 ext cab reg bed 4.8 3.42 gearing his same framed 06 crew cab tiny bed 4.8 3.23 gearing

[gmtech4]

thats easy then,the 2 yrs and gearing is the reason !! IDKWTF is the real reason lol

[Chris]

i was curious id love to have the one piece. less u joints and im getting a lot of surface rust on mine

[Chris]

uh oh mod is in here. i surrender

[OEM PARTS DIRECT INC]

actually, crew cabs from atleast 99-06 have 1 piece, reg and ext cab have two piece.

[Chris]

why the difference? escpecially since the ext cab and crew cab share frames

[OEM PARTS DIRECT INC]

I don't have an answer. I've read it, but just don't remember.

 

FWIW, a two-peice is oft used for lowered crew cabs.

 

oempartsdirectinc.com/wheels

[MikeNH]

I wouldn't be worried about the extra U-joints honestly- the ones from the trans to the carrier bearing are running with no angle so I have to imagine that is easier on them than the ones that run at an angle. Rust on the driveshaft isn't going to hurt anything. Aluminum ones are fairly new in terms of being used regularly so there are millions of older trucks with rusty steel driveshafts on the road right now.

[CapitalTruck]

I have 155k on my 2 piece drive shaft with no bearing problems at all.

[redvett]

Extended cab and crew cab have different frames.

 

 

why the difference? escpecially since the ext cab and crew cab share frames.

 

[Chris]

oh really? i know they share the wheelbase so i assumed it was the same frame. but then again the extended cab regular bed is longer than a crew cab