CV joint to U-joint front driveshaft swap possible?

[Patrick98GT]

I have a '97 5.0L/AWD that I just bought used with 111K miles. The truck runs perfect (except for the classic 5.0L header tick! haha) and I love it (wondering why I didn't buy one four years ago!), except that the front driveshaft is SHOT. My Ex is lucky enough to have the POS front driveshaft with CV joint at the rear, so I have a couple of questions real quick--I tried a search but didn't come up with too much useful stuff.

So what I want to know is what are my options on replacing the CV joint design with one of the heavy duty front driveshafts with U-joints? I know lots of other Explorers use the U-joint front driveshaft design, so it's easy to find the actual driveshaft, but I'm not sure if I can convert my Ex to use it without extensive headaches.

What I was thinking was that I could get the transfer case innards from one of the Explorers/Rangers with the U-joint design and then swap it in to my Explorer transfer case. I am a mechanic by trade so it's not a big deal for me to rip out the T-case.

Will this work? Or do you guys have an easier idea? I'm at a premium for competent driveshaft shops here, so taking the CV-junk shaft to a driveshaft shop to have them fab an adapter is out of the question.

Thanks for your replies!

-Pat

 

[Patrick98GT]

ttt

Nobody even has a comment?

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Pat, since no one else has answered, I'll share what I know (as a 4x4 Bronco owner). The driveshaft angles are different for a CV double cardan joint, and the normal single U-joint. Basically the CV type will have the angle on the power output end, and the other end will be at 0 degrees. A single U-joint will have the driveshaft angles the same on both ends (should be less than 2 degrees).

For this reason, I wouldn't change the U-joint types. If you do, it's possible that you could get vibrations at highway speeds, especially since you have AWD. The front drive unit only gets about 40% of the total torque anyway, so a super heavy duty driveline isn't needed in the front.

I would put it back together with the stock CV setup, using greasable U-joints. Assemble the U-joints so the zerk fitting is under compression when power is applied (rather than under tension), for added strength.

One other thing, when installing a driveshaft with slip-yokes, make sure it is "in phase", with the U-joint caps aligned with each other along the driveshaft length. This also prevents vibrations.
Hope some of this helps.

 

[MrShorty]

I almost hate to say anything, because I don't know 2nd gen Explorers very well. Patrick, do you know if it's a double cardan u-joint style like runninonempty is talking about, or is it a true CV joint (Rezeppa?? or something like is on the front axleshafts)? If it's a double cardan u-joint, don't mess with it. If it's the other, then I don't know what to tell you. I know when I replaced the rear CV driveshaft on my BII (who's idea was that, anyway), it was real easy and straightforward to just have a driveline shop make one up. You might contact someplace like www.mountaindriveline.com and see if they know anything about that application. I know they do the BII driveshafts, and are priced very competitively.

 

[Patrick98GT]

Thanks guys.

Sorry to not reply, but I guess I have email notification turned off.

I think it's a double cardan joint.

I did a lot of looking around trying to find something, and I give up. I'm just going to get my old shaft rebuild (~$250 through Carquest) and hope it lasts for me. I assume the truck had the original front driveshaft since the wrecked one I took out looks older than dirt. Hopefully the rebuilt unit can take bigger tires, some wheelin' abuse, and gears/ ~40whp more power.

I guess I'm just pissed off that I have to spend $250 on a shaft (Ford list price, BTW is almost $600!!!) when if Ford had not put their heads in their collective ***** (as usual) regarding ease of maintenance then I could have bought $40 worth of U-joints and been done with it in an afternoon and some beer (like the V-6 Ex's can do).

Thanks again for the help!

 

[CDW6212R]

2nd gen AWD front driveshaft

Did it a almost two years ago. It is a true CV joint.
I had my front shaft go out on Christmas Day. I discovered the CV joint, $309 at Ford, and no rebuilt units available. I had a one inch adapter made for $75, and my shaft modified for about $160. This shaft uses the same u-joint as the front, and has a slip joint in it.
The adapter evidently wasn't perfectly balanced, so I found a used shaft for $50 on Ebay. I plan on using the custom shaft on a second vehicle, a 99 chassis which I will make AWD, for mail delivery.

Runnin'OnEmpty, thanks for the angle information. I thought that the angles would match like a normal u-joint shaft. I'll look at it again, but I plan to have my custom shaft in a slow speed application. Good luck,
DonW

 

[section525]

You can just get a 96-97 tcase and shaft and swap them into your '98+. Those two years use the u-joint driveshafts.

 

[CDW6212R]

Cool, is that AWD though?
DW

 

[section525]

Yup. 4404. I have a couple in the garage.

 

[CDW6212R]

Good to know, thanks. Is the driveshaft the same length?

While I've got you're ear, do you know anything about the later 2002+ AWD transfer cases? I may end up needing one of them. I am trying to get an AWD case to attach to my 99 5R55E transmission. I have been told that the 5R55E and 5R55W have the same output shaft. V8Boatbuilder had previously told me that the 98 AWD transfer case has a different spline count as the V6 trans.
I may end up having to modify a tailhousing, but the spline count and length are the most important points. Thanks for any help,
Don

 

[section525]

I am not sure about the 02+ AWD cases... but I do have a 4405 and a 4404 in the garage. I am also fairly certain that the spline count is different between the two, which is why I needed to put in a new output shaft for my true 4wd conversion. I can get some pics for you tomorrow of the two shafts. Also, that may be an option for you.. swapping tranny output shafts to match whatever tcase you want (in theory ).

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]