Getting the shaft...

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HotRodPC

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Hey man! Yep, they definitely screwed me over. Absolutely denied any culpability in the problems... The failure was exactly the same and the driveshafts are definitely a bodge. I’m still trouble-shooting to see if anything else could compound the issue, but it doesn’t look like it. I checked the read end geometry, the trans location and tilt angle, and ultimately I think that the shaft may be too short, or there is something jacked with the slip joint on the rear driveshaft.
And yes, I have a badass 5” aluminum, billet ended driveshaft coming from a shop I used back in my trophy truck days. Overkill, but still pretty excited.
Now I need to build a loop for it just to be really confident on the road.
If you had problems at either end, the rear end or the trans end, then I'd be more concerned. But being that it's eating carrier bearings in the center that tells you it's out of balance and probably a spline issue where the rear shaft meets the front shaft. I just hope all that vibration hasn't eaten up your rear tailshaft bushing.
 

TIE_Fightertk06

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@HotRodPC I hear ya. I thought about pulling the tail shaft housing to check, but the output shaft is pristine and the seal isn’t marred at all. I was real quick about getting the truck stopped at the first sound of trouble both times.
I’m happy with this trans, but I’m not as in love with it as I thought I would be. I’m going to pull it next year and stick it on the shelf if things go as planned.
 

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The ‘burb is back on the road!

The new driveshaft got here yesterday. I installed it this morning and it seems dang near perfect.
Went for a 100 mike round trip test drive on the freeway, a dirt trail, and through the city. Even up at 85 it is vibration free except for the normal front end shimmy. I’m feeling pretty damn good about it.
The exhaust is roadkilled together for now, but that’ll get fixed soon.

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HotRodPC

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So you went 1 pc this time and aluminum. That should work real nice.

Is it just the angle of the pic, of that driveshaft angle kinda ugly. Looks a bit like the transmission needs to be shimmed up a little bit.
 

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@HotRodPC I think it is just the odd angle I snapped it from... The truck isn’t level and I’m just leaning over.

I posted the driveline angles above and it definitely checked out all around. Thanks for keeping an eye on it though!

I have a poly trans mount from Energy, but I don’t know if I’m going to put it in just yet..

@Rusty Nail thanks, man! It is one hell of a nice build. The shop rocks. Great bunch of guys to deal with.
 

MrMarty51

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If you had problems at either end, the rear end or the trans end, then I'd be more concerned. But being that it's eating carrier bearings in the center that tells you it's out of balance and probably a spline issue where the rear shaft meets the front shaft. I just hope all that vibration hasn't eaten up your rear tailshaft bushing.
I know this is a bit late.
A K7500 truck the highway dept. owns, I had replaced the carrier bearings on it, there are three carrier bearings on one shaft and two on the front shaft.
The shafts ate those out real quick.
I went a block over to the machine shop and explained the problem to them, they told Me the shafts were out of balance.
90 mile trip north and pulled the shafts, topok them to the machine shop, they balanced the shafts, I installed them and not another problem with them.
I could not imagine having a shaft between two pillowed carrier bearing not having a problem, but the balance job was the ticket.
 

TIE_Fightertk06

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Yea, I could have had the original setup reworked, but ultimately this truck is for road trips/ touring. I want as few moving parts as possible... I really should have done this from the start.
 
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TIE_Fightertk06

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Happy new year, everyone!
Had a great Roadtrip with the family over our holiday break. The Suburban ticked over 157k after racking up about 1300 miles on this trip. No problems at all with the new DS, zero vibrations all the way up to a new recorded top speed:
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I do want to swap out the 3.73 gears for 3.08s I think. Otherwise all is well with the burb!
 

Honky Kong jr

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Happy new year, everyone!
Had a great Roadtrip with the family over our holiday break. The Suburban ticked over 157k after racking up about 1300 miles on this trip. No problems at all with the new DS, zero vibrations all the way up to a new recorded top speed:
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I do want to swap out the 3.73 gears for 3.08s I think. Otherwise all is well with the burb!
Awsome glad the driveline issue is fixed.
 

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