Bit off a little more than I could chew.

Allen8511 · Post by **Allen8511** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:04 am

So I took the PW on a Jeep trail and it made it, but not without incurring a little more under carriage damage than I was ready for. Long story short, I was near the end of the rough section on the last major obstacle and I got my rear diff hung up on a rock. I had a spotter who was doing an excellent job of guiding this beast through the Jeep trail, but he nor I saw the mistake until it was too late. I pressed the gas and the wheels were spinning. I did it again and heard the distinct sound of my drive shaft joint skipping over the rock. I knew what I had done immediately....so pissed at myself. I inspected the area and saw the drive shaft was dented near the joint and the joint appeared structurally sound but very scarred from spinning over the rock. Anyway, I was driving home and sure enough I felt distinct vibrations. Looks like I'm in it for a new drive shaft; at the very least. Any suggestions for drive shaft replacements/remedies is welcomed.

azracer · Post by **azracer** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:15 am

Do not drive it! Park it until it is fixed!

If that drive shaft comes apart at 75 mph (and it will) it is going to a be huge mess and expense. Could even cause your truck to flip over!

Now you need to decide... do I do a SYE mod and a Tom Woods steel driveshaft or just measure and put in a Tom Woods smaller diameter but stronger OEM length steel driveshaft. For me I'm thinking I will be going with the Ford style SYE kit. But either option is an upgrade worth doing.

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Colibri · Post by **Colibri** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:04 am

^^^what az said is a great option. I spoke with the guys at tom woods awhile back about a rear shaft and I have ford 271 parts to do a sye sitting on a shelf lol. High angle driveline makes good stuff in my experience, however lee recently had trouble with one of their shafts. They can do steel 2 piece shafts with billet carrier bearing but not sure if they can make a one piece that long or not? Aside from stock replacement the only other decent option I'm aware of is a beefed up aluminum shaft from driveshaft specialists here in Texas. It's popular with a lot of the diesel guys, and is supposed to be way stronger than stock, but still lighter than steel. I'm still on the fence about the whole thing myself.

http://www.driveshaftspecialist.com/Tru ... truck.html
http://highangledriveline.com
http://www.4xshaft.com

RAM4ROKS · Post by **RAM4ROKS** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:45 am

Allen8511- Sorry to hear about the damage! What year is your Power Wagon?
Late 2012 and onward have the Borg Warner transfercase, the slip yoke is integrated into the back half of the transfercase housing (not bolted on like the slip yoke of the 271) thus, a slip yoke eliminator is not an option. The only ways to eliminate the slip yoke would be:
Extensive custom machinework and fabrication on the Borg Warner case
or
swapping to a 271
My plan if I destroy the rear driveshaft (since I have the Borg Warner case) is to run a custom crossmember incorporating a carrier bearing and use two shafts (one from the t-case to the carrier bearing, and one with a slip joint integrated into the driveshaft running from the carrier bearing to the rear pinion. That way, if the rearmost shaft is damaged in some manner, the short shaft and carrier bearing will hold the transfercase slip yoke in position and the truck can be limped out in front wheel drive. As an added benefit, there will be more ground clearance under the driveshaft (since the portion prior to the carrier bearing will be tucked up into the frame) and the shorter rear most shaft will be cheaper to repair if broken and (since it will be shorter) is less likely to cause damage to the truck if it lets loose.

As stated above- do NOT drive the truck before repairing the damage, if the driveshaft lets loose on the highway, it will cause a LOT of damage and may even cause a loss of control and possible rolling of the truck! Barring that, even if it doesn't break loose, the vibration can damage the slipyoke and the bearings in the transfercase and rear pinion.

I got quite a few gouges on my driveshaft due to it interfering with my gas tank skidplate when the suspension was flexed after installing my Carli rear springs. I was able to have it smoothed and balanced though. Our rear driveshafts are amazingly large in diameter and thin in wall thickness, a bit of a design oversight, given the trucks' intended use, IMHO.

RAM4ROKS · Post by **RAM4ROKS** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:48 am

I have had good luck (in other vehicles) with Tom Woods and High Angle Driveline (HAD), I will likely go either with HAD again or go with a local shop (likely Oliver's though I have never dealt with them before, they are a vendor on a local 4x4 forum) if the time comes that I need a new driveshaft. BTW, watch out wheeling on those Jeeps trails, your truck may end up like mine, LMAO!!!!

