Machinos

I've got a '71 Dodge motorhome that has been sitting in a field for the last 3 years, since I was in the middle of tearing into it for a restoration when it suddenly quit starting. It died parked on the street and I had to have it towed to where it is now while I was out of town. Just yesterday I FINALLY got it started and running, only to find out that the tow truck driver never reconnected the driveshaft to the rear axle. The driveshaft was duct taped up to the frame, which would have been fine, but the caps to hold it to the pinion yoke are nowhere to be found.

So I need four replacement bolts and two replacement caps... I got rough measurements of the size of the u-joint/yoke, and assumed that I could get them off the '85 D350 gasser chassis that I have. Unfortunately (and strangely) the '85 parts are much smaller. The motorhome is a Class A, I believe "M-375" chassis, which as I recall only has a GVWR of 11k and is also of course a gasser, so I expected them to be the same.

It LOOKS like my diesel truck has the same size u-joint/yoke. I figured I could temporarily remove the caps and bolts to see if they fit the motorhome, but they seemed to have 8mm heads... one bolt I got out fine, another was rounded off, another had a 12 point head instead of 6 point... s now I've got two problems!

1. Is there any chance I can get the parts I need for the motorhome without trying to find a matching axle in a junkyard? The shop manual says the bolts are either 1/4-28 or 5/16-24 (probably 5/16), and the u-joint has a part number of 5380.

2. What can I do about the mismatched/messed up bolts on my '90? It's fine now, but if I ever need to take the rear driveshaft out and put it back in I think I'm screwed without new parts.

Hope someone can help!

wannadiesel

Any auto parts store that sells the "Help" line of products can hook you up.

Should be #81006.