Drive shaft lengths and questions

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American_justice

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Kerrville tx
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Levi
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1983
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C10
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350
So I have a 83 long bed custom deluxe and my tranny went out. The turbo 350 I had in it before had a 9 in tail shaft length but I have another one I want to put in it that is a 6 in tail shaft. I know the drive shaft won't work for it but I'm wondering if they even made a drive shaft with this configuration and length in a stock vehicle. I know I can make one custom or have one made but it would be nice if I could go rob one off an old junker or something. So I need a lwb drive shaft that will go to a 6in short tail shaft tranny. The one I have for my 9in is approximately 71 in long. It will have to be longer than that for sure. Anyway thanks in advance
 
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Charlie

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:welcome:
 

SquareRoot

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Is this a 2wd I'm assuming? A 71 incher....wow! Do you know the diameter of that beast?
 

PrairieDrifter

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My 1970 c10 longbox came with 6 inch tail shaft th350 and had a two piece driveshaft with a hanger bearing right behind the cab.

Not sure if the squares had two piece driveshafts unless it’s a crew cab or a cab and chassis truck. My 77 c30 cab and chassis has a two piece driveshaft but the thing has a crazy long wheelbase
 

Craig 85

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I had always heard 72" was max. I did some research and found a 2009 Suburban 2500 with a 78.36" rear drive shaft. It is a 4" diameter with .087" wall thickness. In reading the Dorman description, it includes the slip yoke, so I'm assuming this total length includes that.
 

75gmck25

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There is a shop in San Antonio called Driveshaft Specialists, and they had no problem making a new front driveshaft for my K25, just based on the year and model of truck. My front driveshaft has a cardan joint (universal joint), slip joint for length, and other features, and they got it all right. You might give them a call and ask for recommendations on what to do with your truck.

I had the work done about 15 years ago, but maybe they still have some old guys who understand the best solution for a squarebody.

Bruce
 

Preston

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Good luck been there done that, what I saved on the transmission I spent on the driveshaft plus. I put a th 400 in my long wheel base Silverado. Moral of the story fix the transmission. I ran into other issues with the kick down switches, don’t get me wrong the 400 shifts great but I just didn’t save any money making the swap from 700 to 400. I do believe GM did go to 2piece driveshaft if it was over 72” long
 

Preston

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Welcome to GMSB from Virginia


PS you could also swap the tail shaft
 

GustavoG

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So I have a 83 long bed custom deluxe and my tranny went out. The turbo 350 I had in it before had a 9 in tail shaft length but I have another one I want to put in it that is a 6 in tail shaft. I know the drive shaft won't work for it but I'm wondering if they even made a drive shaft with this configuration and length in a stock vehicle. I know I can make one custom or have one made but it would be nice if I could go rob one off an old junker or something. So I need a lwb drive shaft that will go to a 6in short tail shaft tranny. The one I have for my 9in is approximately 71 in long. It will have to be longer than that for sure. Anyway thanks in advance
I put a long tail th400 in my 84 c10 also long bed and I need a sorter one because the one I have is to big is also a 71 inches one so I think they did not make the th400 for c10 unles that’s what I think
 

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