I hope you have free wheelin hubs....
The op sounds like he needs to use a limiter on his front suspension or fix the trans drop, or have a shaft made for the angles he seems to be seeing...
You don't split or break flange yokes or h yokes unless you put them in Bind and force them to break...
I do have "free wheelin hubs". I have the Dynatrac manual hub conversion kit with the Dynaloc manual hubs. I installed them around March/April of this year in preparation for the 10,000 mile Alaska trip I took in July.
This isn't the best picture, but yes I have limit straps for the front suspension as well.
Where did the flange break ?
My flange broke in the EXACT spot as Ty's did posted above...the area circled in red broke on both sides. The drive shaft then slung around and shattered the electronics on the transfer case.
Here's a picture of what was going on when the shaft broke. I'm convinced that it was previously cracked, and nothing I did here was the root cause. In fact, the passenger front tire was hanging into the ravine in mid air, and the driver's side front tire was barely touching the ground at all...in fact, it would spin at an idle.
I don't have a typical "lift". I have a Carli Suspension 2.65" kit with rear leaves, track bar, sway bar, 4" rear bumps, etc. The truck sits about 2.5" higher in front than stock, and 0.5" in rear, but is adjustable with the LT Carli air bags. Front travel is ~10" and rear ~12".
You broke a set of Carli BJs?
Unfortunately, yes. Here's what I saw when I looked under the truck:
Both sides are exactly the same. The lower BJs sheared on the tapered stud, so the threaded piece and nut are missing in action.
I called Sage, and he said they had a bad initial run on some of the ball joints, and they've significantly improved things since the ones I have. He's sending a new set out (timeframe unknown) for free since they have a lifetime warranty.
The bad news is I think they broke on the way back from Alaska pulling the camper. Significant play has developed, including in the axle shafts. The outer stub axles and u-joints seem fine (just replaced when I did the Dynatrac install), but the inner axles are worn BADLY.
It's hard to get a picture, but here you can see the flange around the u-joint is egged and worn:
It has also worn the axle shaft out by allowing back and forth play. The joint is loose up-down, side-to-side, around, etc
I presume this occured when the lower BJs broke, allowing the front wheels to be loose. This looseness causes the front hub u-joint to wobble when engaged. We had the front hubs locked for probably around 500 miles of gravel/dirt roads through Alaska and British Columbia.
So, now I'm looking for an upgraded front driveline as well as some chromoly inner axle shafts for the front...
--Eric