Is there a front and rear to the drive shaft in a original 69 Z.
thanks

( one peice shaft) what are you asking? the drive shaft has a front yoke and two joints..one in the front and one in the rear(2 joints) ( 1 yoke) ( 1 shaft )..

No. I've seen balance weights on both ends of these shafts and the yokes are the same size.

thanks jim
I removed the front yoke to get the shaft powder coated.

Be careful!!! Powder coating a balanced driveshaft can cause an out of balance problem. The powder coating MUST be evenly applied all around the tube. Any sag or thick spots can cause a vibration. Personally I would paint it instead of powder coating.

thanks for the caution jim

Make sure you clean out and check the bores for the joint cross shaft bearing cups - if these are closed up due to coating in them they can restrict the installation of the bearing cups and cause the yoke assembly to bend and be off-center after press install.
Scrape out the bores and hone to clean/size if needed.

You can often tell 'front' from 'back' on a driveshaft by where the wieghts are placed - they are commonly near the rear yoke, but not always of course ...

john, my shaft has weights on both ends. would laquer thinner remove powder coat paint.

If your trying to remove powdercoating from the area where the bearing cups press in, use a dremel tool.

Or you could use fine sand paper, but this route is going to take awhile to get the powdercoat smoothed out.

john, my shaft has weights on both ends. would laquer thinner remove powder coat paint.

Installing the weights on both ends is pretty common - really depends on how much weight is needed and who did it.
Factory tended to install to the rear to lessen radial loads on the trans yoke end.

As stated above, powder coated, and coatings like 'Jet-Hot', items are pretty impervious to most thinners - that's the whole idea...
You can use sandpaper, a small grinder (go very slow and easy here, you don't want to 'hog-out' the hole weird!) or (my favorite) use a small x-acto knife to chip away at it until you've got it out of the bore.
I then often use a couple quick passes with a brake cylinder hone to make sure the bore is smooth and clean.
Go very easy during your work and don't make the bore so large the bearing doesn't fit correctly anymore or you will be back to 'step-1' ;)

Wouldn't it be best to 'cover' those surfaces, with tape or something else, *before* coating?

Wouldn't it be best to 'cover' those surfaces, with tape or something else, *before* coating?

:yes: - or use corks to plug the various holes :thumbsup:
But, unless you find a very good coater (and supply your own corks sometimes ...) it is hard to get them to do the amount of prep necessary to keep the coatings out of all the holes :sad:
If you try to do it before hand, it will often be knocked out or removed during the necessary cleaning processes.

Thanks guys, I got it cleaned up with a knife and sand paper on a 3/4 round rod. Shaft is in the car and looks good.