I just bought a '68 Chevelle SS w/ a TH400...

The guy I got it from had a '70 Ford Maverick driveshaft on the car. It is only about 55 1/2" long. The replacement I got from the boneyard is the correct 57" length, but did not come out of a TH400 car. Is this shaft adaptable w/ offset u-joints. The shaft will not accept the correct u-joints for the TH400 model - the caps are too large. I got the correct u-joints for the shaft, but the u-joint has about a 1/2" of slop in the rear end receiver. Also, I think I need an offset version for the yoke end. Has anyone else run into this or does anyone have any suggestions??? Should I just track down the correct shaft and forget it?

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Some people have psychiatrists...I have a '68 Chevelle!

Dude, I would go get the correct driveshaft made (I had one done for $130, but I already had the ends). But if you are on a budget and you think the shaft you have is not out of round or otherwise dorked up, go to a machine shop and have the correct ends welded on to the shaft you have. This is fairly cheap and will save you problems down the road. -Lee

68chevelle396ss:
Welcome to Team Chevelle!!

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Ron Cook TC Gold #1276 ___ ACES #5136
1969 300 Deluxe HTSS396 (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/bow_tied4.jpg) The L35-325HP 396cid (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/bow_tied3.jpg) 69 Memory Lane (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/bow_tied.jpg) 1971 Malibu 2DR HT (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/bow_tied_71Malibu.jpg)
CanAm Chevelle Club (http://www.canamchevelles.com) _____________"Take my advice, I'm not using it."

Talk to your local autoparts guy before you go buying another shaft. It seems like there were some u-joints used that had two different size caps. I think the yokes were larger than the shaft. I could be wrong, but it's worth a shot to keep the shaft you've got...

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thanks...
james...

I can get u-joints with offset cap sizes...but the problem is - the u-joint needs to be longer across the length in one direction.

Hard to explain - in the plus sign configuration of the u-joint, one direction needs to be longer than the other direction...does that make sense? I'm still working on it!

That joint should be pretty easy to find. A driveline shop should be able to provide it. If memory is correct (not often) that joint was originally used in an early 50's Lincoln or Merc.