Heres the storie my buddy bought a 2000xl reg cab 2.5 with a manual about 6 months before he went to iraq, He basically gave it to his dad to use while he is gone doing his thing in the army over in iraq. Well I stopped over the other night to give him my old bedcover and he was telling me how his driveshaft is rusting bad so I go under and take a look and man this thing is rusted real good, like how an exhuast system looks on say a 5yr or older car with orignal exhuast look. Hes worry its gunna break or something whats the deal here mine is a 98 and I have the aluminum one even though my truck is an ext cab. I thought all rangers had the aluminum driveshaft? Is it something he should worry about?

 

they all rust.. they come with no paint or anything.
if its not messing up then hes fine..
mine is the same way

 

Mines a 98 and I have no rust on it. I have the aluminum one though Im not sure if the reg cabs get aluminum ones also?

 

check out this thread.
https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ust+driveshaft

 

My rear drive shaft is aluminum but my front drive shaft (for 4x4) is all rusted (looks like surface rust). Why would Ford gove me one Aluminum one and one steel shaft? Is this normal??

 

that explains alot

 

unfortunatly yes. my front is a steelie and the rear is aluminum. kinda sh!tty on fords part but what am i gonna do.

 

yeah that is what I was thinking. What the heck are they thinking , giving me one steel and one aluminum, that is just half assed!

 

I think the aluminum was put on due to weight/length for supercabs.

 

listen... the rear alum driveshaft was used because for a while the steel rear driveshafts where having balancing issues, the alum is better at that. there is no such thing as an alum front driveshaft, just steel. all automakers dont paint there drive shafts there so thick anyways you will not have a problem of failer of the driveshaft now yes your U-joints do fail but thats a whole nother story...

 

In recent years, every Ranger steel rear driveshaft that I have seen has been on a manual transmission truck. I don't know the reason for that but I'm sure there is one. The steel shafts are fully interchangeable with the aluminum shafts (for the same drive and wheelbase) and Ford was supplying aluminum as warranty replacements for awhile for the slip yoke bump issue, even on manuals. It takes many, many years for rust to affect a driveshaft - don't worry about it.

 

Steel is stronger than automatic. The reasoning between the manual transmission with the steel combination is just to ensure that you don't break a driveshaft doing something stupid like dumping the clutch at a high rpm, putting a load on it.

Its tough to put a load on the driveshaft with a stock motor and an automatic trans, so they opted for the aluminum for better efficiency (lighter rotating mass).

 

You mean aluminum right? lol

 

An aluminum driveshaft is quite a bit more expensive and it is usually specified to control driveshaft whip at high vehicle speeds. Pound for pound, aluminum alloy can be every bit as strong as steel. For the same weight and diameter, the walls can be made 3 times as thick and that means more rigidity. If Ford spent the money on an aluminum shaft, it is for a reason, probably high speed driveshaft vibration.

I don't know the exact reason why they are found most often on the autos but it probably has to do with preventing damage to the transmission. Ford had a recall on 4WD Aerostars (close cousin to the Ranger powertrain) that were breaking transmissions and transfer cases due to high speed driveshaft vibration. The repair was a new transfer case rear output shaft bearing and an aluminum driveshaft in place of the steelie.

http://www.internetautoguide.com/aut...gon/index.html

 

my truck has an aluminum drive shaft and its a manual..