Drive shaft issues

[Elky67]

Hi folks,

after having the truck on the road for a few weeks, i discovered a grinding,
whining, clonking noise out of the driveline.

As my truck is a GMC longbox 1/2 ton, i have the drive shaft extension in it.

I already ordered the u-joints, the bearing etc., but examining the second yoke,
it seems like it got damaged, due to loose and broken bolts.

Now my question, would anyone of you guys have a good used yoke available,

might deadzone have stuff like this?

I really want the truck to be on the road again soon and be reliable, as summer won´t last forever

Thank you all for any help or trace...

 

[vwnate1]

JOE To The Rescue !

Yes Joe will have what you need .

What you need to do now is : take the old bad parts and lay them on clean cardboard etc. so there's good contrast and send him photos of what you need .

Be sure to count the splines and tell him how many...

 

[Elky67]

Pictures...

Thank you Nate, for your reminder; stupid me, forgot to include the pictures i already made.

Here they are, hopefully you guys can see, what is important.

I counted 10 splines...

 

[vwnate1]

! Ouch !

Sadly , this isn't as uncommon a thing as you'd think .

Was Joe able to help you out ? .

 

[Elky67]

Lucky me

Nate,

a buddy of mine, (he´s a milling/lathe machine expert by trade) came by on the weekend and i showed him my damaged and rounded yoke and asked for his advice.

He told me, to weld on the missing millimeters and then take the yoke on a lathe and turn it down smooth to the desired dimensions.
For a vehicle with an output of about 90 horses, he wouldn´t see any issues
doing this.

I gave it a go on Saturday and i think, it´s nearly as good as new again and hopefully the rest of the parts show up soon; can´t wait, to take the truck for a spin and it should be much more comfortable to drive.

Thank you anyway for asking, if all failes, i would contact Joe for a replacement, but shipping stuff from the USA to Germany is unbelievable expensive at the moment. A parcel the size of a cigar box is caculated about 30$$$

I´ll take a picture and show you the result.

 

[vwnate1]

Journeyman Repairs

Good ! .

I'm glad to see you took this route , I hesitated to suggest it because it takes a Journeyman Machinist to do the job , .002" off and it'll shake like a paint mixer forevermore....

Having access to good help is a real gift .

 

[Elky67]

Here we go, with the reworked yoke; i think i´ve welded on about 2mm (0,0787inches), that´s what i thought was missing, compared to the front yoke on the tranny.

After the welding and slowly cooling down, i turned the surface down, to smooth it out. When this was done, i took the yoke on the milling machine, to
cut the center part to the exact measurement (1inch).

Hopefully it´s good to use again another 50+ years


By the way, what does journeyman repairs mean?

In the meantime, i added a "new" accessorie to the truck...
An old oak wine barrel, ment to be the tool box and dry storage area.

 

[vwnate1]

Oaken Keg

That's a nice tool box there .

Journeyman means one who's a fully competent at his Trade .

I'm not really good to explain things , I hope that helped .

Similar to " Maestro " in many other languages .

 

[Elky67]

Back together

Since the missing parts showed up lately, i´ve put it all together. The "okie" bushing wasn´t available, so i made one on the lathe.

Now i took the truck for a little spin and checked for leaks, as i changed the automatic oil also, while everything was apart.

My concern/question is, how hot can/should a closed driveshaft tube get, in normal driving condition?
I tried to touch right at the joint after the tranny and i would say, it was nearly as hot as the tranny case, after about a foot, it was just worm?

Is this normal, or might the bushing be to tight?

Thank you alls once again, for any help on this.

 

[vwnate1]

Hot Oakie Bushing

It's too close tolerance .