Hot Rods Let's finish the 50 Chevy pickup

I sent a couple photos, we'll see how it goes

 

Some are but I don't get the same driver all the time, they seem to be mad because they have to work or something.
I thought I had my Tahoe close enough to the garage to keep someone from trying to fit, guess I didn't and that clown didn't even deliver to me, just stopped and took a piss.

 

There is a middle age guy and a young girl that come to my house. They're always polite if I'm home when they deliver. Maybe the guy on your camera is jealous of all the cool shit you've got!! I know I am

 

Hey Brother, I noticed you changed your avatar, very cool!

 

Pouring down rain when FedEx delivered a new electric appliance. I have a sign in my driveway for deliveries to be made to the covered back porch. Driver took it to the back porch, set it down on the top step where the rain was falling and left. If he had pushed it 3 feet farther, it would have been dry. I found it 6 hours later. Called FedEx to ask what the reason for this was and got told that the edge of the porch is considered a barrier, and they cannot cross it. I imagine other carriers have the same rules.

 

Hopefully that guy doesn't know what's in there !
I live on a corner and the street next to the garage is a cut through to the east side inner city, I try to keep a lid on the place from prying eyes.
Bought this place 20 yrs ago and the area has changed a bit, just don't want to give an opportunistic thief an opportunity, there's no southern charm goin on around here LOL

 

Can I tell you guys a story? Then ask a really stupid-ish question? Good deal. A while back i took my driveshaft and a slip yoke to the driveline shop, about 20 minutes away. Needed to be shortened to 55", and put new joints in it. I wrote on the shaft "55" center to center", wrote my name and phone number, all in yellow paint pen. Steve, the guy that owns the shop, works alone, and has been doing this for probably 50 years here, proceeded to put one of those wire tags on the shaft with all of the info repeated. Now Steve doesn't get in a hurry unless you tell him you're broke down or something, and us hot rod guys never rush him, so about 2 months later I went back to get it, and it's missing in action lol... me and Steve looked everywhere. That was a new slip yoke that Bob Lowry sent me! It was zip tied to the end of the shaft. So here I am, I have another slip yoke and another shaft. Needs to be shortened. I'm thinking about grinding the weld, pulling the end, shortening it, and putting it back together myself. Any of you ever do your own? I've done about 3 or 4 in Model A's I've built, never had an issue, but they were pretty short. Steve will hit me for about $125. I can order a new shaft complete from southwest speed for $289 plus shipping. So, any of you guys cut your own driveshaft??

 

I have but it didn't work out well. Helped a friend do one for me , it turned out fine. That is a long shaft though.

 

Guess I'm confused on who is reasonable for the lost driveshaft.

 

Steve is, but I'm not out any money.

 

I got ya.
I haven't done one myself always had a drive line guy, but not anymore.

 

Steve is getting up there in age, I'd guess he's around 75. So he's slowed down a lot. The driveline service is actually for sale. He says he can't get anybody to work, so it's just him in the shop. I'm not gonna give him any shit, he's been good to everybody around here for years, I respect that. I guess I could run over there tmrw to see if he did find it, but my guess is he sold somebody the wrong shaft lol

 

I’ve shortened a couple.
They’re still on the road. Balancing? What’s that
Scribe a couple lines to keep the yoke oriented and phased.
Need something straight and sturdy to clamp the yokes to.
I cleaned up the yoke ends to make sure there were no burrs to mess alignment up.
Measure measure measure.
Tack weld. Flip 180• clamp and measure.
Repeat until tack welded completely around
Burn it in

 

I'm with ya man, wouldn't take much to make a jig to check runout, if you wanted to go that far. I just wanted to verify that I'm not crazy, sounds like I'm amongst friends

 

I have done dozens in a lathe for many people over the years. I have always used a parting tool to shorten and square up the tubing to the yoke mating surface. When completed I always told the customer, if it vibrates, get it balanced, as I had no capability to balance it. What has been said above is the right procedure, measure, scribe, keep everything square. 60 Special

