Is a welded driveshaft typical on 73 c bodies?

[Lordofthepings777]

I have a 73 Newport I’ve been redoing the motor on. I decided recently to pull the trans since I thought it might be easier to get the motor in that way. Long story short, I tried to remove my driveshaft by removing the u clips, and I then realized it was welded to the piece connecting to the diff.

This is my first time. I’m mostly curious if this is factory and why it might have been done?

Also- if anybody has any recommendations for easily installing motor/transmission on these cars, I’d love it.

 

[CBODY67]

Not OEM that I have ever seen on any car.

You should be able to grind those beads off with a Dremel tool or stouter and get a new u-joint for the rear of the shaft and smooth the rear axle yoke u-joint cap saddles so everything seats well again.

CBODY67

 

[Big_John]

Not factory for sure....

Someone did a really half assed repair. I agree with @CBODY67 and get the Dremel and grind those off.

 

[Lefty71]

Not OEM that I have ever seen on any car.

Not factory for sure....

When i see stuff like that, my mind instantly jumps to "what else did that guy do"???

 

[71Polara383]

If i had to guess...that yoke was screwed up from a prior u-joint failure, and it kept chucking u joints, so they welded it instead of changing the yoke.

Just a guess. I cant see any other reason to do this.

 

[CBODY67]

You might look on the car's floorpan for "contact marks and dents" of a flopping around driveshaft?

Some rear axle yokes have small tabs on the outside of the saddle where the u-joint caps reside. Perhaps the tack-welds were an effort to mimic that? To ensure that everything stayed "centered" in the yoke's saddles?

For now, though, just focus on getting things back together, reliably. To get things back on the road and reliably useable.

CBODY67

 

[MONC440]

When i see stuff like that, my mind instantly jumps to "what else did that guy do"???

Agreed, Odds are the guy didn't know what he was doing when installing the new u-joint and didn't install the new snap rings. The caps started to walk out after driving it so they welded it to band aid it. I have seen this before. We have a saying at work, stop, call, wait. When you find something you don't know how to fix, stop what you are doing, call for help, and wait until you get help.

 

[JimmyG]

I have seen this before. Unfortunately there was a period where some installers though that it was good "insurance" to lay a bead on the caps,....never liked it personally, but as stated, I have seen it before. Darn chevvy guys!

 

[Lefty71]

it was good "insurance" to lay a bead on the caps,....never liked it personally, but as stated, I have seen it before. Darn chevvy guys!

May as well hit the straps and bolts while you are in there lol.....never know what might shake loose.