Maybe you’ve been following all my posts on here while I got my 512 going and built a 54 pickup around it, including hitting the learning curve hard becoming a 727 builder. I put about 100 miles on the truck so far and I’ve been having a blast!

This morning I put it on my buddy’s dyno and found a bunch of torque down low- a nice flat torque curve almost all over 500 lbs in the operating range I use on the street.

Well my front driveshaft yoke didn’t like all that torque very much! About three blocks from home I experienced a sensation that is unfortunately familiar- I got to use my driveshaft loop. Boo! A helpful neighbor driving by in his pickup truck pulled me home and since I found a universal bearing cap on the ground I was crossing my fingers it was just a U-joint.

I had a pretty bad feeling that wasn’t the whole story because I left a small trail of ATF with a little puddle at the end. The truck is too low to see under without jacking it up so before doing that I walked back over with some kitty litter to see what other prts I could find.

First I picked up some chunks of front yoke. Feeling hopeful? Then some chunks of cast aluminum with threaded areas. Maybe the un-used mounting section near the rear of the tailshaft?

Nope. The universal must have wedged crooked while broken and under power. It ripped the tailshaft off the case, pulling threads here and chunks of trans case there. The busted yoke is stuck hard in there too I bet there’s bent stuff inside. She’s fragged!

So now it’s time to put some sta-bil in the tank and start looking for a new big block 727 core. Good thing I have a bunch of 727 building experience now! I only have 100 miles on fresh clutches and steels and my worked valvebody & deep pan will swap to a new core so this should be more labor than $$ but it still hurts.

Along with building another fresh 727 I plan to get a new driveshaft made and I want to upgrade my 9.25 axle yoke and 727 yoke to the strongest units I can afford without going overboard- it’s only a street hotrod on summer tires not a topfuel car.

What parts do I want to go with and who makes/sells them? Feel free to PM me if you are my guy and any info is appreciated.

Radar