Shortened drive shaft?

Ive been searching and can't find my answer so I guess its time to ask.. When lowering the rear end of these trucks (b2200) is it necessary to shorten the rear end? Ive got 3" blocks with main and helper leaf. Ive been noticing a noise since ive done my drop in 5th gear at lower rpms.. but I also just spotted that my driver side block has shifted a bit. Fixing that now, but curious on the shaft. Thanks

you could have possibly shifted you rearend . also check your gear oil in your diff. i dont think you need to shorten the drive shaft.

NO you should not have too at all and if someone tells you that yoou do they are very mistaken

well id say 1 of 3 things or a combo of the 3..
1- your pinion angle is out to lunch causing your u joints to move alot more than they should..
2- (if you have a 2 piece drive shaft) your carrier bearing is not a happy camper due to the different angle..
3- becuase of the raised angle. your driveshaft is now FULLY in the rear housing of the transmission causing a howling sound when you go over bumps at higher speeds...

these are all things i have heard and had to deal with.. so im just passing th info off to you..

steve

Thanks for the replys.

On my old stanard cab short bed with a one piece drive line after I bagged it, there was a noise and it turned out to be the metal cage type thing on the front of the drive line(it sits around the outside of the tail shaft) hitting the trans. I cut it off and never had another problem

Im going to be completely honest and say I don't know how to fix any of those problems. This is my first ever truck and I thought I was doing pretty well so far.. But this is above my head. What could I do in these cases? I got everything lined up last night once again to where it should be. But one side had to be forced by hand to bring it parallel with the other side.

OK well i would find someone in your area that could lend a hand.

when you pulled your leafs did you make sure to put a bolt of some sort back in the hole for the blocks to sit on. I know the factory one wont work and you need to change it. but it needs to be there to keep it aligned.

Yea I actually put the stock bolts back in the leaves when I put it all back together. It all seemed to hold when I tightened it all down. But that bolt head did seem kinda small to hold the blocks, but I wasn't sure what else to do about it.