Front driveshaft go boom

[kbbeckius]

Ok, now that I have a 2-wheel drive Typhoon what do I do about it. Who makes the best replacement front propshaft, the GM one looks like it's 1000$+ and I don't plan on spending that much. I heard that the NAPA one isn't balanced too good. The GMs way overpriced. What about the ATR, or the one from Dynotech. How about the heavy duty one from Brandon? anyone tried it? Another thing, did we ever come to a consensus on how long it's safe to drive without a front shaft? It could be a few weeks before I have the money, and the 'phoon is my daily driver (drive mabye 10 miles round trip to work).

Thanks for you help
Brad

 

[jwaller]

get the one from dynotech...it's around 500 and its the same one ATR sells...ATR buys them from dynotech and marks them up.

 

[kbbeckius]

Ok, that narrows it down a bit. I like the looks of the heavy duty shaft that is sold by Brandon. Anyone try it??? My shaft broke at the double cardan joint. His design is simpler and eliminates this joint. However, does that cause accelerated u-joint wear? or vibration.

thank you
brad

 

[Mephisto]

i dont think anyone has tried that heavy duty propshaft yet...

i just broke my propshafy last week, and was thinkin about getting the heavy duty one. i just like the fact that theres no boot! but then again like you were saying that could increase vibration, or more wear on the U joints... i guess ill take the gamble and buy one, when i have $400 laying around.

 

[Christian Dionne]

I believe it does cause extra vibration and wear. I broke my propshaft and had it "upgraded" to a splined unit and soon broke the rear U joint. The vibration after first install was definately noticed at highway speeds.

Maybe Brandon's shaft might last longer than a stock shaft, but it might vibrate as well.

 

[Rick Krupa]

One of the reasons the Dynotech original front prop shaft breaks at the double cardan joint is because of neglect of greasing along with hard launches.

 

[Christian Dionne]

Are you saying my driveshaft didn't like my 1.74 60' and 15+ psi launches? Hell, I thought my 120 passes in one year was goin' easy on it. I ASSumed as long as I didn't buy the ZR1's with drag radials, it would've lasted for years.

I have such a love-hate relationship with all wheel drive.

Maybe my powerglide will let me down, and I'll come back to the front propshaft problems.

 

[WGT31]

Don't park on an incline with out using your parking brake. It will roll on you. I found out the hard way after the Ty rolled into a chain link fence. Fence 1 Ty 0.

 

[SY2932]

When my stock propshaft decided it had enough, I got a "heavy duty" one from Bruce Gilbert of Gilbert Driveline in NH. This was done at the suggestion of a buddy who has had one in his truck for awhile with no problems. I know of a Ty and Sy that also have this propshaft on their trucks and it has performed perfectly-no vibration at over 100 MPH. It is similar to Brandon's but, it's even bigger than his is. The main tube is 2.1 inches in diameter. It is so big that you have to cut and weld your transmission range selector lever for clearance. Bruce's shaft is 5 pounds lighter (14 pounds vs. 19 pounds)to boot as you have to remove the flange on the front differential that the stock shaft bolts up to. Prior to getting this shaft, I had front and rear safety loops by Phil Chivers now, I just have the one in the rear cause my front differential will prolly go before that shaft will... I paid $318.60 for the shaft and it took about a week and a half to get only because UPS sent it to CA by mistake. If you're interested, give Bruce Gilbert a call at 603-623-8460. HTH

Mike

 

[4C FED]

On 2002-01-27 15:06, kbbeckius wrote:
Ok, that narrows it down a bit. I like the looks of the heavy duty shaft that is sold by Brandon. Anyone try it??? However, does that cause accelerated u-joint wear? or vibration.

thank you
brad

I know someone who purchased Brandon's propshaft.
He had fitment problems with the tranny linkage. He got that squared away and now he has noticed an increase in vibration from 40 mph and up.

 

[InvisiBill]

What about the shaft from NAPA?
http://www.syty.net/personal/Typhoon/my_ty_page5.htm

I thought I remembered some people saying it was pretty crappy, but others had good luck with it...

I need to replace my propshaft as well. I don't plan to do much in the way of mods (an Ultimate would probably be the biggest), so I don't need something that can withstand 50,000hp or anything. I'd like to get rid of the problem areas of the stock propshaft, but I do a lot of highway driving, so I don't want to deal with vibrations or having the new design cause other problems...

 

[kbbeckius]

What is the damn part number for the NAPA front propshaft. I hate goddamn NAPA, but alot of times they're the only choice for hard to find stuff. I called them today and the stoopid lady said that 50-357 is not a valid part number, as I tried to explain I'm looking at a photo of the tag right in front of me. Anyway she finally told me that part number was discontinued 3 years ago, what BS! Then, since they don't even show a 93' Typhoon in the computer, I told her to look up one for a 93' Bravada, and came up with #12-356 but its special order at 335.98$ so I can't even compare the shafts. Anyone know the current part number for the NAPA front propshaft??

Thanks Brad

 

[kbbeckius]

You aren't gonna believe this! It must be my lucky day. I thought I'd try checking around locally to see if any shops were willing to fix my propshaft. I first called truck parts specialties, they do truck drivetrain parts, they said bring it in we can probably build you one. However, when I showed up I got a different story. The first counterman looked confused, and asked the other one what he thought, "what's that out of, bronco II?" I told him a 93' GMC typhoon, "a What?" he says. Oh boy :grin:

Thanks All
Brad

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kbbeckius on 2002-01-29 14:32 ]</font>

 

[Tooky]

It may have been an original SyTy shaft (?) because as far as I know, all the SyTy shafts were from Dynotech and carry Dynotech stickers on them. Well it's kind of like a badge more than a sticker. Anyways my Sy has a 10 year old Dynotech sticker on it's propshaft.. I should take a picture sometime.

 

[Tooky]

One other thing: Come on guys!!! Isn't either of you (kbbeckius and DefiledSy) going to tell us HOW you broke your driveshaft? I wanna hear some stories of catastrophic failure!!! :grin: >

 

[Daron]

Stories belong in the lounge.
Information regarding how to modify or repair these animals is always welcome here.

 

[kbbeckius]

ok tooky I put a post in the lounge

Brad

 

[InvisiBill]

Sounds like you don't need it anymore, but I ran into the same sort of thing with the NAPA part number. Luckily the guy here said it was an old number and found the new part number for me. I don't remember off the top of my head what it was, but one of the other stores did have one in stock. It was like $261 I think...

So, does anyone have any input on these shafts?

 

[ParTyBoy]

On 2002-01-29 16:35, Daron wrote:
Stories belong in the lounge.
Information regarding how to modify or repair these animals is always welcome here.

Daron you crack me up... It's like you got the taste of tooky in your mouth.. like rabies or something... ROTFLMAO...

 

[kbbeckius]

Yep, don't need it now, I already got the rebuild one installed. The place I got it from was great!! I was in there at about 11am and I was able to pick it up at 5pm before they closed. When I dropped it off they initially said I could pick it up tomorrow, but I asked them if they could try and get it done today, and they did :grin: If you live in the Denver metro area I would definitely recommend CVJ Axles, 4101 Brighton Blvd, 303-297-2448.

You should probably see if you can get the NAPA propshaft number, others may need it, and they aren't too bright at that place.

Thx Brad