propshaft removed = insanity

[thesyguy]

I removed the propshaft lfrom my Sy last week to send it out to have the front boot replaced. WOW what a difference. This thing has no traction at all! It is actually kind of fun. If I feather the throttle out of the hole I can get it to roll out pretty good and then leave a good 10-15 feet of rubber into second! This is with 315s on the rear! I guess this is just testament to how much power these little motors produce!

Of course I end up next to 2002 or 3 Lightning at a set of lights. I didn't even bother trying to run him. I'll catch up with him next week, when the shaft is back in. 8)

Vinny
Sy #2091

 

[tbauer03]

I just went through the same thing last week. I had no front propshaft in an obiously i had no traction i don't have 315's either so my problem may have been more severe. but i ended up at a light with a lightning and he really wanted to go. I really didn't but he pissed me off by honking his horn and reving his engine so i figured why not. Instead of trying to launch it i just started from an idle and let it roll a tad bit and then punched it. Didn't spin to much in first but after the turbo was spooled up and it slammed into second the truck nearly went sideways without any traction. at this point the lightning had a pretty good jump on me. but after that i had traction and his distance never increased from mine and i was keeping up pretty well with him about 2 car lengths behind the whole time plus my iginition has problems. I figure next time when everything is fix i will bet the kid money on a race since he is probably confident now. It is a red lightning with a plate saying SVT.

 

[thesyguy]

Isn't it amazing how the rear end will just swing out like that in second! :shocked!: It scares the crap out of me! Unfortunately it looks like I may be without the shaft a little longer, the shop wants to replace the u-joints in the double carden joint as well. These guys are friends of mine and are only doing what they know is best so I don't break at the track in a couple of weeks.

Vinny

 

[AXXE]

I have my WG rod adjusted really tight, so boost comes on fast. When I had the propshaft out, it was hard to drive without spinning the tires. It was a lot of fun.

 

[Falco]

Easy with the 2wd trucks, guys. There were an argue over this several times, but according to some people you can ruin your transfer using it without the propshaft for an extended length of time.

Peace,

 

[Tydriver]

Easy with the 2wd trucks, guys. There were an argue over this several times, but according to some people you can ruin your transfer using it without the propshaft for an extended length of time.

Peace,

I ran all the way back from GB '01 in RWD mode (think big smokey burnouts at nats) to Indianapolis. Ran around town for a while (ok a couple of months), prolly put like 2000-2500 miles on my truck in RWD mode.

Still kicking, well the tranny was happier it was able to blow the skins off and not sweat the traction issue. I did finally re-install the front shaft again and all was good. I miss the AWD for sure. Put a big smile on my face doing that first BOOST launch with the shaft back in.

I've heard the rumors, but can tell ya first hand never had an issue with it myself. I CAN SAY, make sure you use the emergency brake when parking. The truck will CREEP indefinitely with NO front shaft if its parked on an incline. Due to the design of the Xfer case its going to creep when massive amounts of torque are applied to it (like parking on a hill).

 

[tbauer03]

everything tydriver just said is absolutly true. I drove about a 1000 miles without the shaft and had no problems. And the truck does roll backwards! I luckily found that out when i was cleaning out the inside of it. It is a very slow roll and not very noticably but after about hour you will notice it has moved about a yard (really depends on the incline) i was lucky i did not parrellel park on a big hill between some cars.

 

[bigtime]

Ok, the shaft is out and there is nothing locking the front. Soooooo
what happens to the power (35%) that the transfer case directs to
the front????????? Is it just lost and now you have 35% less power
being sent to the ground? I would believe that you are going to
overheat the transfer case fluid as it has nothing to control where
the power is going.

 

[Captain Morgan]

i hate driving w/o my propshaft in, especially if someone has a stone driveway the damn tires just sink. I have 315's also, I still hate it. I drove my buddies Turbo Buick home from the track the other week and I just couldnt stop from chirping the tires. I'll never go back to 2WD, I just cant do it anymore, lol.