MoparToYou · Post by **MoparToYou** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:01 pm

The buggered up wheels are no big deal, I've got those on my Laramie PW already as well. That just shows that you use your truck for what it was meant for. Under carriage parts get damaged from time to time, consider it an excuse to upgrade to better parts. Body damage is what bothers me the most; it makes it look like you don't know how to drive, or you don't care about your equipment, or both.

I've had good luck with Tom Woods driveshafts in the past, and would definitely recommend them.

ramv · Post by **ramv** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:10 pm

Personally I would get an identical steel replacement made and then keep your old shaft as a spare. Probably the cheapest, simplest.

Six States, DTS, etc are chains that will built shafts locally, or I am sure Jess or Tom Woods could build something good.

bstefanic · Post by **bstefanic** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:40 pm

http://forum.powerwagonregistry.org/vie ... php?t=1272

Here's the write up I did doing a SYE

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Allen8511 · Post by **Allen8511** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 3:36 am

Thanks everyone for the advice. I crawled underneath the truck today and felt a little better after seeing everything in daylight. Pulled off the drive shaft and will be ordering an aftermarket one. What really matters is I did not get any cosmetic damage. So in the end, it's all good because I get to upgrade a part. Awesome!

LagunaH1 · Post by **LagunaH1** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 8:39 am

Allen8511 wrote:Ugh...

So I took the PW on a Jeep trail and it made it, but not without incurring a little more under carriage damage than I was ready for. Long story short, I was near the end of the rough section on the last major obstacle and I got my rear diff hung up on a rock. I had a spotter who was doing an excellent job of guiding this beast through the Jeep trail, but he nor I saw the mistake until it was too late. I pressed the gas and the wheels were spinning. I did it again and heard the distinct sound of my drive shaft joint skipping over the rock. I knew what I had done immediately....so pissed at myself. I inspected the area and saw the drive shaft was dented near the joint and the joint appeared structurally sound but very scarred from spinning over the rock. I also "think" power steering got stressed and bubbled over. Its still full of fluid and has since stopped leaking. Anyway, I was driving home and sure enough I felt distinct vibrations around 75+ mph. Looks like I'm in it for a new drive shaft; at the very least. Also, I screwed up a few wheels.

I got a Power Wagon to use it dammit! I got the Laramie package because it was nice. But man, I really don't like trashing my stuff. Its hard to have nice things but at the same time want use them for their intended purpose. I will say this, that trail had gotten a lot worse since I was last on it 3 years ago in my Rubicon. Any suggestions for drive shaft replacements/remedies is welcomed.

Rant over...for now.

Sorry to hear about the carnage. Curious which trail this was?

whitey · Post by **whitey** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 9:54 pm

If your going to wheel it I would stay away from aluminum. I had the aluminum and only touched the drive shaft for a moment and turned a section square. Since then I've had a heavy steel driveshaft and keep spare u joints.

Allen8511 · Post by **Allen8511** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 11:48 am

It will be a steel replacement.

05PWrockcrawler · Post by **05PWrockcrawler** » Thu Apr 28, 2016 12:08 pm

I put a Tom woods on mine.

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05PWrockcrawler · Post by **05PWrockcrawler** » Thu Apr 28, 2016 12:12 pm

Funny thing is I saw the title and was like cool body damage pics but to my disappointment it was just a driveshaft lol. I thought you added some cool battle scars! I go through driveshafts like crazy. So I consider that a minor issue lol. My poor PW gets the crap beat out of it.

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05PWrockcrawler · Post by **05PWrockcrawler** » Thu Apr 28, 2016 12:15 pm

bstefanic wrote:http://forum.powerwagonregistry.org/vie ... php?t=1272

Here's the write up I did doing a SYE

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

I'm still considering it some day. But have a Tom woods on it and a huge .250 wall built one for heavy wheeling that GunBoat was awesome enough to build for me (of course his spotting ended the life of the last one) good memories lol.

Colibri · Post by **Colibri** » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:26 pm

Hey Jeff, how did you have tom woods build yours? 1410 or 1480 u joints? You remember diameter and wall thickness off hand?

05PWrockcrawler · Post by **05PWrockcrawler** » Mon May 02, 2016 12:17 pm

1410 built it as big of tube they would allow for the length

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