driveshaft questions

[buddhayesca]

hey peoples, this is my first post! I'm kind of a noob. I've been silently lurking around these parts for a little bit, gleaning information. Anyhow, here goes.

I'm going to take out the driveshaft from the tranny to the rear diff. There are ubolts at the ujoint at each end. These are pics from under a 4 spd 1970 f100 2wd ranger that has 2 piece driveshaft with at least one question below each pic. I don't think the 4 spd was original. I think it may have been 3 on tree, now it 4 on floor.



I got a bunch of questions for this one:
Is this a lot of length for splines to be exposed?
Is this a slip joint? Obviously a cover is unscrewed and something else is out too. Is this a seal for all the grease that maybe goes in the nipple hanging down to the left of the ujoint there on the right? What am i looking to do to fix this? "Slip joint grease seal" or what?
Also, i haven't turned it yet, but if the carrier bearing spins well, should i just replace it anyway when i got the shaft out? The rubber looks pretty bad.



Apparently grease is spraying out of the yoke at the tranny. It coats everything in a circle around the immediate area. Does the short shaft going into the tranny hole simply come straight out and just get repacked/resealed? Answer me like im a newborn babe in the woods. Assume nothing.



Heres the same place at the tranny end. Im posting it to point out that if you look at the small bolt in upper left of the pic, you can see the red grease dripping off of it. This is a 4 speed so i guess that it isn't red automatic tranny oil. It is thicker than motor oil, so im assuming it is red grease that was packed into the yoke. It is in the radius of the spray.



This may sound extra special dumb, but can i chock the front and just throw a floor jack directly under the rear diff and lift the whole back end of the truck up long enough to put it on jackstands or is that bad for it?


As far as dropping out the drive shaft, i may be looking at this wrong, but it seems that after removing the u shaped bolts at the ujoints at the rear diff and at the tranny, that the drive shaft needs to shrink lengthwise to come out. Can this occur at the slip joint in the center where all the splines are exposed or is this not the way to do it?

Thanks very much for your answers!

[sargentrs]

First off, from Georgia! Stop by the Welcome Mat, introduce yourself and tell us about your truck. I'm, by no means, an expert in this area so don't take anything I say as 100% accurate. I've pulled my shaft a time or two and here's what I feel.

Is this a lot of length for splines to be exposed?

Nope, that's about right.

Is this a slip joint? Obviously a cover is unscrewed and something else is out too. Is this a seal for all the grease that maybe goes in the nipple hanging down to the left of the ujoint there on the right? What am i looking to do to fix this? "Slip joint grease seal" or what?

Mine's never done that before so I haven't investigated but yes, I believe it is. Here's the exploded view http://www.fordification.com/tech/image ... shafts.jpg Replace the seal.

Also, i haven't turned it yet, but if the carrier bearing spins well, should i just replace it anyway when i got the shaft out? The rubber looks pretty bad.

Unless your detecting noise, vibration, or doing a restoration project, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That bearing is pressed onto the drive shaft and can be a pain to replace.

Apparently grease is spraying out of the yoke at the tranny. It coats everything in a circle around the immediate area. Does the short shaft going into the tranny hole simply come straight out and just get repacked/resealed? Answer me like im a newborn babe in the woods. Assume nothing.

I don't know much about the 4 speeds but most trannys I've messed with, remove the nut in the center and the yoke'll slide out. Install a new seal, slide the yoke back in and torque the nut.

Heres the same place at the tranny end. Im posting it to point out that if you look at the small bolt in upper left of the pic, you can see the red grease dripping off of it. This is a 4 speed so i guess that it isn't red automatic tranny oil. It is thicker than motor oil, so im assuming it is red grease that was packed into the yoke. It is in the radius of the spray.

That's the retainer for the speedometer cable. There's an o-ring seal that may be leaking. Remove the bolt and wiggle the cable out to replace the o-ring, if necessary. Yes, probably just grease.

This may sound extra special dumb, but can i chock the front and just throw a floor jack directly under the rear diff and lift the whole back end of the truck up long enough to put it on jackstands or is that bad for it?

Yes, no problem.

As far as dropping out the drive shaft, i may be looking at this wrong, but it seems that after removing the u shaped bolts at the ujoints at the rear diff and at the tranny, that the drive shaft needs to shrink lengthwise to come out. Can this occur at the slip joint in the center where all the splines are exposed or is this not the way to do it?

Yes. There should be enough slack in the slip joint. If not, just remove the two bolts at the carrier bearing.

Hopefully, somebody else with more experience in drive lines will lend some more insight. Good luck!

[HIO Silver]

The trans is an NP435 which has a fixed yoke. The short driveshaft does not slip. The short driveshaft is fixed btwn the NP and the carrier bearing so the slippage occurs at its rear where the long driveshaft is inserted.

[buddhayesca]

Thanks much for your all's answers, i got a solid idea of what's going on now, and thanks for IDing the tranny. I assume you could tell from the pics somehow and weren't just going by me saying 4 on the floor.

It is turning into a restore project more and more every time i go under the truck and see more stuff, so im probably going to take the bed off first thing so i can more luxuriously do a bunch of stuff, including this. The bed also needs to be patched up a little anyway.

Thanks again

[HIO Silver]

Thanks much for your all's answers, i got a solid idea of what's going on now, and thanks for IDing the tranny. I assume you could tell from the pics somehow and weren't just going by me saying 4 on the floor.

It is turning into a restore project more and more every time i go under the truck and see more stuff, so im probably going to take the bed off first thing so i can more luxuriously do a bunch of stuff, including this. The bed also needs to be patched up a little anyway.

Thanks again

Yep.. I pulled mine out last weekend cuz I'm swapping to a Tremec TKO-500.

The reason our rigs have a two-piece driveshaft is because the NP435 is really short.

[buddhayesca]

That is cool, let me know how that goes, thanks for the pic. I might in the very distant future want to swap out my unused bulldog gear having 4 speed for something with an overdrive or at least a 5 speed

[rjewkes]

Same two piece with the auto trannies. I think the real reason for the two peice is they hadn't yet mastered single piece shafts of that length yet.