In the process of building a low buck AV8. Cobbled together 3 roached V8 banjo rears to make one. In the process mixed up all the parts. Shortened the tube to fit and had the shaft I thought was its mate shortened the same amount I took out of the tube. In the photo I have 1/4' of shaft sticking out past the torque tube bell. Is this in the ballpark??
Over the years of working with banjo rear axle assemblies I have seen the drive shaft flush with torque tube bell end, 1/8 " deep and 1/8" proud. You'll probably be okay.
I've done several, usually the chamfered end of the splines is about an 1/8", and thats what sticks out when you lay a straight edge across the bell. Same thing if you look at a stock shaft & tube.
What you have sticking out now looks pretty much right from memory . Oh wait I can check my 32 PU it has no engine or trans at present. Awaiting a leaking trans rebuild and a mystery heart murmur in the cragar head B4.
I crafted my words very carefully to portray my situation. I'm shocked that some of the good and honorable people here on the HAMB could have interpreted it differently! From the shaft length responses from the people in the know, I think I'll shorten mine up about 3/16" as when I had it installed it seemed the trans was somewhat tighter than without.
I'm not familiar with the shaft exposure of others. I know where I want mine to be, and which lube works best, but for others I'd have to say do what feels right to you when you're ready to penetr...insert the shaft. If the 2 parts are already familiar there shouldn't be a lot of concern as to whether it will hurt anything going in. Clearly you'd want it in the right spot because if it got shoved in where it didn't belong that's some shit you wouldn't wanna deal with. And I'm sure you'd hear a lot of noise after, none of it pleasant. Most have plenty of depth and can take anything near standard sizes. In fact its designed to go in and out for a lifetime so it would have to be really long to cause an issue. Does that help?
Ok, real answer now. One look into the U-joint should tell you how deep the splines went in and how much in/out travel was normal. It is a slip joint of sorts and as long as it isn't bottomed out you're fine. It looks ok in the pics.
What an unfortunate thread title, the replies went as expected. That being addressed, Mac Van Pelt would be the one I would check with. If anyone could say for sure it's him. From where I'm sitting your shaft looks good where it is.
Since I didnt see this mentioned the main concern is the speedometer drive. If it fits with the snap ring in place all is well. If you cant get that ring in place that's how much it still needs shortened.
Thanks to all who responded. I confess. I worded my topic purposely to be "click bait" and you all bit. Hope everyone got a chuckle out of it, and I assume we all got a good handle on the proper length of our shafts now. I know I did and will make the necessary adjustments thanks to the tribal knowledge of the HAMB.
Welp...I cant imagine the shaft 1/4" inside the bell. Before my auction about 2 years ago I had about 20 Ford rearends here, and all had about an 1/8" proud of the bell. Perhaps we should look at a different view, measure from the bottom of the cavity where the bearing rides to the snap ring groove as mentioned above by @62pan. It does not need to be precise, but needs to be close or the speedo drive gear can float around, perhaps cause problems? Don't know, I always used the 1/8" proud plan
When other fellas report it that their on topic posts get knocked down the pages a lot faster, