Les White
Less is more
2A Bourbon Hound 2024
2A Bourbon Hound OG
Charter Member
Life Member
Multi-Factor Enabled
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....
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....