Wheelbase question, or, My one piece driveshaft doesn't fit

[whisperer]

This is on my 96 B2300 2WD Xtra cab. The 2 piece shaft had a bad center bearing and the u-joints were getting tired again so I just figured it was time to do the one piece driveshaft conversion. I bought a sweet one piece aluminum shaft from the local wrecker. It came out of a 2000 ranger Xtra cab 2WD. The shaft is almost exactly 3 inches too short. Anybody know why? Is the Ranger a different wheelbase then the Mazda Xtra cab for Xtra cab?

BTW the new shaft is 64-1/2 center of the u-joints and it needs to be 67-1/2 (or really close).

 

[AllanD]

Let me guess... you have a 5sp truck...

The shaft probably came out of an auto trans truck, the 4R44E in
the 3.0 trucks is longer.

you'll probably also discover the slip yoke spline is too small

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[whisperer]

Yeah, the slip yoke is smaller. I figured I would change that with the other one but not with 3" difference in length. Thanks for the tip, they just pulled the wrong shaft at the wrecking yard.