Transmission Yoke

I exchange my $250 junkyard AOD and had it rebuilt and it works great, but for some reason the yoke fits into the tail shaft too loose. They said they replaced the tailshaft bushing when they rebuit it. Funny, the first junk yard aod didn't have play.

I had the same problem with my C-4 a while back. First I replaced the tailshaft bushing, and eventually had to replace the Yoke. I got it from a salvage yard, so I don't know what it came out of, but it's around 8" long and it had bigger caps, so I had to get a hybrid U-joint.

Now I'm thinking I may have had the driveshaft shortened too much.

All the new yokes I researched are only 6". What gives?

No, I should've explained better.

I got an AOD from a salvage yard for $250. Suppossedly it was from a '91 Gran Marquis (no tag).

I put it in and checked the driveshaft and slip yoke distance and had it shortened about 1 inch. (Oh, yeah, I also replaced my rear springs) I put the driveshaft assembly in and it fit good with just a tad more than an inch of slip.

Anyway, it only had 1st and 2nd gear, so I took it to a transmission shop and they said it was fried and also didn't think it was a '91, but recomended I take it back to the salvage yard to exchange it.

So I did and ended up with a trans from an '89 Cougar (the tag #s matched that data). Unfortunatly this one too was bad (pump I think). So I took it out and had the shop rebuild this one. It needed a lot of other parts too besides the pump. But for $700 they garanteed it would work.

It works, but the yoke is loose in the tailshaft and you can hear it rattling around when letting off the gas. When you grab it at the back of the yoke, it moves around about 1/8", but if I remove the u-bolts and shove it in about 3/4" further, it's good.

I'm going back to a salvage yard to look for another driveshaft this afternoon.

Thanks for the info. I went to the junk yard un-prepared. All of the driveshafts I could see were still attached to the rear end (I was hoping I could find one laying next to a car with the rear removed. I seen one next to a late model mustang, but it had this HUGE balance damper on it.

So I'll have to bring a shovel with me to get under and un-bolt one and get a look at it. There were a lot of Cougar/Thunderbird driveshafts. Would they be good?

Got a Driveshaft from a '94 Lincoln Town Car. It had the tapered ends 3" from the welds and couldn't be shortened, but it had the long Yoke I needed. So I removed it and just used the yoke. It was in good shape with no measurable wear or noticable marks, excesive rust, scratches or dings. I inserted it into an AOD at the salvage yard to verify fit.

I took it home, cleaned it up, inserted it all the way into the trans, pulled it out 3/4" and measured the center to center distance for the driveshaft, per the instructions from the driveshaft shop. I got 51 1/4"

I went back with the yoke and my original drivshaft to the shop to have it lengthened (new tube) and they will install the yoke I gave them and balance it.

I thought all AODs were the same. Even though they both had the short tailshaft, there was about 1 1/4" difference in the way the yoke went in.

Anyway, I hope to be cruising with it by next Tuesday.