In the middle of swapping out my L43 to a W55. Went to mock up the driveshaft yesterday and the front yoke won't go more than an inch or so into the tailshaft without becoming so tight it won't spin by hand. Put some prussian blue on the tailshaft and it definitely seems to be binding on the outside of the yoke.

Anyone else experience this when doing a similar swap?


https://imgur.com/a/z624BK2

 

Did you grease the yoke? I havent had trouble with mine and i went from a L43 to a W58 to now a W55 with the same driveshaft

 

I haven't tried greasing it. Open to trying it though! I'm concerned that something may not be right with either the trans or the yoke because it slips in and out of the L43 pretty easily. I'll try cleaning up the yoke with some Crocus cloth and getting some trans fluid on there and seeing what happens. Also may pull the seal and see if that's causing an issue.

Everything I've read says that it's a direct swap except for the cross member and Speedo cable. Figures mine would give me trouble

 

Check to see if maybe theres a jacked up spline. May need to be smoothed out. Also whats the condition of the tailshaft seal?

 

Took the output shaft seal out tonight and the yoke fit perfectly. Output shaft and driveshaft spin freely and easily. So I guess it was the seal!

Ordered a Timken 710319 from Rock Auto and apparently that was the issue. Going to try another brand and see how that goes.

 

Posting here for posterity. If anyone else runs into this problem, the issue was the tail shaft seal. Apparently the Timken 710319 ID is too small but still listed for the vehicle application. Don't buy the Timken seal.

I ended up going with a National 710319 and it fit like a greased glove.