We have been looking for a substitute boot for the ball and trunion front universal joint for a 64 Valiant. I have heard NOS ones are often pretty dry rotted. Any ideas for sources for substitute parts? Any experience with the NOS pieces? How about sources for the internal mechanical parts?

Edit - Oops ( Laysons has the fuel tube mod - Callison has the drive shaft mod) Callison Enterprises (email callent at ais-gwd.com) is supposed to have some type of custom drive line that does away with the ball and trunion (pot joint). From an Ad in the Feb 2004 WPC News.

Also in the Tom Condran book -
He says go to a truck drive shaft place and have a custom
drive shaft made which replaces the trunion joint with a standard
u joint. The custom replacement has a flange to mount to the trans
output shaft that holds the leading half of the u joint. The trailing half
of the u joint goes into a kind of splined slip joint which then fits onto
a mating splined shaft welded to the drive shaft (where the trunion
joint was cut off)

could a CV joint boot be used on the ball and trunion ?

I had the problem of my NAPA old warehouse stock B&T rebuild kit boot split open within about one year of use. So, when I shortened my driveshaft to intall my 8.25 axle I used a Rancho shock boot. The shock mounting end fits exactly over the driveshaft small diameter. Cutting to shorten the shock boot about 3-4 ribs up the boot ensures the boot fits almost exactly around the big diameter. I reused the old clamps but I suppose hose clamps at 180 degrees to each other or even heavy zip ties would work. Two 1/8 inch drainage holes in the boot are at the small end, should not be a problem as not much grease is down at that end. These boots are very flexible and I think CV boots would be not as flexible and hunting for the correct application would take a while. I am always looking for a cheaper and more clever way to "beat the system", so I hope this helps.

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If I keep my car for 20 years, I just might finish it.

B&T conversion:
http://www.earlycuda.org/tech/ujoint.htm

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225