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/hillbilly-tech-drive-shaft-shortening.1227103/

 

I worked in a driveline shop for a minute before I started at my current employer 26 years ago. To answer Lloyd’s question, yes, you can shorten your own driveline. Moriarity’s method is as close as you can get without a lathe and a truing stand. We had truing stand where you would clamp the weld yokes in a fixture at each end. Them a dial indicator is placed at each end and the shaft is turned by hand and the weld yokes were tapped on with a soft hammer until shaft run out was at most .003”. The yoke was then tack welded in 4 spots. Then truing stand also had a very low RPM motor that would turn the shaft while you welded it all the way around. Just remember, if the tube has a dent, no matter how small, that shaft is bent and should be re-tubed. The large majority of the shafts we built were not balanced and they ran smoothly. We did have a balance machine, but didn’t use it often.

 

Don’t feel alone, the FedEx guy forgot to put it in park.

 

I have shortened many without any issues. I use a lathe to cut the shoulder true, then use a square to check the shaft cut and square it up with a sanding disc. Then place the u joint end onto shorted shaft using a nice flat steel bench to get the phase set. If you don't have one a 3 or 4 in diameter end of heavy 1/4 or 3/8 thick square tubing longer than the shaft will work as long as it's straight. Placing a end of angle iron on the shaft can be used to mark the end and the shaft with a scratch awl before cutting. This allows you to check your work. (Have to sand old weld down to shaft level.) I mark both sides of the angle iron and mark the ends to put it back on the same as it came off. You maybe can get the u joint end cutback without a lathe but I only have done it on derby cars and low speed farm equipment. It's so much easier to have a true cut, leave a inch or so when cutting the shaft to put over the spindle jaws allows one to cut the u joint end true. I also taper this back a bit for a stronger weld. With the shaft in phase on the table I tap in the u joint end till it seats, then using a pole clamp to hold it tight, it is tac welded at 90 degrees. Recheck the seating then weld 1/4 way around then go 180 and weld another 1/4, then fill in the other 1/4s. Make sure you have the welder set correctly, You need good pentration and an even bead, put the most heat into the base watch the tube closely so it fuses with a slight weld bulid on the tube, it is thin and a poor weld will weaken it. I use mig. Also note any balance weight and avoid removing and make sure it goes back in the same phase. It's not rocket science but one needs pay attention to the details.

 

I've probably shortened over 100 drive shafts over the years with just a Sawzall, a long piece of 4" channel iron, a tape measure. a sander, a couple clamps, and the welder. Went down about like Mortality's did.

 

I think I told you about the driveline shop being for sale didn't I? You should move down here and buy that joint!!! We'd be like pea's and carrots Andy!

 

You sure did, and if I had the money, I’d be down there building shafts in a heartbeat!!

 

I've shortened a couple. Cut the tube with pipe cutters.
Ground the weld off and cleaned up the end with a thin cutoff wheel in a die grinder,
Tapped it all together, nice fit due to the pipe cutter compressing the inside a little.
Assembled ujoints and yoke and installed in the truck and mounted a dial indicator on a crossmember.
Rotated by hand and tapping the tube to get it close.
Located the spot of most runout and tack welded there.
Repeat rotating and tapping until as straight as possible and tack again.
Weld.
Used them for years.

 

Made some sparks fly this evening on my truck. Cut the driveshaft, measured, tapped, leveled, checked, repeat, tacked, welded. Seems good. Put it in the truck. Welded the battery box in. Gonna put a strap on the sides for some extra support. Made my own shifter. If you look closely, you'll see that it's the column shifter out of my El Camino. It recieved a new lease on life probably put the fuel line in tmrw, and terminate the ignition wiring. Then we'll see if this transmission is good. I'm happy

 

And yes I know I have nuts for spacers on the shifter, I've gotta go get a shorter 3/8 fine thread bolt

 

Getter did

 

Pretty good use of used parts

 

Lloyd, any further support/bracing to the battery tray?

 

Yeah that's why I said I'm gonna put some straps on the sides. It's in my post up there ^