Does drive shaft slip yoke direction matter?

somehow when I swapped u joints I installed the slip yoke at the REAR instead of at the carrier bearing. Does this really even matter ? Seems as though this direction has more clearance

 

The splines of the slip yoke will wear much faster with the driveshaft installed backwards like that, due to the up / down movement of the rear axle.

 

Odd that my first gen was at the rear and when I had a custom shaft built for another second gen it was installed At the rear. I’ll probbaly swap it around.

 

I just had this happen to me. 4 weeks ago I took my 07 Tacoma in for vibrations etc, and they charged me to replace the CB and center U Joint. A week ago it started to vibrate again and took it to the same mechanic and was told that I now need to replace my rear U Joint. I chose to just do it myself and found that my drive shaft was actually backwards. Once I flipped it around I also had to replace the CB and center U Joint that I recently paid to have replaced since both were damaged which was a huge surprise until I noticed all the dents from them banging the hell out of it. No more vibrations. Now of course the mechanic refuses to accept fault and won't reimburse any money for the cost out of my pocket.

 

agreed, slip yoke always on tranny side

 

Just curious how come first gens come from the factory at the rear axle of this is the case ?

 

My 99 taco 4x4 had slip yoke at the Carrier bearing
my 88 toy 4x4 had a slip near the double carden joint at the tranny

 

Is it a difference between one piece and two piece drive shafts ? All of my one piece shafts have always had the slip at the back end

 

All mine have been 2 piece

I had a custom shaft made on my long travel second gen and the shop installed the slip yoke at the axle as well.

 

On the 4runners the slip yolk is on the trans side. Seems like the best spot would be on the trans side to keep it away from road debris and what not.

 

Makes sense


On a trail yesterday my buddy was on and dented his driveshaft but since mine was backward I had a little more clearance than he did

 

fyi the 2 piece shafts are balanced with that rear shaft in the proper way... flipping it around will make the balance not proper.

Shouldnt make a difference slip JOINT on the front or rear of that rear piece.... FYI its not a slip yoke... those are found on the prerunners at the trans and are an actual yoke piece that slides on the spline shaft of the trans output.

 

Whoops my bad. Yeah I would think it would be out of balance but I have absolutely zero vibrations.

 

as long as they got the phasing right it should be close, if it was 180* out you would know haha.