The $576 Driveshaft

[Les White]

Front driveshaft out of my F350. The one that came out needed all three u-joints. It's got a double Cardan joint on the transfer case end, two u-joints and a internal alignment ball/socket deal.



As I started pulling the u-joints out I found the internal ball/socket was damaged beyond repair so I packed it up and took it to Olivers in WS. Business is good, it took them two weeks to tell me they couldn't fix it. Said it wasn't repairable, that they'd have to order a new double Cardan, cut the old one off, weld the new one on, then replace the u-joints, then balance it, and that just wasn't cost effective; it'd end up being close to $600. So they priced a new one for me. $880. The girl who called me and I both said "damn, that's expensive" at the same time. After doing some quick math in her head she decided that repairing mine was suddenly cost effective and she could have it done in 3 days. She said that new shafts from their vendor usually run $300-$500 for most applications, wasn't sure why this one was nearly a grand.

I priced new shafts at Napa, they listed three for the truck with varying lengths, all around $500. But that was a crap shoot because if I got the wrong length I'm out $500 and the three week lead time to order.

$576 later....

 

[Beef15]

Just had a rear done in a F450, bout $500 if memory serves, wanna say the u-joints were right at or maybe over $100 a piece x3, carrier bearing slip joint boot some freight, not much labor. Parts keep jumping.

 

[rdinatal]

Had the same type of CV joint on the front shaft of my 77 F150. Not lubed right from the factory. Lasted 14k miles, just enough to outlast the warranty.

New cross joints and the separate alignment joint. At least then all could be acquired and replaced.

 

[Gator]

A little off topic ( but that's what we do here ). There's an ex NASCAR driver who lives in Catawba County who took his truck through an automatic car wash with a ratchet strap in the bed.

Somehow during the washing process it blew the long end out of the bed and it dropped down between the bed and the cab. He didn't realize this had happened and when he got on the highway the strap got wrapped around the driveshaft, whipped the end with the ratchet on it to where it broke the back window, beat up the cab and bed and caused enough damage to the driveshat it had to be replaced. Total repair bill was a little over $4K.

.

 

[DCGallim]

A little off topic ( but that's what we do here ). There's an ex NASCAR driver who lives in Catawba County who took his truck through an automatic car wash with a ratchet strap in the bed.

Somehow during the washing process it blew the long end out of the bed and it dropped down between the bed and the cab. He didn't realize this had happened and when he got on the highway the strap got wrapped around the driveshaft, whipped the end with the ratchet on it to where it broke the back window, beat up the cab and bed and caused enough damage to the driveshat it had to be replaced. Total repair bill was a little over $4K.

.

I’ve seen trucks run over mattresses in landfills and they will rip every air and electrical line from under the truck. I’ve laid in the landfill and cut crap out of u joints more than once.