just built a 350 with a th400. installed it in a 86 camaro with 305. 700r, lots of fun. im looking for a cost effective drive shaft. original is 3" to short. th400 has bolt on yoke. looks like i need a shaft 44.5 ". are there any cars out there i can scavage one from or should i get a longer one and have it shortened. also will i have any problems with a yoke to yoke bolt up. thanks any ideas will be appriciated.

 

Almost certainly nothing stock you could use. With a bolt-on yoke you'll need to get a custom a 2 piece driveshaft made, or you'll need to change it to a slip yoke to use a 1 piece shaft.

 

Un bolt your yoke on the 400 and use a stock slip type yoke or you will have a bind problem

 

thanks was leaning towards a 2 piece from a 4 wd truck and having it cut to length and ballanced. seems like the most cost effective way.

 

You won't find any cars with a 2 piece driveshaft nor will you find anything other than a third gen that's the proper length. If you try to have a truck 2 piece driveshaft cut down to length then rebalanced, it would be better to just have a new one made.

Find or buy a TH400 slip yoke and use a third gen driveshaft that's close to the proper length. Better yet, have a custom driveshaft built that either uses 1330 or 1350 series u-joints. You should also use the same series yokes on the tranny and diff but adaptor u-joints are available.

Factory driveshafts are not as strong as they could be. Get one made from 3" x .083 steel with yokes for whatever series u-joint you want to use.

 

I done the th-400 swap in mine. I used a short shaft th-400 and slip yoke from a 74 vette.

The vette yokes are diff than most. It's still a slip yoke, but where the U joints fit is more like the rear end pinion yoke, than a norm slip yoke. It has U joint straps, and 4 bolts.

As far as a driveshaft. I used one from an 82 or 83 camaro that had the th-200 (or was it th-250) auto 3 speed trans. It was the right lenght for mine

I did have to get a bastard joint for the front though. The driveshaft had smaller U joints plus held in with plastic (reinstall with inside clips) and the slip yoke had bigger joints and needed the outside type clip. I found the right U joint for this at auto zone in thier brute force solid body line for around $20

 

Fourth gen V6 f-bodies in some instances had 2 piece driveshafts. Their carrier bearing is bolted to the tq. arm (that's why their tq. arms have the welded on threaded nuts in the centre.)

I would get a Th400 slip yoke driveshaft and have it retubed with 1 length of new tubing to be the proper length just like Stephen said. Can't go wrong with Spicer 1350 joints.

 

Slide the slip yoke all the way into the tranny. Pull it back out 1". Measure from the center of the u-joint on the slip yoke to the center of the u-joint on the diff yoke. That's the proper length driveshaft you need.

 

Is the brute force you mention a brand name?

 

Brute Force is a line of heavy-duty U-joints made by Neapco.

 

thanks for all the info.just started motor after 4 months of building . man what a rush, especially with open headers. the only thing left is drive shaft ! need a little more clarification on 400 yoke. mine has a center bolt but when i pulled it off it looked any other slip yoke. can any body edubicate me ? i think i will go with custom made shaft once i get length with conversion u joint up front.( th400 is a rebuilt 1973 from 1 ton truck.)

 

We had on in the shop and used a 200R4 length driveshaft with a normal turbo 400 slip yoke ... is it a short tailshaft trans????

 

tony, yes it is a short shaft 400. would you know what year car i should look for for that drive shaft ? my shaft from 86 305 w/ 700 was about 3" short. could you explain the difference in yokes on the 400s or any links im still a little confused.

 

im going nuts ! im looking at part web sites and there slip yokes look exactly like what i have but they have a plate welded on the u joint end where i have a bolt hole ? whats the darn difference ?

 

Get a yoke from something like a 70 Chevelle with a t400 ..
what you have is for a 4wheel drive 2 piece driveshaft

Call a trans shop or a 4 wheel drive and they will help you out .. i think the yoke is around 80 bucks.. you might need a different U joint also

 

thanks tony. your correct had 2 piece drive shaft. going to hit junk yard this weekend and look for slip yoke and drive shaft. i have a good shop here that can mod up the correct size. low on funds and did not want to have a custom one made from scratch.

 

The majority of the trucks that had TH400's also had 2 driveshafts. That's why the yoke is bolted to the output shaft. The front driveshaft was solid and held up by a center bearing. The rear driveshaft was a 2 piece.

This is what you want but it's only for a 1310 series u-joint which is all you're going to find in the junkyard anyway. Spend a little more and get everything in 1350 series.
http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...8&autoview=sku