Here's the scoop dropped the rear drive shaft on the way home from buying it. Guy didn't put the clips to hold the U joint in the drive shaft. Anyway took four different U joints till I found the correct size. 1.063 caps and 3.62 length. My problem now is the caps are not staying in the yoke on the diff. The are no retainer tabs on the yoke to keep the caps from spinning out after the straps are tightened. So I took it for a test drive and sure enough it flung the caps out of the diff yoke. I've got Spicer U joints but they do not have the clips that go on the bearing caps and no groove for them either. Anyone have a solution to this?

 

Yep.

Get the right U-joints; there will be a C-clip to go on the INSIDE of the cap.

According to the lists at RockAuto, they're the same as my truck (a 1988) for the rear drive shaft.

Try a Moog 316, ACDelco 45U0124, Dana 51309X, Dana 5811X, Moog 248, or a ACDelco 45U0138 (the Dana # is the Spicer # since it's the same company).

If nothing else, order them from RockAuto. Or you can take the part numbers, Google them, and work from there.

You can also Google the Mopar part number, 4504575, and work from there.

The 1995 factory service manual is linked to in the FAQ here, also, a copy of the parts list. Look about 40% of the way down in the FAQ message.

RwP

 

RalphP
yeah you would think so I have a 93' and the 316's work real nice in it. The rub is that it's a one piece factory aluminum/carbon drive shaft so the U joints are a different size and part number. This is reason I'm asking because on my other dakota 2wd the yoke on the diff has tabs that align and hold the bearing caps in.

 

Then it's not the factory drive shaft; but the diff SHOULD be catching on the clips anyway. If not, you may need a new yoke adapter for it.

RwP

 

Tack weld the ears on the yoke so it will stay in place.

 

I thought I would chime in ,same problem with my 94 ram ,being oldschool Ithought the yokes and bearing caps were the same ,they're not, measure the yokes and bearing caps for size and and length ,some how the engineers made them to fit a specific way, cost me that same driveshaft .

 

Yeah and it just keeps going driveshaft is abent. Now on the hunt for a replacement that is not uh 400 bucks or more.

 

Hit up car-part.com and see if they show a driveshaft to fit your truck.

Too bad you're not local; there's a few at the UAPI chain, and they get like $20 a section (the whole driveshaft for a one piece shaft.)

RwP

 

so here are some snaps of the driveshafts P/N tags one was manufactured in 93 and the other 94. Both of these shafts are bad. They are 71" from output shaft to U joint yoke.

 

In the beginning of this post, you said you had spicer u-joints.
What was the part number?
Looking at rockauto they show a 51309x
The picture shows inner clips.
Is it possible the box was marked wrong?

At this point, since you need a new driveshaft, you may want to just get one made local, if possible. I had a shaft made for my truck when I swapped the trans to a nv3500 and the rear to a 8.8 ford. New joints, shaft, balancing etc. was about 200 dollars.