78 blazer with dana 44 front, 12 bolt rear, np203 and auto, 6 inch lift.

So the front driveline has a double cardian setup and the Cardian center ball bushing between the two u-joints is messed up. (A) Are these easy to change or should I just take it in to a driveline shop. (B) Should I have a custom driveshaft made. (C) Or is there a driveline I can swap strait in, and can you run a regular two joint setup instead of the double cardian style.
Thanks for the imput.

i just made a simple front driveshaft to get rid of the cv with two regular u joints. i grinded some metal from the yokes and it has a higher angle than the stock cv im sure it will make a racket at high speed. im not sure you can have a front shaft without a cv that runs without vibes because they are so short but if you arent worried about that i would just build a simple two u joint style shaft

Did you have any trouble with the axle hiting the transmision crossmember brace.

If you were to press the c.v. apart you would find that that centering ball is part of the welded yolk on the drive shaft. To replace it it must be cut off and welded back on. If you fixed that I don't know where your rub point is. I am running about 11" suspension lift on a stock front drive line. I had to space the transfer case mount down about an inch to keep the c.v. from rubbing at full droop. I need to extend the drive line to keep it from seperating but will not do that until I have the 60 in.

If you were to press the c.v. apart you would find that that centering ball is part of the welded yolk on the drive shaft. To replace it it must be cut off and welded back on.

The above part that I highlighted in red is completely wrong.

First off, the CV comes apart just like any other u joint. Only there are two individual joints instead of one.

Second, the ball itself is PRESSED ON, not welded on. Any auto parts store carries a rebuild kit including the socket, the ball, new springs and seals. Its not expensive and can be done in about an hour.

No cutting and welding required.

I'd take it to a driveline shop, just because it's a pain in the ass to deal with, and I have lots of driveline shops nearby. :D

Depends on the money you want to spend & how handy you are.

How hard do you wheel it?
If you beat it to crap (ie chances it will break during the next year or two), I'd go cheapest route possible.

If this is a DD or sees a lot of high speed 4wd action (ie snow highway stuff), then take it to DL shop.

I had to go custom front & rear shafts on my Scout.
I spent almost $300 on a fairly stock CV rear shaft.
It has held up well, but it has some dings & dents (lost some weight balances), etc. etc.

I couldn't justify spending that kind of money on the front (I'm too cheap/didn't have it either).
I made a square shaft out of two chunks of box tubing (3/16" thick :eek:).
Welded to JY yokes on each end & presto, I got a 12" travel DS for super cheap.
Down side is I can't travel over 20mph in 4wd.

I did have binding issues on the TC output at full droop, so I bought a Tom Woods U-Joint. (http://www.4xshaft.com/index.html)

Yea I do most my own work, I'd just never messed with one like this before, plus I wanted something that was fairly easy to work with on the trail. Thanks for the info, I'll check out the driveline shop and see what it cost, and if thats to much I'll just do it myself.