Front Driveshaft Blues

[snailwagon]

I have an 81' pickup that uses the small 8mm bolts and the smaller flange pattern. Recently, the cardan joint died. U joints and splines are fine. I tried every junk yard in the area to just find a new d-shaft, but to no avail. Then I tried Napa for the joint, but they could only get me the later 53mm model. Then I went to the only driveline shop in an area of over 350,000 people (why only one?); they wanted $350 to replace the cv with a ford joint and put the toyota flanges back on. No luck on ebay, craigslist, or mud. It is like early driveshafts do not exist.

So one alternative is to buy a new joint from NWOR, but then I'm stuck with the same unobtanium driveshaft. Can the flanges from a later truck/4runner be used? Are they they same dimensions and splines? I have a good front driveshaft from an 84' in the parts pile I could use then. If the flanges can be swapped, do I have to reset the pinion bearing preload in the front dif?

What other options do I have to circumvent using an old style front d-shaft?

 

[Baja Dan]

hey bud im pretty sure you can use that 84 ds on your rig give it a shot

 

[dgangle]

All the parts for rebuilding the Toy double cardans are avaialble. here's a past thread. Part sources are called out in post 3

procedure:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/156646-toyota-cv-double-cardan-joints-rebuildable.html

and:
Driveshaft CV Modification for Increased Angle


parts:
http://www.rockforddriveline.com/toyota.pdf

 

[snailwagon]

Cool, thanks for the links on the parts. On mine, the pin on the flange is shot, so the whole flange would need to be replaced. I pulled the thing apart assuming the parts Napa supplied were correct, but I was mistaken. Pretty tough to get apart; those u-joints are tricky.

Maybe my extra d-shaft is not from an 84'. It is a larger flange pattern and is also a couple of inches longer overall. Definately not a direct fit. Later driveshafts are pretty common ($50 each at the junk yards), so spending the $50-60 on new flanges seemed pretty cost effective.