Is the Rangers front driveshaft a bad design?
#1
Is the Rangers front driveshaft a bad design?
Hi all,
Just the other day my cardev joint in my 03 Ranger stripped apart again. When i First bought the truck the previous owner had the front driveshaft out because he said the joint was gone and making a lot of noise. I replaced the joint last year with a new one from Dorman i think it was. Recently the other day, my driveshaft was making all kinds of noise, so I pulled it out when i got home. I seen that the cardev joint stripped internally. Literally the Bulb style joint was able to spin on its own.
Aside from that, on my second ranger ( that I use for plowing snow in the yard) had the same type of driveshaft give me trouble over the winter. I had to take it apart , clean it all up and regrease it.
Are these joints bad designs, or is it just my luck>?
Is there an upgrade for this?
Thanks
Just the other day my cardev joint in my 03 Ranger stripped apart again. When i First bought the truck the previous owner had the front driveshaft out because he said the joint was gone and making a lot of noise. I replaced the joint last year with a new one from Dorman i think it was. Recently the other day, my driveshaft was making all kinds of noise, so I pulled it out when i got home. I seen that the cardev joint stripped internally. Literally the Bulb style joint was able to spin on its own.
Aside from that, on my second ranger ( that I use for plowing snow in the yard) had the same type of driveshaft give me trouble over the winter. I had to take it apart , clean it all up and regrease it.
Are these joints bad designs, or is it just my luck>?
Is there an upgrade for this?
Thanks
#2
The factory 98+ front shaft is a medium duty design and usually works OK on a stock truck in normal use. Superlift offers a heavy duty alternative but it costs around $500 or so. The SL driveshaft is designed for use with their suspension lift kit - if you want to use it on yours, I would recommend calling them first to check if it is a good match for a Ranger without their lift kit.
A lift driveshaft may be made intentionally longer and could possibly be too long. Again, I don't know this to be a fact. Just something to consider. Superlift should be able to give you an answer.
A lift driveshaft may be made intentionally longer and could possibly be too long. Again, I don't know this to be a fact. Just something to consider. Superlift should be able to give you an answer.
#3
Thanks , I appreciate the reply. I’ll look into what you mentioned but that’s a price to pay for a driveshaft. My main truck is my daily driver it’s a level 2. Has 33’s in it and a 3 inch bodylift. So the angles should all be pretty much stock. I only use it on the roads mainly. Not into wheeling much since it’s my dd. My plow stuck is stock and only pushes light snow around the yard.
#4
Look up Tom woods driveshafts. They can make you a custom HD driveshaft for alot less than 500. I had a long travel high angle shaft made for my ramcharger from them for around 300 and that was a beast of a driveshaft. I'd imagine they could do a ranger shaft for less. All you need is some simple measurements for them to give you a quote.
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