Drive shaft blowout

[mattknight]

Well, I lifted my 98 GC LT'D and put 31" super swampers on it. Love the truck, but I took it out the day I lifted it for a test drive. Went to the hill climb here by my house, and fried my front driveshaft right off the bat. It has a cv joint of sorts right where it enters the back of the diff. needlessto say I am not too pleased with myself or the truck. It seems to me this is a flaw in design and I would like to replace it with a u-jointed assembly. It seems u-joints are just stronger. Does anyone know what it would intail to accomplish such a feat?? Is there a GC that I can use a u-jointed driveshaft from. If so is it a plug and play type of swap? Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys

[ByronP]

My 93 has a U-jointed front drive shaft. I'm not sure about interchangeability though. I haven't had a good look at the CV driveshaft set up. I'm tearing the front end apart this weekend, if I get any pics of the front driveshaft that turn out I'll post them.
ByronP

[JDPascal]

Hi Matt

First of all, how much did you lift the truck??

The lift will change the driveshaft angle and the length from the TC to the diff. Depending on the travel of the suspension at the time that could have contributed to the driveshaft failure.

need to check the angles and length factors further.

Also the larger tires would stress the drive train more than the stock configuration.

JD

[ByronP]

The lift question is a good point. I think you can lift 2-3 inches with the stock shaft but it does increase driveline angles(stress). But I've also heard that the CV shafts are weaker than the U-jointed. From what I could find the u-jointed shaft will work but you also need to swap the yoke out of the differential. The CV shaft is different than the u-jointed shaft at that end.
ByronP