Yoke clearence

I have about 1" between the end of the yoke an the tail of the trans.Is that enough space for for suspension travel?

My thoughts.....it's too close....

rob2078 said:

I have about 1" between the end of the yoke an the tail of the trans.Is that enough space for for suspension travel?

Click to expand...

1" isn't enough.... 2" more like it..... but you could compress the suspension and see if it hits the tailshaft seal.... Personally I'd say it was too close at 1" JMHO.....

How much angle do you have on you're driveshaft? If you're d/s is pretty level you might get away with 1".

The tail of the trans and the rear axle are near level,only 2 degrees of angle on the deiveshaft.

With the driveshaft that level when rear suspension travel, the (distance between trans and rear) wont change that much. What type of rear susp. are you running? The reason I ask is, if you are running leaf springs you get a certain amount of forward travel from the springs under acceleration. If you're using an arm type, or 3 or 4 bar set up, you don't get as much forward travel. Hope these things give you some things to think about. It would probably be smart to do what SgtPontiac said and get someone to depress the rear while you watch and see how close you come to bottoming the yoke.

I'm using coil overs and radius rods.

To make sure, take the springs off the coil overs and measure your driveshaft length at full drop and full extension of the axle, also raise one wheel all the way with the other dropped fully. that way there will be no doubt about how much the yoke will move back and forth.

I removed the springs and compressed the frame top to full compression and the yoke moved very little.Thanks to all for the great help. Bob

My driveshaft guy always told me to slide the yoke all the way in and pull it back out about an inch, that is enough for most cars as they really don't bounce all that far and the yoke only slided in and out a little when it does bounce.


Don

It hasn't been brought up but it is very important to have the yoke in far enough to make proper contact with the output shaft bushing. If you look at the yoke you can see where it was originally riding on it by the shiny portion. If it is not far enough in, the yoke will wobble and tear up the bushing and seal, vibrate, etc.

donsrods said:

My driveshaft guy always told me to slide the yoke all the way in and pull it back out about an inch, that is enough for most cars as they really don't bounce all that far and the yoke only slided in and out a little when it does bounce.


Don

Click to expand...

Yep...Thats what I have always done.

+2. my drive shaft guy says 3/4" - 1" out. has always worked on mine.

My Dad always told me 1.25". (with 3* pinion up).U-joint can't oscillate when 0*(premature wear.
(I always listened to my Dad. )

Have enough !!!!!

I can tell you what happens when you don't have enough clearance. About 1 1/2 to 2 should be fine. Bought a really nice 90 Chevy stepside that a friend of mine started on, had a really good repair shop do a 5 speed to 700r swap. Don't know if somebody measured wrong or if the d/shaft shop screwed up. After destroying the transmission several times before we found it we noticed that the driveshaft front yolk was only out of the tailhousing about 3/4 of an inch. The truck was lowered with a 2 & 4 inch matched kit that already had the qeometry corrected and figured in. When my transmission builder would tear it down you wouldn't think to look that the output shaft was bent till you removed the rear shell and rolled it on the table then you could see it. Damn expensive lesson !!!!

Wherever you set it make sure you push it all the way in, then back it out.

I found that some yokes bo not have the splines cut deep enough and bottom out before the outside of the shaft hits the tail.

So even if you let 1.5 inch exposed you may have less than that internally.

Has anyone else encountered that?????
Don