S Spline vs X Spline

On many of our shafts we give you the option of the S spline or X spline. If you choose the X spline you'll get a second set of options, the XB slip yoke and XC slip yoke. Let's break down what that means. 

S stands for "short". The S spline is a conventional spline stub that will yield a safe, effective and usable stroke of 3”. X stands for "extended". The X spline is longer than the S spline. The X spline is cut for the full length of the spline stub. This gives a bit more than twice the contact area between the slip yoke and spline stub and a stroke of 4-1/2". This in and of itself will net more than twice the life on these two components.

The B in XB stands for "boot". With the XB configuration, we will use a heavy rubber boot which is banded down with stainless steel banding to seal all of the contaminates out and keep the grease in. The C in XC stands for "cap", or "dust cap". The XC configuration uses the same slip yoke & spline stub but instead of using the rubber boot, we drill and tap the slip yoke for a grease fitting and use a dust cap which has convolutions that follow the spline stub for sealing. The XB is best for wet and dirty conditions. The XC is best for rocks and extreme wheeling. 

The X spline and XC is what we consider to be the best all-around option and is the most common configuration we use when building shafts. The different yoke-seal options are only available with the X spline. With the S spline the slip yoke will always come with a dust cap, similar to that of the XC slip yoke.