Whats the benefit of removing the front shaft?

[Mikester]

Hi,

first of all, I got my 95' Sierra finally on the street in germany...after some 14 months of restoration and a couple of grands spent.

I had to find a front shaft because it was missing when I first bought the car in the Netherlands. I am wondering what the benefit would be doing this. I wont be using 4x4 much so I consider removing it again if it does improve anything (mileage etc??).

Any comment would be welcome.

 

[df2x4]

If I were you, I'd make sure that the gears in the front differential are the same ratio as the rear. That's the most common reason I'm aware of that people remove the front shaft... Replacing the gears in the rear diff and not having the money to do the front. If you engage 4WD and the gearing doesn't match in your differentials, you'll be breaking things pretty quickly.

 

[Mikester]

Thx df, that makes sense.

Other than that no benefits like noise, mileage?

 

[shovelbill]

Thx df, that makes sense.

Other than that no benefits like noise, mileage?

i just got my '98 so i'm not all sure on the front differential, or the differences between the manual lever and the electric switch 4X4. i'd never opt for the electric system, that's for sure......i used to pull them on my old K-5s, any solid axle for that matter, to save on mileage and wear and tear in the non-snowy months. manual hubs were the way to go...i did swap in a rear and not do the front right away.....different size tires, front to rear?

 

[Supercharged111]

No benefit to shaft removal, in 2WD it doesn't spin at all.

 

[90halfton]

What sc111 said. 4wd trucks usually lack a little in mileage due to parasitic drag of the transfer case and added weight of tcase, front differential. When in 2wd you're still driving the rear axle through the tcase.

 

[Supercharged111]

I'll clarify more. When in 2WD, the diff disengages the right axle. What ends up happening is only the left axle spins up the diff guts, so the right side is probably spinning backwards the whole time but with no load. Essentially the right axle has a non-syncronized manual shifting mechanism which is why you can shift on the fly, but it lacks a blocker ring so you shouldn't engage it if the rears are spinning. Because of the decoupling of the diff and its lack of spinning and the t-case's disengagement, the front shaft's existence is irrelevant WRT mpg.