I had custom front and rear driveshafts made for my truck at Driveshaft Specialists in San Antonio. The rear is a 5" aluminum custom with 4180 Spicer 3-ton u-joints and the front is a custom steel with their integral sliding joint they use on the front driveshafts for the dodge trucks. I don't remember which Spicer u-joints they used in the front driveshaft though they are bigger than stock. Price for both around 1400 and I traded in the old shafts for the labor to install the new units. The new rear driveshaft totally eliminated all driveline vibration and the SpynTec hubs stopped the rotating mass in the front end when 4wd not needed. All are darned good improvements for eliminating vibrations and drivetrain reliability.

 

Had to take a few things into consideration here. My truck is bone stock and doesn't' spend a ton of off road. After going big with 1 pc rear DS money was tite. Ended up going with this.

http://www.automotivepartsunlimited....riveshaft.html

Was best price I had run across (no core prices) and it is an upgrade to the stock pc with bigger greasable ujoints. Cam in last night and looks good. Need to get some bolts to replace the Star headed ones and I'll bolt it up. Will post pics if anyone is interested in what a stock reman DS looks like.

 

One more question. I want to replace the Torx head bolts on this drive shaft. I know there is a full thread bolt offered but I had a feeling that the stock ones had a shoulder (unthreaded section) for a reason. My understanding is these stock bolts are M8x1.25x33. What do you all think of these
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/arp-661-1004 They aren't a bank bust, are stronger than 10.9 (grade8) and resist rust. They are only 2mm longer and I've seen elsewhere people using 40mm. Unless the shoulder bottoms out I think these should work. These come with washers so I might be able to use those if I have bottom out issue.

I almost feel like I've done some good research on this one, which usually is the first sign Ive screwed up or missing something.

 

Those bolts look like they will be just fine!

 

Bolts came in yesterday. need to get under truck looks like the shoulder area comes up into the 'teeethed' part of the flanged. The DS isnt' cut for threads but I cant remember if the pumpkin side is or not. if not this is a good option (IMHO) for this application.

 

quad4x4 has some on there website---just scroll down further on the front driveshaft page.