Removing Drive Shaft

[KyRob]

Silly question but here goes anyway. My truck is still bouncing/vibrating and I was going to remove the rear drive shaft and lock it in HI and take off to see if this solved the problem. I put the rear end on jacks and started it up and you could see the drive shaft lopeing somewhat when the truck was at idle speed so I assume it would only get worse as speed increased. Anyway, I crawled under and they aren't as I remember them as far as how they attach to the T case. If I take the 4 bolts out of the rear end will the front end slide out of the T case and if so, can I drive it without hurting anything? Is the front end of the drive shaft splined and does it slide into a sleeve on the T case?

 

Thanks for any help,

Rob

[Genuinefine409]

Silly question but here goes anyway. My truck is still bouncing/vibrating and I was going to remove the rear drive shaft and lock it in HI and take off to see if this solved the problem. I put the rear end on jacks and started it up and you could see the drive shaft lopeing somewhat when the truck was at idle speed so I assume it would only get worse as speed increased. Anyway, I crawled under and they aren't as I remember them as far as how they attach to the T case. If I take the 4 bolts out of the rear end will the front end slide out of the T case and if so, can I drive it without hurting anything? Is the front end of the drive shaft splined and does it slide into a sleeve on the T case?

 

Thanks for any help,

Rob

 

More than likely you'll lose some( a lot) fluid without a plug for it. Are the u-joints bad that its vibrating?

[KyRob]

Not sure if it's the U joints or not. Drive shaft is not turning true so I thought that might be the problem.

 

Rob

[2000DV4.8]

Not sure if it's the U joints or not. Drive shaft is not turning true so I thought that might be the problem.

 

Rob

 

 

Definitely check for play in the u-joints first.

[d3athsong]

A +1 for the checking of the U-joints first, and even if they are good, being the shaft is already off, you might as well replace them. Not sure the year of your truck, and i don't know if anything has changed with newer trucks, though I doubt too much has. The newest vehicle I have experience of pulling the drive shaft off of is a 94. On that anyways, yes you would just take the 4 bolts out of the back, drop it down , and slide it off the splines. Don't forget to mark where everything was, so if it is U-joints, it will be balanced when you put it back on. As far as I know, driving for a short distance in 4 hi without the rear driveshaft shouldn't be a problem, but i'm making no guarantees.

[Ranger]

As long as the rear drive shift is disconnected, running in front wheel drive will not have any real consequence other than maybe a little extra transfer case wear. I've known some people who drove across the state with just the front shaft running. It'll just handle a little differently I'd imagine.