Well, if you’re reading this post you either have, or are experiencing a problem with, a two piece driveshaft on your Camaro. I’ve gone down this road once or twice before, and I wanted to pass along what I learned so that you may make a better decision.

The first time that I messed with my driveshaft it was a preventative measure. I knew that the hanger bearing was wearing out, and I wanted to change it before something drastic happened. So I went down to my local auto parts store and purchased the front u-joint (where it comes out of the transmission) and the rear u-joint (back by the differential). They showed no listing on the hanger bearing. So I tried quite a few more auto parts stores with the same luck. The local dealer could get me a new one, at a price of about $800-$900. Don’t think so. So I took it to my local clutch and u-joint repair facility, and he was able to put a new hanger bearing on for about $150. So all totaled I spent about $200 for everything, including gas.

(What I didn’t realize at the time is that on the second half of the driveshaft at the base of the splined “knuckle” is supposed to be a CV type boot to help keep the grease in and the dirt out. This is part of the reason why the shaft failed for the second time.)

Ok, so I put the driveshaft in as one piece. I had a hell of a time getting the top bolt for the hanger bearing tightened down, but I thought I had done a decent job.

Fast forward to Friday night about two weeks ago. The hanger bearing was making noise again. I was driving with my wife to my in-laws for a long weekend. And out in the middle of nowhere the driveshaft falls out of the car. Thankfully I was stopped when it happened.

So I get it towed to my in-laws since I was most of the way there and my father-in-law is a diesel mechanic. I thought he might be able to lend some advice as well as help. Upon examining the broken pieces it looks like the top bolt worked its way out, which caused extra stress to be placed on the bottom ear of the hanger bearing. When that bottom ear snapped then I had no driveshaft. It was then that I realized that I probably could have removed and installed that driveshaft as two separate pieces, and that would have allowed me to properly torque down that top bolt. Well, a lesson learned.

So Saturday morning I start going from auto parts store to auto parts store with absolutely no luck on parts. And the local guy who could rebuild a driveshaft is up in Minneapolis at the Back to the Fifties car show (It’s probably one of the biggest in the nation and is sponsored by the NSRA). So I’m SOL until Monday.

Monday rolls around. I talk to the guy who repairs drive shafts, and I tell him that I want to repair the old two piece shaft. He prices me parts to repair the old shaft and (from experience with this type of shaft) he quotes me a price on making a new one piece shaft. They are about $30 apart. Two hours and $250 later I’ve got myself a new one piece driveshaft that hasn’t given me trouble in three weeks. Why the hell Chevy decided to go with a two piece driveshaft is beyond me. The V-8 models of those years had a one piece shaft. They must have had extra parts lying around that they wanted to use.
So basically what I’m saying is to check around before you plunk down your hard earned money. I’m not against using the two piece shaft. I just hope that with this info you will not make the same mistakes that I did. Personally I’m happier with the one piece. It’s has fewer parts to cause problems

 

wow, thanks for the story. My wifes camaro has the same set up and when I first saw it I thought "WTF?, why would GM do that?". Once I get the rearend to my car back together I was going to investigate this further. Do you know what the length difference is, if any, between the v8 and v6 models?

 

I just replaced the rearend in my 99 and also noticed the 2 piece. Again.."WTF" and why....

 

Last year I went out and plunked down the money to get the GM factory repair manual for Ruby, and going by those pictures it looks like the V6 driveshaft is a little longer. But the difference in length looks to be only a couple of inches. That's why when I first saw it I was also like "WTF?". The guy who built my new driveshaft needed me to measure from the transmission tailshaft to the center of where the caps would set in your yoke for the differential. Now, being a big guy and there just being oh so much room underneath a Camaro I had to put Ruby up on ramps to get the measurement. It's important to get a measurement as if the Camaro were sitting flat on the ground. Mine was about 44 1/2 if I remember right, but yours will probably be a little different. Hope all of this info helps.

 

The one peice out of the V8 cars fits fine guys.... very supprised nobody in here knew that. Whats worse? Even the 3rd gen driveshaft fits fine.... save yourselves some money.