Proud new owner of a 96 V8 XLT - Missing front driveshaft

[masospaghetti]

Vehicle has 148,000 miles on it. V8 AWD 5.0.

After purchase I noticed the front driveshaft missing. Does this place a lot of stress on the AWD unit?

 

[koda2000]

no, but if you park on a hill, PARK will not hold as the rear wheels only provide 65% of the holding power on the AWD system. research "creeps/drifts in park".

people remove the front drive shaft because there's something wrong with their transfer case. if you parking brake is in good working order, get in the habit of always using it and you should be fine. either that, or chock your wheels when you park.

 

[masospaghetti]

Is there a way to check the transfer case before buying another driveshaft?

 

[masospaghetti]

Also, how do I know what length of shaft to use? There are two, and one has a CV at the front axle, the other uses two u-joints.

 

[jremington59]

My local Ford guy, if that means anything, told me that if it doesn't creep with the shaft out then the transfer case is bad. So I guess you could park on a sloop and put blocks a few inches in front of the wheels and see if it creeps down to them.

 

[masospaghetti]

That makes sense, i'll try that. Thanks for the tip.

Any ideas about the two different driveshaft lengths?

 

[deweyville65]

I have seen this question raised a couple times. My question, why can't the distance between the u-joints centerlines be measured? As I do not have an AWD, I am asking just out of curiosity.

 

[jremington59]

If I recall you count the number of bolt holes that holds it onto the transfer case end. I think one has two more than the other. That's the difference. I believe yours will have 8 bolts.I had mine made by some guy in New Jersey and it's held up well for the last couple years. Hopefully they only took yours out because the cv end fell to pieces.