LWB driveshaft question

[82SquareBurb]

Anyone with a long wheelbase truck/Suburban running a one piece driveshaft? I snagged a 5" .125" wall unit out of a 2013 2500 Silverado for a deal. My hope is to have a local shop shorten/balance it to the ~70 inches I need and delete on the 2 piece drive shaft setup in my C10 Suburban.

I think @xm20k runs a 5" in his rig, was curious if any long wheelbase trucks are running one and if this is a solid solution for max towing power/ HD use. Looking for insight, as I fear the steel 2 pc setup will fail, just by how janky the carrier bearing mounts. Looking for ideas. Thx!

 

[legopnuematic]

Both my 76 and 79 C10's, both LWB (and both TH350's) are factory 1pc drive shafts. The 85 C10 (305/TH350) I had parted out was also a 1pc shaft.

 

[1lejohn]

85 K 10 one piece steel shaft. Was a 700R , now a 350. No problems

 

[83K31003]

‘80~’88 K-30’s with a regular cab and a fleetside bed SRW & DRW ran a two joint slip yoke shaft setup that was steel but only 4” diameter ( and thinner wall ).
Crew Cabs and longer wheelbase Cab Chassis’ used a 3 joint carrier bearing shaft setup but not the 131.5” W/B K-30’s of those year models.

And plenty of 4WD K10/20 LWB Squares in the seventies utilized a two jointed type rear shaft.
Most K-10’s were 3-1/2” diameter and’73~’75 K-20’s were 4-1/2” diameter.
There were some later seventies models that used a three jointed type carrier bearing setup with smaller diameter tubes but your big aluminum 5” diameter thick walled shaft should work just fine.

HTH’s, Tom

 

[xm20k]

Anyone with a long wheelbase truck/Suburban running a one piece driveshaft? I snagged a 5" .125" wall unit out of a 2013 2500 Silverado for a deal. My hope is to have a local shop shorten/balance it to the ~70 inches I need and delete on the 2 piece drive shaft setup in my C10 Suburban.

I think @xm20k runs a 5" in his rig, was curious if any long wheelbase trucks are running one and if this is a solid solution for max towing power/ HD use. Looking for insight, as I fear the steel 2 pc setup will fail, just by how janky the carrier bearing mounts. Looking for ideas. Thx!

Mine is an aluminum 5" at 72.5" center to center but that's because no one would build a steel one longer than 60" for over 500HP. Best bet would be to talk to someone like https://www.actionmachineinc.com/ who build drive shafts for a living for everything from stock to high power off roaders and drag vehicles.

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[82SquareBurb]

because no one would build a steel one longer than 60" for over 500HP.

Thanks for confirming. Looks identical to the one I have.

Yeah I knew I had a problem when Mark Williams' told me to pound sand when I told them what I need. I think they only use 4" .083" wall stuff, so they limit to 60" or so.

When I talked to some turbo LS swap Burb projects, the setup is 1 pc later Silverado/2500 5" shafts cut down to fit, and they seem to hold up fine. If my math is mathing correct, I need a 5" .125 wall tube to hold a critical speed of 6,000+ with around 800+ foot pounds for ~70". Will have my local shop confirm on my math.