 

[myclone]

Ok, the shaft is out and there is nothing locking the front. Soooooo
what happens to the power (35%) that the transfer case directs to
the front????????? Is it just lost and now you have 35% less power
being sent to the ground?

Nope.. 100% of the power now gets sent to the rear wheels. You dont just lose 35%. The output for the front shaft spins but since its not hooked to anything to use up any hp/tq it all goes to the rear wheels. If youre making 500hp it doesnt care where it goes and if there is only one outlet for it (rear drive shaft) thats where it will go. Put the front drive shaft back in while still making 500hp and some of it goes to the front wheels since there is a path for it. No matter what configuration you do it with your still putting 500hp to the ground either through all four wheels or just two.

I would believe that you are going to
overheat the transfer case fluid as it has nothing to control where
the power is going.

My understanding of the xfer case is that it uses viscous coupling (shearing of fluid) to direct the power. Since the front drive shaft is out there is no resistance on one side of the shear so you actually probably keep the xfer case fluid more cool in 2wd. On the other hand if you want to heat the fluid and damage the xfer case put the back tires in water and the front tires on dry pavement and do a 2wd style burnout. That shears the fluid in the coupling in a BIG way which makes it get HOT quick. Same principal as the torque converter. Least thats the way I understand it (wheather its actually right or not is another matter )

 

[bigtime]

Nope.. 100% of the power now gets sent to the rear wheels. Y

Nope.. 100% of the power now gets sent to the rear wheels. Y

So I can take out my front shaft and dyno it????

 

[myclone]

Re: Nope.. 100% of the power now gets sent to the rear wheel

Re: Nope.. 100% of the power now gets sent to the rear wheel

So I can take out my front shaft and dyno it????

Yep. Been done by a few ppl on here that way.

 

[ItsMyTy]

Yeah, running with a driveshaft taken out or mismatched tires will shorten the transfer case's life. Straight from the books of GM.

 

[JSM]

Straight from the books of GM.

[sarcasam]That must have been all the research GM put into the syty's. [/sarcasm]

 

[ParTyBoy]

Ok, the shaft is out and there is nothing locking the front. Soooooo
what happens to the power (35%) that the transfer case directs to
the front????????? Is it just lost and now you have 35% less power
being sent to the ground? I would believe that you are going to
overheat the transfer case fluid as it has nothing to control where
the power is going.

Back in 1998-99 Ivan contacted the engineers behind our x-case & asked questions regarding the effects of driving with front propshaft out... Basically end result was that the viscous coupling would burn out much faster than normal... switching your x-case (tranny)fluid can not help the viscous coupling as they are seperated from each other... So if the damage is done there's no way to fix it but buy a new transfer case as the viscous coupling is not serviceable from what i remember..

 

[Don W.]

Speakin of goin sidways in 2wd, my old rod, and I mean old, was a 65 GMC (full size, no S15's back then) with a 400 inch Olds V8 and a Muncy 4sp. I used to go a little sidways up onramps, hit the fwy at 90 or so, then slow down so no ticket.

Great fun.

If I did that today on the same onramp I'd hit 'bout 20 cars doin 45, oh well...

Don

 

[ItsMyTy]

Since it's the exact same transfer case in the Astro/Safari van, and a few other applications, I'm guessing that's how GM researched it's weaknesses.

 

[DanenGraham]

when i had the thing out, it spun a little, 1st off the line the tires would chirp, then at about 5mph tires instantly spin, second it would continue to spin holding at 55mph all the way up to 55mph then shift into 3rd and cirp them again. i pulled a z28 doing this.

Also fun going 35-40 slam gas and as soon as it hits the downshift, spinning.

try rolling at 10mph give gas and brk at same time, and big rolling burnouts

 

[myclone]

try rolling at 10mph give gas and brk at same time, and big rolling burnouts

He, he... BTDT... More fun than a barrel of drunk monkeys (yeesh, that was BAD!!)