Thread: Turbo 350 tail shaft?

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Hey guys, I bought a rebuilt turbo 350 for my 1977 chevy. The guy told me it came out of a 1977 shortbed, but all that is different is the longer driveshaft (which i already have). Im looking at my old tranny and the new one and the tail section of the old one is about 3 inches longer. Can I just switch the tail section with the one from my old tranny? Or is it more complex than that? Just looking for some direction here. Thanks, Josh

Hello Josh, Unfortunately you have have to disassemble the tranny, as the output shaft comes out the front. The turbo 350's came in 3 different lengths,I think the new trans you have will likely need the 2-piece driveshaft and steady bearing.
All the best,Brian

Josh, either get the correct trans tailhousing lenth, or measure the difference and take your driveshaft to wrecking and pick up one correct lenth. You can get a one piece drive shaft, if thats what you have, for even the long bed. I have a long bed, with short th350 and a one piece driveshaft. The bad thing about switching tail shafts, is it is the second piece you install when reassembling the trans. So it all has to come apart. Alot of work, and if you are not expierenced in rebuilding, quite a mess. Also a couple of special tools are required to do this.

They come in 6", 9" and 12","dlotraf33". has the easiest solution for you.

Originally Posted by dlotraf33

Josh, either get the correct trans tailhousing lenth, or measure the difference and take your driveshaft to wrecking and pick up one correct lenth. You can get a one piece drive shaft, if thats what you have, for even the long bed. I have a long bed, with short th350 and a one piece driveshaft. The bad thing about switching tail shafts, is it is the second piece you install when reassembling the trans. So it all has to come apart. Alot of work, and if you are not expierenced in rebuilding, quite a mess. Also a couple of special tools are required to do this.

Ok, So if I went to a junkyard I could find a one piece for a longbed? Because I just checked mine and it is the two piece. But if I got the one piece id still have to get it extended? or do they make a stock one for the longbed with a short shaft? Thanks, Josh

Ok, so I did some research and I found out that a guy had a 1977 chevy 2wd longbed with a short shaft turbo 350, and he used a driveshaft out of a 1988-1998 2wd longbed chevy (one piece) and said it worked fine. Does this sound right? Did they come longer that year or something? Also, could I use a drive shaft out of an extended cab chevy? Maybe this would make up the three inches I need for the short shaft. Just looking for some input. Josh

Jsmith, that sounds right. My son didnt get u bolts tight when we put rebuilt trans in truck, and drive shaft came out and bent. I sent him to the wrecking yard and he came back with drive shaft, I think he said those were aprox years. I usually just take my tapemeasure and find one that is correct lenth. Although some wrecking yards are like the K-Mart auto parts stores and if they can't look it up by application they don't know what to do. I would try that make and model, but also make sure the ujoint at diff is same width, they used small and large ujoints. I think the small joints were only in older trucks pre 75 aprox. though.

hey dlotraf33 can you tell me whats the length of your new driveshaft i have a 84 c10 longbed 383 with th350 short tail and need to get new driveshaft. help me out please