Slee Double Cardon spicer front drive shaft..salvageable? (1 Viewer)

[93jspec]

This last weekend a few friends and I did a little drive up here in Alaska. We went a took what is called the "Bettels snow road" which is only available in the winter. During the summer the only way in is by boat and plane. Then we headed up north and camped just a few miles from Coldfoot. After that we did a quick jaunt up to Atigun pass. Once we made it down from Atigun my front drive shaft gave up and decided to do all kinds of nasty things..luckily the trans pan and case did not receive any fatal blows.

After contacting Slee trying to find replacement parts I was informed that this is a spicer style drive shaft and parts can be sourced locally...I live in Fairbanks and the local driveline shop is less than quality, or fair with price. SO my questions are

1) Can I repair my current shaft and if so what would be a good resource for ascertaining what parts I would need.
2) Replacement options..quick mud search mentions Tacoma DCs are a possibility..but that puts me back at having an unreliable but expensive shop do the work to modify it to fit.

 

[93jspec]

Just a few from the weekend jaunt.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

Bummer about the shaft. Pretty obvious the DC joint is toast. If you can't source a Tacoma shaft and have it modified locally then I do believe Joey is selling Landtank driveshafts. 80 Series Double-Cardan Front Drive Shaft

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

Cool photos, looks like an awesome trip. On a technical note, how often did you grease that DC shaft that failed?

 

[NLXTACY]

Its the front and it could delay things for you for a long time and its spendy. If you are just doing highway driving have you thought about just running 2WD?

 

[Cruzilla]

Your joint looks super dry.. did you clean it before the pics? I know its a pain to grease this assembly as I have the same one. You need a needle grease tip and you have to remove the shaft from the rig to grease the double cardon ( CV) joint... stupid design...

 

[Ridgerunner78]

If your centering pin wasn't hosed, which it is from the pics, it would be just a matter of sourcing new u-joints and yoke parts, and rebuilding it yourself. With the centering pin as it is, a new yoke would need to be welded to the tube, which is really a job for a DS shop.

Unfortunately you're looking at either buying a new shaft, or having your sketchy overpriced local shop work on it.

FWIW, I went the route of the Taco DC shaft and had to have a local shop re-tube it to the proper length.

 

[BILT4ME]

eBay?

Mud Classifieds?

Slee?

Inland Truck Parts and then ship to you on a slow boat?

 

[inkpot]

Is Tatton still offering his D.C. Shaft?

 

[1973Guppie]

I have been dealing with this recently as well. I need a front dc shaft and tacoma shafts are nowhere to be found. I decided to just order a tatton driveshaft as his reviews on here were solid and the pricing was very good compared to my local driveshaft shop. I have him making one now for me. They are in Utah and can ship to you although I am guessing it will cost more to get to AK.

 

[93jspec]

Cool photos, looks like an awesome trip. On a technical note, how often did you grease that DC shaft that failed?

It was greased last spring.

 

[93jspec]

If your centering pin wasn't hosed, which it is from the pics, it would be just a matter of sourcing new u-joints and yoke parts, and rebuilding it yourself. With the centering pin as it is, a new yoke would need to be welded to the tube, which is really a job for a DS shop.

Unfortunately you're looking at either buying a new shaft, or having your sketchy overpriced local shop work on it.

FWIW, I went the route of the Taco DC shaft and had to have a local shop re-tube it to the proper length.

The center pin was my concern once i got it apart and cleaned up. I suppose i will give the local shop a shot. I might as well install the part time time kit and get my spring services on the ole girl completed.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

All of the necessary parts can be purchased to repair the joint so long as the end welded to the shaft is undamaged. It's a pain in the di€k to fix as a DIY but there are articles on the interwebs that walk you through spicer style Double cardan joint rebuilding. Your main task is figuring out which joint and center pin you need.

 

[inkpot]

It was greased last spring.

I grease mine monthly, but I wheel almost weekly and it is also my daily driver.

 

[largeone]

I recently sourced a low mileage used Taco shaft from partsmarket.com and had it retubed with a stronger tube ( and shortened) and it cost me about $300. So for the time and effort it took for me to have this done, it is almost worth buying one "new" from a mud vender if it has Toyota CV.