79D604SPD
02-07-2004, 02:29 PM
Have a 79 K20 with swapped in SM465 4-speed/NP205. I have a question regarding rear driveshaft spline play. My rear driveshaft is a 2-piece one with a coarse number of splines(maybe 15-20 splines). It has "Spicer" stamped next to the middle u-joint. This driveshaft has the typical Chevy driveshaft spline play but I noticed something I had never seen before on a driveshaft. When I removed the driveshaft and slid the slip yoke apart I noticed pieces of broken or torn blue plastic on the male splines. The pieces of the plastic looked like they used to connect to each other. I have another similar shorter rear driveshaft that I slid apart with much less play and the blue plastic was in one piece. It appeared to be a sleeve or cap, (or maybe a shim?) that slides over the male end of the splines to compensate for, or prolong wear; or maybe to dampen noise when the truck is put into gear. This blue sleeve is about 4-5 inches long. What is this piece for and where could I get another one? It seems like a new one might take a lot of spline play out of my rear driveshaft. The other shorter driveshaft has little play in it because the sleeve is still intact. And packing the splines with grease only goes so far and lasts for so long. And I can't afford a High Angle Drivelines custom driveshaft right now. :) Thanks for any help.