Anyone used this drive shaft?

[joshua]

I plan on getting some driveshafts from WH,

But I’m unsure what the final suspension lift will be. Thus I don’t want to order the wrong shafts. But I’m very close to firing up the bronco. It would be very handy to have a shaft in there to be able to move it around, and maybe tootle around town until I figure out the lift.

Bronco has no top, no spare or seats. I bought the rear springs on here from a member. Supposedly they were 3.5 inch rear leaves. But I’m measuring something like 5 inches. So I may wind up changing the rear springs if things don’t level out.

I have the ax15 conversion. Using the guide on WHs I would order the stock length shaft as of RN the way the bronco sits. So I’m wondering if anyone has bought one of these and their result of purchasing.

Shaft​

1. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
   
   
3. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
   
   
4. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
   
   
5. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
   
   
6. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
   
   
7. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
   
   
8. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
9. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...f0-455e-82cf-f311f5de5257&pd_rd_i=B0FYPHVP3F#
   

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[DirtDonk]

You don’t have an original shaft laying around you could put in temporarily? Assuming it even fits?
Do you have shims under the rear springs to bring the pinion angle up?

Two things are needed in order to get correct measurements for a new driveshaft.
1. Is the Bronco sitting at the correct ride height.
2. Is making sure the rear pinion is at the correct angle.
Which you can’t know until it’s sitting at ride height.

So measure between the top of the axle tube and the bottom of the frame rail. If you want to end up with 3 1/2 inches you will want that to measure somewhere between 9 to 10 inches.
If needed, ratchet straps can be used to compress the suspension to that height.
Then you measure the angle of the pinion to make sure that it’s 1, or maybe 2° below the centerline of the imaginary driveshaft.
Taking into account, the double cardan at the upper end.
Doing it this way can get you pretty close to accurate. But I wouldn’t guesstimate until you can get the suspension compressed and confirm the rear end angle.

Otherwise, don’t be so anxious that you make a mistake and spend extra money. Get it all put together before you decide that you just have to drive it.
It’s like firing it up a fuel injection engine for the first time, without an exhaust system on it with O2 sensors. Lots of people have done it. Most of them regret it.

And yes, I know that you asked on the correct forum that probably has members that have your exact set up and can tell you which driveshaft they ordered.
If somebody here has that information and you get your answer, hopefully it’s correct for your particular Bronco.

 

[joshua]

You don’t have an original shaft laying around you could put in temporarily? Assuming it even fits?
Do you have shims under the rear springs to bring the pinion angle up?

Two things are needed in order to get correct measurements for a new driveshaft.
1. Is the Bronco sitting at the correct ride height.
2. Is making sure the rear pinion is at the correct angle.
Which you can’t know until it’s sitting at ride height.

So measure between the top of the axle tube and the bottom of the frame rail. If you want to end up with 3 1/2 inches you will want that to measure somewhere between 9 to 10 inches.
If needed, ratchet straps can be used to compress the suspension to that height.
Then you measure the angle of the pinion to make sure that it’s 1, or maybe 2° below the centerline of the imaginary driveshaft.
Taking into account, the double cardan at the upper end.
Doing it this way can get you pretty close to accurate. But I wouldn’t guesstimate until you can get the suspension compressed and confirm the rear end angle.

Otherwise, don’t be so anxious that you make a mistake and spend extra money. Get it all put together before you decide that you just have to drive it.
It’s like firing it up a fuel injection engine for the first time, without an exhaust system on it with O2 sensors. Lots of people have done it. Most of them regret it.

And yes, I know that you asked on the correct forum that probably has members that have your exact set up and can tell you which driveshaft they ordered.
If somebody here has that information and you get your answer, hopefully it’s correct for your particular Bronco.

I’m at 11 1/4 in the rear meaning 5 1/4 lift so far. That’s from the top of axle to the plate the bump stop screws into on the bottom of the frame. I have shims for a 3.5 lift on the rear axle.

I have duff coils in the front from the mid 2000s that have me sitting at about 4 inches of lift in the front. Which is supposed to be 3.5 inch coils. Hood is not on yet, so that will bring the front down some. But I will be shocked if the rear settles down almost 2 inches with the top, seats and fuel in it.

