broken driveshaft

[jarednut4ever]

Whats up everybody. I just woundering on some opinions on the subject. I have a 2003 gmc sierra Z71 ext. It has 11k on it. The other day I was coming home from a trip going around 70-75 and I herd two pops then all of a sudden the driveshaft completely snaped into two. Messed up the bottom of my truck pretty bad broke borla exhaust. Anyways I was wondering how the f**k this could have happened. The dealer said that the transfer case was fine but the spacer between the transmission and transfer case was cracked, also said the driveline angle was good. He also is checking the rear end out to see if any problems. Dealer has no answers on what could have caused this. If you have any ideas on the subject let me know. This scares me cause I go out of town quite a bit drive 70-75 on the interstate. Any replies will help, Thanks, Jared

[seadoons]

Welcome to the board! Do you do any serious mudding/offroading? Do you drive the truck hard? Not saying you are...maybe something just f**ked up with the truck...

[jarednut4ever]

never go mudding in this baby. It is all coverted to the ss suspension lowered 2 inches. I thought maybe that is what caused it but the dealer told me that everything was in perfect alignment. I will floor it once in a while but heck we all do that that should break it. I will burn them off the line occasionally. But not that often. I had a 94 truck and drove it the same way for six years and it never broke like this. I know that the aluminum drive shaft is really really thin. but who knows, Thanks for replies,

Jared

[k1500chevy97]

Driveshaft broke in two WTF !!!

d**n gm quality is tops these days eh

[Worktruck]

Don't have a clue as to what may have broken the prop shaft, but was wondering how the dealedr was treating you as to warranty. I see you have lowered and changed the stock exhaust. Are they repairing or replacing the exhaust, what about the damage to the underside of the truck? Just curious. Good Luck.

[5.3LSilverado01]

Is it the foam filled aluminum driveshaft? If so, I bet your exhaust at some point was rubbing against it, cutting it like a copper pipe cutting wheel. This happened to my freinds 2000 Z71. New driveshaft was like $800.

[Pewter Pro-Tec]

There's one guy I read about on LS1Tech.com who ripped his driveshaft in half while racing. I can't seem to find the post. Seems like the driveshafts on these trucks can't handle high-speed operation too much.

 

It was recommended that a driveshaft from Denny's Driveshafts be used.

[GnatGoSplat]

Whoah, how thin is the metal in that giant aluminum driveshaft?

It sure LOOKS beefy, kind of disappointing to find out it's really quite wimpy.

[5.3LSilverado01]

Its pretty thin, but not whimpy. It can easily handle 300-375-450 horsepower. The large diameter of the shaft helps too (more leverage). But it is aluminun and if something is rubing (cutting) against it as it turns 3.73 (z-71) times for every time the tires rotates once, you can idmagine after a couple of miles, well.....

[jarednut4ever]

Well I got everything under waranty. They didn't care about the modifications to the vehicle. The dealer was really nice about it. After talking to some driveshaft companies I have some bad news about our drive shafts. There junk. I am getting ready to order a heavy duty aluminum one. It turns out Our stock trucks have a gas turn off at 98 mph. Well That is all the drive shaft can handle. I have a programmer on mine and was going probably over that I'm sure at one point even though it broke at 70, but Our driveshafts can not go over 100 mph. And Gm nows that now. It turns out on 04's there talking about putting on steel drive shafts. And also the horsepower rating is not high. I guess the SS silverado is actually over the specs of our driveshaft. The guy I was talking to builds aluminum driveshafts and anything over 340 horse and 350 torque will most likely break them in time. So look out everybody. I just thought I would share that info with you all. Piece everyone