Front drive line

[Doug Comer]

Any one ever shorten there own drive line? I had a dana 44 up front and went to a dana 60 and now mine is too long. A friend of mine said he had done it in his 66 and it worked fine. If it was for the back I would take it to a shop and have it balanced, but for the front it almost seems like waste. What do you think?

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

I know that whenever I've used 4wd, I'm not going faster than 30 mph. I'd still have a shop shorten it for me, just because they have a lathe and can ensure it's centered. I'd have it balanced as well, even if I never really go that fast in 4wd to make a huge difference. That's just me.

[460 crew]

I had a local shop chop mine when I did the same swap to a HP D60 cost me 50 bucks. It's the lenthening and building them that they rape you on. I'm sure you could pull the front off at home and get by if you take your time and maybe just take it in if you feel a really bad vibration when it's engaged.

[heep70]

I just shortened my rear drive line on my Toyota. Its easy. Cut as close to the weld on the tube side. The yoke is necked. Clean it up, cut what you need off the tube and fit it back together.

Its better to put it on a lathe to square it up before putting it back together.

I also did my front drive line. Except it is square tubed. 16" of travel. This you can not balance, but who cares. It will never twist.

[averagef250]

You don't need a lathe. And like everyone says the front driveline isn't that important because it doesn't spin fast. My trucks got 1350 yoke oversize slip 3.5" chromoly center and rear drivelines for what I use it for, but I don't put much of a load on the front driveline. The fastest, best way to whack it yourself is to cut a 4x4 driveline at the non-slip end, shorten it, pound it back together and put it in the truck before you weld it. Put a dial indicator on it and tap it true with a hammer while spinning it. Weld it in place with MIG or 3/32 7018 and you're good to go. You won't know it's not balanced. I try to get them within .005" of indicator travel, but some drivelines just aren't round to start with.

To extend my own drivelines I find a 2 3/4" and a 3" driveline and slip one over the other to get the right length. These probably aren't that strong, but have actually held up pretty good for me.

I have a 20"X84" gap bed engine lathe that I picked up with the intention of using it for driveline work, but never have. It's too much hassle when a driveline shop will do a perfect job for $50. I mostly use the big lathe for turning "C"s and tubes off front axles when I'm retubing an axle. Makes that stuff a snap, but the setup and fixtures involved to make a perfect driveline just aren't worth it to me to do myself.

[FORDification]

Here's a good article to read to get some idea of what you'd be doing. It's dealing with Jeeps, but the info is still very informative:

http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/shaft/diydriveshaft/