I have a 1949 Chevy Deluxe with a toque tube setup. I want to put a T-5 in it and change the rear end. My question is, can I use the driveshaft in the toque tube (with new u-joints & cut down) with out the toque tube or do I need to get another driveshaft ? TNX Paul
It would be a whole lot of work to build an open driveshaft from the shaft from a closed tube setup. There is no u-joint at the axle end. You will need another drive shaft.
I think you’re going to need to get a new driveshaft. Torque tubes operate on totally different principals.
The answer is NO that won't work. You will need a yoke that fits the T 5 and a rear U joint that fits the rear axle of choice. There is no free lunch with this as you will probably have to have a driveshaft made. in this case I am not going to suggest anything else unless you have a buddy who is real good at knowing what vehicles have possible decent candidates who is real good with a tape measure. What Gimpy or I might do doesn't count here.
S-10 T5 or other T 5? This looking up stuff to give suggestions thing has not worked for me tonight. Best advice I can give is if the driveshaft is there when you get or pull the transmisison get the slip yoke that goes in the trans or just get the driveshaft. if the rear axle comes out of the same donor get the driveshaft even if there is no way it will work because it will have the right ends for someone to make a new driveshaft with or use for show and tell as to what exactly you do need. Around here, driveshaft shops have joined radiator shops in the "where the hell did they go" thing. I live in an area where there is a high concentration of serious 4x4 guys who build some wild machines and a lot of hot rodders but as far as I know we only have one shop doing drive shafts and they are out on a dirt road tank trail 14 miles west of me. They know you are coming because they can hear your rig rattle the last quarter mile to the shop.
@Batman IV, If your location were in your profile, I'd know whether the following is good information or a waste of my time. 1. If you haven't yet bought the T-5 and you're going to get it at a boneyard do yourself a GREAT BIG favor and get the yoke and driveshaft that came out of the same vehicle. And if the rear end is anywhere close to the width you need get it also. The two yokes will match up that way. 2. If the driveshaft above is too long any good shop can shorten it. If it's too short most of those same shops can install the u-joint yokes onto a new longer tube as well as supplying that tube. 3. Inland Truck Parts and Service can do this work for you. They have locations in most of the south central, central, and north central states. There is one in Columbia so that was very handy for me. These locations are listed in their website. I thought that I had a vibration in Clarence's driveshaft last year and they checked it, trued it, rebalanced it, cleaned it up, installed two new u-joints, and painted it. Turns out that the driveshaft wasn't the vibration problem after all. That said I spent what to me was a considerable chunk of change to have that done, but I KNOW that the driveshaft is good to go, probably for the rest of my life and many years thereafter barring damage. And that chunk of change is a relative pittance when you consider what these hot rods cost to build and maintain. 4. Now let me tell you a short story. In 1991 I changed out the original flathead V-8 drivetrain and installed a 283 (out of a 1966 Impala that my grandmother bought new) and powerglide, along with an 8" Ford rear out of who knows what. After getting the engine/trans in place and the rear tacked in we VERY CAREFULLY measured the distance from the trans to the rearend. Center to center or edge to same edge of the two yokes. I don't remember what that measurement was but knew that if we could get within 1/8" of that measurement that what we found would work. My friend Ed (RIP) and I went to a local salvage yard owned by a mutual friend and asked him about driveshafts. Bill (RIP) told us to go to that white van down yonder and look through his inventory of driveshafts. Lo and behold, that full sized van was loaded nearly to the roof with driveshafts. One at a time we took every one of them out and measured the length if it used the correct u-joints. Back then about 98% of driveshafts out of made in the USA cars took one of two size u-joints. I don't recall Bill having anything furrin in his yard. The PG yoke and 8" yoke took the same u-joint so our problem wasn't as hard as it might otherwise have been. Note that to get the trans yoke in the proper location before measuring we slid the yoke into the tail shaft until the yoke rust marks looked like they were in the proper location relative to the tail shaft seal. fwiw; that PG and yoke were both from the same '66 Impala and had always been together in the same car. Out of all of those driveshafts we found two that were within 1/16" of what we needed. I chose the better looking one and that's been in Clarence for 34 years now. Until Inland cleaned and painted it there was the typical yellow paint pen marking on it that said "1957 Ford." Had I been a little bit sharper on the vibration issue it would still be in there in the same condition it was in when I bought it. b-t-w; in 1991 I paid $10 for it. I guess that it would be a tad more spendy today. It's a slam dunk that you're not going to get by with $10 and the cost of two new u-joints but having a new one made with all new components is going to be way more costly. I don't know if any of this helps, but there it is.
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