HELP driveshaft fell off

[Quintin51]

Funny story. I was pulling out of a stop sign and got about two feet when I heard a bang. Got out and looked and the rear shaft is on the ground. Moments before I had dumped the clutch in the snow. The day before I was noticing vibrations when I was coasting. Now from what I saw without crawling under is my drive shaft is still attached to the axle. But disconnected from transfer case. The u joint is still on the shaft. I found two of the bolts and they look like they ripped the threads out if the t case. Now do I need a new transfer case or just the u joint or what? It's a 91 Navajo 4.0 5 speed. Stock.

 

[cmhaah06]

pics would help attract some more attention.

 

[Anime]

Usually it's the U-joints that fail and break apart from age and wear, it'd be unusual for the bolts to simply strip out from the yoke on the transfer case, I would think they'd shear off, not strip outwards and take the yoke threads with them.

If you do in fact have empty bolt holes with stripped threads in the transfer case yoke, you can either buy a new yoke for it, or you can try tapping it for slightly larger bolts, or even just use driveshaft u-bolts instead, like on the front driveshaft of a 4WD.

 

[Quintin51]

When I looked at the bolts there were a couple spots where rings of metal were still on the threads. Which lead me to believe it stripped something out so you're thinking I just need the yolk

 

[Anime]

Maybe it did, maybe it didn't, best way to check is try and thread a bolt back in there.

If the threads are gone then you can either get a new yoke and have it put in if you want things back like factory, or just use the U-bolts if you want a cheap and easy fix that'll hold up.

 

[Quintin51]

What size u bolts. And I'm a little stumped on how they work. Through the yoke into the t case?...

 

[Anime]

There's only one size of U-bolts that fit, for a 1310 series U-joint, that's what the driveshafts use. No idea if it'll be long enough to get through the yoke, though.

The U-bolts go through the yoke, with the round part holding the U-joint to the yoke, and the nuts going on the backside of the yoke and clamping it all together.

You can also use some Class 10.9/Grade 8 nuts and bolts and the two original straps to hold it together in the meantime.