Somehow I managed to lose ALL the bolts holding the drive shaft flange onto the third member and dropped my drive shaft last night. (I live 3 miles up a VERY rough back-country road...I think they just vibrated loose)

Now I don't even have ONE bolt to compare when I go shopping to get replacements, and haynes/chilton are no help.

Could someone run out to their rig right quick and at least find out:

1) What size head it is (10, 11 or 12mm)

And

2) Is it a through-bolt (nut and bolt combo) or does it thread into the third member


Any help would be greatly appreciated, and obviously the sooner the better.

 

nut bolt combo, mine are 12mm, in my 73

 

Excellent. THANKS! (I just hope the same holds true for my 77)

I seemed to recall they were either 10 or 12 mm, and that they were through-bolts, but after so many projects and repairs over time the sizes and styles of bolts tends to get blurry in the memory.

 

my 85 is through bolts, I believe 12's as wel.. I only have 2...I need to get a couple more as well. My worry though is that they are machined threadless for a bit and then turn threaded. would this matter if the bolt was of the correct size if fully threaded?

 

IMHO if they are 'plain shank' partway then that is what they should be replaced with. The reason for this is that, as a through bolt the shank is exposed to shear stress (from the rotation) as well as tension (from the clamping) and a threaded shank is smaller in diameter than a plain shank. If there were a load bearing 'locator' key way on the mating surfaces, I wouldn't worry as much, but to my knowledge there is not.

AS A TEMPORARY MEASURE, if you are unable to locate the correct bolts, a grade 8 or better full thread shank should hold just fine until you are able to get the correct pieces...so long as you don't abuse your ride until then.

 

My 99 Takes a 14mm or 9/16" wrench. So yes, I think that's going to be a 12mmx1.25 but I'm unsure of the length. Probably about 1", these bolts seem to be a special type of bolt with the proper size shank to fit the flanges correctly. btw, my 99 Taco is running a 89 pretaco rear and it was a direct bolt in. Sounds like it's time for some red Loctite for you.

 

12mm bolt seems correct, the head mightve been a 14mm.

 

hahahahawe're wrong. I was at the shop the other day and thought of this thread and grabbed a bolt that a 14mm wrench fit and checked it on my bolt gauge and it's 10mm. So the driveshaft flange bolts should be 10mm x 1.25 and still unsure of the length since I don't have any on the bench and my truck is low and I just showered.