Well, had something happen yesterday that I thought never would. I broke my driveshaft completely in half. It broke about 1' back from where the yoke comes out of the tranny. I am calling it operator error, but, I think that it has to be pretty weak to break. I was coming off of a gravel road onto the asphault, in a hurry, so I give it a little throttle, and my back tires started to spin. I immediately let go of the throttle, but I guess they must have been spinning slightly when the back wheels hit the pavement, cause all I heard was the clunk, followed be the hammerring as the shaft continued to spin till I shut the engine off. No black marks, no nothing. Just a broken shaft. Went to a wrecker, they had one, but it had a dent in it, so they gave it to me so I could get the truck home, and they are shipping a new one to me in a day or so. Hopefully it gets here before the weekend as I want to go camping. I am not sure if maybe by pulling the camper all summer I overstressed the driveshaft? Maybe it had a dent in it? not sure. I am thinking about getting one made for the truck out of steel so this will never happen again. I still can't believe it broke that easily. Has anyone else broke one? Is this common?

Isn't the stock one made out of steel also?

Most likely the shock load of the tires getting traction on the pavement broke it. Do you have any pics?
Some are made of aluminum, some steel, some carbon fiber wrapped, like in my Burban.

Most likely the shock load of the tires getting traction on the pavement broke it. Do you have any pics?
Some are made of aluminum, some steel, some carbon fiber wrapped, like in my Burban.

Your driveshaft is wrapped in Carbon Fiber?

Yeah, I guess it's the shock load, although I find it hard to believe that I am the only one who has ever done that. I probably should have stayed on the throttle and put a patch across the street.

This one was aluminum, the one on there now that has a small dent in it is aluminum with a carbon fibre wrap. I hope the one coming is steel, but I dobt it. I was going to do some stress calcs on the drive shaft when I get home tonight just to see exactly how much it takes at that point to break. I took pics, and I'll put them up tonight when I get home....

Your driveshaft is wrapped in Carbon Fiber?

Yes, those were used on quite a few trucks. It's really nothing impressive, though.:)

I feel left out. When I changed my u-joints it was out of a plain jane steel tube driveshaft.

Heck, I'll give you a great deal on a slightly modified aluminum one lol:lol: :badidea:

Think of the driveshaft as a big 'fuse'. If it doesn't break/twist...what will? U-joint? That would be the best scenario.
Axleshaft? Bad news if it's a s/f since you could lose a wheel.
Pinion? Really ugly.

Good friend of mine twisted his front d/s on his TLC. His father in law has a well drilling company and they replaced the tube w/ well casing... next he'll break a pinion or a halfshaft... I told him to put cheap locking hubs up front!

I've snapped a s/f rear axleshaft and lost the wheel...If I'd lost a driveshaft I could have driven on the front axle.

Driveshaft is really an easy fix. Especially if it's steel. It's one of the more convienent inconvieniencies.:)

Chaser

Driveshaft is really an easy fix. Especially if it's steel. It's one of the more convienent inconvieniencies.:)

Chaser

It certainly is a nice easy inconvienience. It does show also that this truck was basically designed for driving, not working. Guess I really need to get a 3/4 ton. I still think that it shouldn't have broke so easily, and I'll stick to that, but I guess they aren't made for spinning wheels.......

I recall when I 1st joined up over at the Page in 2000 there were several guys reporting in failed aluminum drive shafts, mostly guys up North IIRC subject to road salts, corrosion was part of the problem from inside where the weep hole was plugged up, I thought it might be worth a recall investigation, but never heard any more about it, other than the few that reported the problem.

I don't know if corrosion is a factor or isolated to a run of drive shafts, if you know someone with metalurgical test capability it might be worth having them look at it for you, or it may be a over power issue.

Guy I used to work for has a 2005 Chevy 2500HD 8.1 gas Allison trans and that has a big alluminum shaft.

They can also cause a lot of damage if you're moving...my dad had one break and rip out the back seat of an old car back in the day, along with breaking the tailshaft off of the transmission.

I did something similar in my Ramcharger...tires slipped in sand, and when they grabbed the asphault, I broke the front u-joint. The shock of the driveshaft driving head first into the road rammed it through the yoke on the rear end.

I down shifted fairly hard coming to a stop sign on pavement hot rodding a lifted truck once and the leaf springs wrapping up pivoted the rearend (it had 4" blocks so there was considerable leavage vs stock) and pulled the slip joint apart. It was ok just had to put it back together. Look for any corrosion on your yoke in the back of the transfercase. It could have be stuck. The transfercase is suppose to lube it. Might have broke free with end hammer beating underneath truck. So keep in mind there can be some tensile/compression forces in addition to torsional. I'd bet money it was defective if it broke clean. Odd though I would think it would twist if it was torsional failure.

I have heard wheel hop slip/catch in big trucks can break u joints or twist driveshaft and of course lifted trucks snap them easily too. First I have heard of 6.5 failures. I think the epoxy carbon fiber is just dent protection and noise harmonic dampening. I have a aluminum covered one on my truck. Probably plenty strong in torsion only no dents etc. And helps with fuel milage.