hey guys just thought i would try here i have a 114 wd ranger and need a new rear driveshaft cant find them anywhere any solutions other than getting one custom made?

 

im guessing you still have the two piece set up? Most people usually upgrade to the one piece newer style you might look for a one piece from a 114inch wb truck and convert it over they are much easier to come by.

 

i have the drive shaft that has a slip yoke on the shaft it bolts up to the t case and bolts to the rearend is that a two piece?

 

If it has a carrier bearing in the middle its two pice if its a straight shot to reared its a one piece. Id have to check but i think the tcase and tranny never changed much till the truck went out of production you may be able to use one from a newer truck i know a lot of scrap yards may not carry anything for an 86 but I'm almost positive the aftermarket guys quit making them new after about 15 years that may be whats making it hard to find id take some measurements of the shaft and see if a local yard has one from a ranger the same length and if you have to you can just reuse your slip yoke if need be.

 

In all honesty, getting one made would be a cheaper route than buying a new one if you even find one. You could try salvage yards but I'm not positive which ones will be compatible (other models/years) with your truck

 

ya my driveshaft is a one year one piece driveshaft i can get one made for just under 400 bucks but that hurts haha

 

i paid $50 for my manual driveshaft from a yard when i did my 5 speed swap so even if you replaced your U joints you'd still probably come out cheaper finding a shaft and rebuilding than have a custom unit made. The only thing i can think of that may have changed is spline count which can be fixed by swapping over old slip yoke.

 

theres some here but shipping would suck.

 

I had the same problem on my '84 some years back. Finding the shaft at a salvage yard proved futile, no aftermarkets were available, and professional fabrication was very costly. I have little advice for you sorry but I do have a Ranger story.

I DON'T advise anyone doing this as its fairly dangerous, but this will give you an idea of the toughness of these trucks.

The 2.3l motor had near 400k and was rapidly declining, I was also planning on using alot of the parts for a project 85 I had bought. So I decided to run her on the front till she died. Problem was the stubborn ole mule ran another near 20k before I finally burned the tires off it (BF Goodrich A/T - rotated approx every 1-2k). Keep in mind I was just runnin around town, no highway use. light hill climbin around the local fishin holes. Motor was still clickin along!

I just couldn't kill that truck, thats when I became a Ranger man for life. I'm still astonished the stock tranny, transfer case, front shaft and suspension parts could stand up to that kind of punshment. Not to mention over 400k on that little engine that could.