And I think I may have scraped the drive shafts, as the splines were terrible. But I’m not positive.

 

[DirtDonk]

It's not uncommon for the rear springs to sit high. Sometimes just at first, until they settle. Other times, pretty much permanently unless they get used hard on a semi-regular basis. Or carry a heavy Bronco over the rear.
Yours is already light, so I would not expect them to settle out.
But the win/win in this case is to keep your existing springs and remove some leaves.

I say that, but if you need the extra carrying capacity down the road (you certainly don't at this point) then you lose some of that with the leaves that you remove.
Is this a "thick" or "multi-leaf" (misnomer, but common name) pack with 9, or 10, or even more leaves in it? If so, the standard loss of height by removing leaves goes something like this:
1. Removing the first available upper leaf (usually the third from the top due to the double-wrapped eyes typical of this type of spring) will usually net you about 1.5" drop. Right up your alley it sounds like.
It also softens up the ride a bit. Both of which are usually desirable results.
2. Removing the lowermost leaves nets you at least their thickness, but many here have reported losing more like an inch when taking out the lower two leaves.
Also softens up the ride, according to reports, but probably not as much as getting rid of the upper leaf.
Then again, there is no empirical data that I remember being reported here, where the same person and the same Bronco, have experimented with the different leaves directly and close to the same timeframe.
Maybe it's out there, but I don't remember reading it.

So that's at least an option. It's entirely likely that you did in fact get a 3.5" pack. Are there part numbers visible?
Getting another supposedly 3.5" pack might end up with the same lift height as you have now. So my first inclination, especially since you bought these second hand, would be to start pulling leaves and see what you get.
Only downside is a little extra work. But you'd be doing part of that with new packs anyway.

Paul

 

[joshua]

It's not uncommon for the rear springs to sit high. Sometimes just at first, until they settle. Other times, pretty much permanently unless they get used hard on a semi-regular basis. Or carry a heavy Bronco over the rear.
Yours is already light, so I would not expect them to settle out.
But the win/win in this case is to keep your existing springs and remove some leaves.

I say that, but if you need the extra carrying capacity down the road (you certainly don't at this point) then you lose some of that with the leaves that you remove.
Is this a "thick" or "multi-leaf" (misnomer, but common name) pack with 9, or 10, or even more leaves in it? If so, the standard loss of height by removing leaves goes something like this:
1. Removing the first available upper leaf (usually the third from the top due to the double-wrapped eyes typical of this type of spring) will usually net you about 1.5" drop. Right up your alley it sounds like.
It also softens up the ride a bit. Both of which are usually desirable results.
2. Removing the lowermost leaves nets you at least their thickness, but many here have reported losing more like an inch when taking out the lower two leaves.
Also softens up the ride, according to reports, but probably not as much as getting rid of the upper leaf.
Then again, there is no empirical data that I remember being reported here, where the same person and the same Bronco, have experimented with the different leaves directly and close to the same timeframe.
Maybe it's out there, but I don't remember reading it.

So that's at least an option. It's entirely likely that you did in fact get a 3.5" pack. Are there part numbers visible?
Getting another supposedly 3.5" pack might end up with the same lift height as you have now. So my first inclination, especially since you bought these second hand, would be to start pulling leaves and see what you get.
Only downside is a little extra work. But you'd be doing part of that with new packs anyway.

Paul

They are definitely WH, they were painted over. I used acetone to try and remove the paint, all I could see was on both sides was .5 and WH. The definitely were not used. And I really bought them third hand. There’s a EB shop about 6 hours from me.

The guy I bought them from, buys left overs from them and resells the parts. The custom shop had painted them. I’m guessing the lift was too tall for the customer. They sold them to him giving him the wrong info.

Anyway I want to drive it to see if it settles enough. That’s the reason I’m looking for a cheap drive shaft. lol.

But you’re talking about this leaf I’m pointing at correct?

 

[DirtDonk]

Correct. First one that you can remove, without messing up the first two that wrap around the main eye.

You can always try the lowest two or three first, simply because they take the least amount of fiddling around. And then you can always put them back in if needed, with the least fiddling around.

Paul