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Drive shaft in backwards?


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My buddy helped me swap my tranny my few days ago and now it has a shake. 1994, 4.0, 5spd manual, 4x4, 8.8 rear end. Is the slip yolk in the driveshaft closer to the rear end or the transfer case? Please help!!
 


adsm08

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Slip yoke goes up front.
 

PlumCrazy

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I thought on the RCSB trucks it was backwards?
 

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I have never seen an RCSB 4x4 Ranger in person. Every other Ford I have ever worked on had the yoke facing forward though.

In all reality though, it should not matter as long as the shaft is balanced properly.

I would recommend flipping it and seeing if it's better. If not, try a dual hose-clamp balance.

Draw 4 lines on the shaft at the rear, in line with the bolts. Get a hose clamp that fits around the drive shaft, and put the screw in one of the quadrants you marked off. Drive it, move the screw through each quad until you find the best spot. If two areas seem to be equally good get a second clamp and put one screw in each.
 
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IIRC they are setup like a front shaft, double cardan at the case and slip at the axle.
 

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I know the RCSB F-150s were. I spent a day wracking my brain trying to figure out where this really thick and short double cardan jointed shaft on the parts room floor came from before I realized that's what it was.

If that was the case though I'd think it would be hard to put it in backwards. The double joint would need to go to the front though.
 

scotts90ranger

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yeah, the dual cardan shaft has the slip at the rear, that's what my truck came with and I recently got a spare from a yard (hard to find, most 4x4's are either extended cab or long bed...) because I didn't want to spend $400 fixing another one...

I don't know if all shafts are like this, but the one on mine I think has a thick spline so it's not really possible to put it together a tooth off...

Don't try to use hose clamps on the DC shaft!!!!!!!! at least at the axle end of the tube. I did, then went wheeling which caught the gas tank skid plate and broke all 4 clamps and pulled the skid plate down about 2" where it hit, the weight of the truck alone isn't enough to get it back shaped how it came using a jack... neither is an 8lb sledge hammer.
 

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IF you look close at that "Wide spline" you'll typically discover that it is
as wide as two splines plus the normal gap between them.

The technical term for that "Wide spline" is a "Blind spline" because of the missing Groove that is supposed to be in the middle of it.

Sometimes a spline omits a male rib to provide an escape path for entrapped air

Unfortunately DANA did not use a "blind spline" on either the Dana28 or Dana35 axles
to prevent inadvertent misassembly of parts that need to be assembled "In phase"

AD
 

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funny story about the blindspline...

I rebuilt my dad's driveshaft on his 96 f-150, reg cab long box 2wd, slip joint/steady bearing and 2 ujoints. didn't mark the slip joint, totally forgot until I got it out, went to put it back in, had no idea there was a blind spline, and the way those are setup, the blind spline is only halfway deep, so you can get the splines lined up, and slip it in about 1/4 or 1/2 the way and it stops, no amount of ramming will take care of it! and of course the seal is a bitch to push the yoke through, it took me a good solid 2 hours to get the shaft back in!
 

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My credo
If it ain't broke...fix it before it does.
Weezl, that's not very funny. A funny story starts like this, "So my friend says, 'hold my beer and watch this."
 

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