Hello all. Would it hurt anything to remove the front drive shaft in a 4x4 truck? I know this is spinning at all times, therefore it is reducing my fuel economy. The shaft is bolted at the front and splined at the rear. I think there is some sort of u-joint in there. I'm not sure if I could just remove the shaft and call it a day. Do you think there would be much benefit to this? In the end it would only bypass 1 bearing in the transfer case.

 

yep can be done w/ no problem. I've known guys done gears and could only afford to do one axle at a time just disco the front shaft until they could get the front ring & pinion done. Neither guy I know who did it saw any real MPG benefit with it disconnected though...

 

what you have to understand is, is that the hubs aren't ones the can unluck. so all the rotating pieces inside the axle are still spinning so it's not gonna reduce your economy at all... now, if you put some hub lockers on that's a different story

 

Got some pics for ya. As Hammer said, I did a gear change in the rear, but didnt want to do the front. So yeah, I have removed the front drive shaft for the summer months.

Job was fairly simple. I removed the small clamp on the rubber boot and slid the driveshaft yoke out. I then took a piece of hose (1 1/4 i.d. I believe) and slid it inside the rubber boot and over the output of the transfer case to protect the splines from dirt.