Hmmm, I dunno, let's see. Uhhhh, golly, just a wild guess here... no u-joint clips?
For the rest of your life, I know something you will never again forget to do!!
Good you have a line on another shaft, should get it back on the road in the nick of time.

 

If you're still in need of a driveshaft, you can use mine until you get a new one Tim.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I now understand to be true the clips need to go in AFTER the U joint is in the straps? Having a hard time thinking that I would've put that U joint in the driveshaft without the clips, but I know I didn't put the clips in after it was connected to the rear end. Guess it's irrelevant at this stage. I just got off the phone with the gentleman in Ohio. He states that the replacement driveshaft is at his buddy's shop now and he was getting it packaged up. Heading straight to UPS after the kids get deposited at their learning institutions in the morning. If it indeed goes out tomorrow, it should be back in the Camaro by Thursday night, Friday at the latest. I pulled the yoke out of the tail shaft of the trans tonight and thankfully it looks just fine. All the splines are still where they're supposed to be. I don't know how this is possible, but the only other carnage I see underneath is a good sized paint chip in the fuel tank. Haven't inspected the control arms from where the tow truck hooks/chains were connected but I'm thinkin' I probably shouldn't worry too much about that if there's no other real damage underneath that thing. I'll take the bad with the good here for sure.



Neil, you're a great American sir. A massive amount of appreciation for the offer but, per my above comments, I think I'm gonna be alright with the replacement driveshaft this week. One thing I must say however, your offer troubles me a bit. An alternative to me borrowing yours - how about I (my qualifications are stellar, trust me) come and help you get it put back in yours?! Have you gotten everything relocated to your new place now? You know how to get ahold of me when you're ready to get at your Camaro again. Please don't hesitate if I could ever be of assistance.

 

Looking for another failure are we? lol Doing that would put all the stress on the strap bolts, and then we'd be doing this yet again.
Doesn't your yoke have snap ring grooves like shown in the link below? The snap rings go on the yoke caps first, and go face in, sandwiching inside the yoke.
Randy's Driveshaft Service - Inside Snap Ring Joints

 

I'm sure the yoke does have snap ring grooves, I just never knew they were there. The guy already got the replacement driveshaft shipped out, I'll have it Thursday. It's already got the U joints installed, the clips should already be on the caps. What I never knew about and obviously didn't do the first time around was make sure the clips were seated in those grooves. I haven't pulled them back out yet, but are there grooves in the straps also? 10-4 on the clips going face in, I understand that now, but honestly, I really didn't know that there were grooves in the yoke. A little forewarning, expect a verification/solidification post from me before the installation takes place! Much appreciation for the guidance!!

 

No grooves on the straps. The snap ring is a little more than half moon shaped, and is inset (groove cut into the taper) from where the strap rests on the yoke. Your car's driveshaft originally had the type of u-joints that had the molded nylon "keepers". The other setup that has external clips on the driveshaft, has the rearend yoke with a raised tab or ridge on the outside for the caps to sandwich in between.

 

I usually orient the clips to the yoke side, and occasionally the caps might need to be compressed a little to sit in the recesses on the yoke. If so, I clamp them with my vise grip C clamp pliers, and slide it in place. Then install the straps after removing the vise grips.

 

I remember the nylon keepers snaking out of the old U joints well. If I get a chance tomorrow I plan to get the straps removed, re-cleaned. inspected and ready for the replacement on Thursday. I hope the grooves aren't gouged or damaged from the rapid exiting of the driveshaft. Good tip for if the caps need to be compressed Vall, thanks for that. Think the 4" air filter element should be here by then also so I can get rid of the rinky dink filter that came with the shotgun scoop and might as well get that thing up for sale to recoup the funds for the replacement driveshaft! If I can manage an hour out in the garage tomorrow I'm going to get a few pics of everything for verification purposes as previously stated.

 

Yeah, hopefully the grooves will be ok. Having the spring clips on the strap side is not an option, unless you want troubles again. By the way, the driveshaft that's coming is an internal clip style?

 

The driveshaft is from another '78. It's not an original one but apparently it was a NOS piece that was obtained from a dealer that was bought out back in the day. In my haste suppose I never actually, specifically confirmed it was. He had different U joints installed (not the nylon keepers anymore) and we talked about the internal clips so I would have to say it is. That would be just my luck though...