Center Support Bearing (Drive Shaft)

[catbird7]

Further exploring one piece driveshaft. In touch with Driveshaft Specialist Inc, they tell me one piece shaft will be 5" in diameter which may be unsightly. I'll fill out their dimensional worksheet tonight and submit for pricing. I'm prepared for something ugly (price and appearance)!
I may try adding a 1/4" or 1/2" spacer under carrier bearing?

 

[79jasper]

So what determines one piece vs two piece?
If it were to correct driveline angle: why would a regular cab have a one piece and a crew cab have a 2 piece?
A regular cab will have a steeper driveline angle than a crew cab will. Both being one piece.
Does anyone know?



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[laserjock]

Shaft length. If it gets too long it will start looking like a jump rope. That's why he's looking at a 5" shaft.


Edit: if you think about it the carrier bearing is on the rear can crossmember. I suspect it's the same for a crew cab. I bet they just stretch the driveline with the center shaft.

 

[laserjock]

Further exploring one piece driveshaft. In touch with Driveshaft Specialist Inc, they tell me one piece shaft will be 5" in diameter which may be unsightly. I'll fill out their dimensional worksheet tonight and submit for pricing. I'm prepared for something ugly (price and appearance)!
I may try adding a 1/4" or 1/2" spacer under carrier bearing?

Body shim kit could be your friend here just to play around if your bolts are long enough. I'm not sure but the 350 may have a longer center support mount.

 

[79jasper]

Shaft length. If it gets too long it will start looking like a jump rope. That's why he's looking at a 5" shaft.


Edit: if you think about it the carrier bearing is on the rear can crossmember. I suspect it's the same for a crew cab. I bet they just stretch the driveline with the center shaft.

I reckon that makes sense to a point.
Some of the newer trucks use a one piece even for crew cabs.
After some searching. It seems like a common swap to go from two piece to one. Also the I found, most are doing a 3.5 inch. With a double Cardone at the trans/tcase end, and a slip joint.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[catbird7]

Looking at shim kits. Might be best / easiest fix. Most recommend dropping carrier bearing 1/4" per 1" of lift. Not sure how much lift the F350 blocks work out to as I scraped the F250 blocks month ago..... Skyjacker has a 1" block pn# CBL3401 price = $30.73, also found Tuff Country has an "adjustable" kit designed for 4" to 6" of lift pn# 20824 price = $61.97. Going to check driveshaft angle tonight.

 

[laserjock]

You gained almost exactly 2" of lift going from F250 to F350 blocks.

Top block is a 250 next is a 350 and the last one is the tapered one I bought.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[catbird7]

You must be registered for see images attach

F350 blocks

You must be registered for see images attach

Carrier Bearing note alignment marks.

You must be registered for see images attach

Driveshaft angle is 11 deg.

You must be registered for see images attach

F250 5" Center Bracket that's riveted to crossmember. Guessing F350 is bigger?

You must be registered for see images attach

Based on Lazer's measurement of 2" of added lift to F250, and 1/4" per inch of lift rule, I need a 1/2" spacer between carrier bearing and center bracket. Found this piece of steel which measures .400" so that's going to be my first experiment.

 

[laserjock]

 

[laserjock]

Okay. Couldn't take it. My pinion is like 6.5-7 degrees. The support is like 5. But I think when the weight of the bed is on it, if my eyeball is right, should make it real close to the same. Fingers crossed.

 

[catbird7]

Unfortunately I worked late last evening, working late again tonight, however I did take time to place temperary shim under carrier and rechecked drive shaft angles. Original setting on front shaft was 5 degrees, rear shaft 12 degrees. With .400" shim under carrier bearing now front shaft is 6 degrees and rear shaft 9 degrees. I'll let you know how this works. As a side note, checked angle of rear drive shaft on my old 74 highboy for comparison and it's 12 degrees also.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[snicklas]

If you know what size it is, you can pick up spicer carrier bearings off fleabay. I guess the question I have to ask is are you sure its the carrier bearing? Even a parts store cheapie I would expect to last longer than 1000 miles unless there is something else wrong. Pinion is good and tight right? drive shaft splines still have the blue stuff on them right?

Mike,

Don't count on that...... I put the Advance cheapie ball joints in my Excursion (all I could fine late in the day when it was tore apart in a buddies shop 50 miles from home). I knew better, but didn't have a choice. There are less than 5000 miles on them, maybe closer to 3000, and they are worse than the 70,000 mile MOOGs I took out. I'm going with XRF this time..... gotta do it before the snow flies.....

 

[laserjock]

True. My brother went through that on his dodge. He's on 3rd set of ball joints in less than 40k miles. He went with xrf this time.

 

[79jasper]

Heard a lot of good about xrf. The price has come down exponentially also.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[junk]

Where you guys getting the XRF stuff? We put those in my brothers blazer.

I've got a shudder/bounce on initially getting moving. Then it's golden. Seems to be affected by load on the rear. Unloaded is the worse, fully loaded is the best. I've wondered about driveline angles. I played with my carrier bearing height and that seemed to improve it, but it's still there. I'm wondering about axle wrap and if better shocks would help.

Anyway this is what I did for my shafts. My first shaft is probably within 1 degree of the transfercase. I still get a vibration.

You must be registered for see images attach