driveshaft swap

[gol10dr]

I recently bought a 1 piece Ds off of an LT1. I need to know how hard is it to swap the stock 2 piece to the one piece. I've done the search, nothing came up. I've looked in the Haynes manual and it seems to be fairly easy, but I want to make sure. Are there any problems or tricks to make the job easier.

[John_D.]

Driveshaft swap is pretty easy.

Be ready to catch the trans fluid in some sort of pan. It is going to run out of the back of the transmission for a bit, before you can lay down the old driveshaft and get the new driveshaft back in there. Have the new one close by. It won't leak much. If the back of the car is higher than the front, it will leak even less.

[JML97-3.8]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> It is going to run out of the back of the transmission for a bit <hr></blockquote>

I jacked mine up really high and not a drop came out,
Here is what you do, Jack the car up (rear) crawl under there and take the 4 bolts that hold the rear U-joint in.(you might need to put it in neutral to spin the driveshaft where you can get to all 4 bolts.) then there are 2 bolts that hold the center in take those out one you can see the other is directly on top and youll have to feel for it but its there. then pull the driveshaft out sliding the yoke back. get new driveshaft and reverse process, I had never done a driveshaft and it took me about half an hour very easy... Oh yeah take your cross brace off first...

[gol10dr]

Did you notice much of a gain when you did this. I've heard all sorts of answers on this.

[JML97-3.8]

I could tell a noticable diff.

[Takumi Fujiwara]

as did I

[Go4broke]

yeah it was eazy to install I gained 3hp 4 lbs of torque, and realy bad wheel hop. you could get better # than that my car because I have some kind of problem with.

[1998silverbird]

Its easy to install.. Do you have a aluminum one or a 1 piece steel?? I noticed the difference from like 3000 rpm and greater.. It felt like it spun up quicker..

[Bliggida]

Fight double-posts, with...double-post-answers!

It bolts right up, no parts needed. You will however not use a bolt (or two) that attached the carrier bearing to the Torque arm for your original 2-piece driveshaft. I've had a 1 piece in my car for about 5,000 + miles now with no problems.

The hardest part is getting to the upper bolt on the torque arm to carrier bearing bracket. The two piece comes out in about 10 minutes, the new one goes into place in about 2 minutes.

Be careful when the two piece comes out, the two sections make it awkward and it's heavy - 25.5 pounds. Enjoy some extra tire spin as the one piece significantley reduces the parasitic loss in your drivetrain. You'll ditch about 9 pounds off the rotating mass going to 1-piece steel, 12 pounds if you use a 1LE aluminum shaft, and near 13 pounds going with an LS1 aluminum driveshaft. They'll all bolt right up, no fitment problems.

If you put the rear of the car on ramps you won't leak any fluid.

[JML97-3.8]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> If you put the rear of the car on ramps you won't leak any fluid. <hr></blockquote>

I think if you use ramps u cant get the ds to spin in nuetral so you can get to all the bolts easy.. atleast I tried first on ramps and it wouldnt.

[gol10dr]

Well I installed the 1 piece steel DS in about an hour last night,including a test drive. I did notice it pulled you into your seat a little more but other than that, there is no noticiable difference. That was one of the easiest mods I could have done, and for 50 bucks.. can't beat it..


Thanks guys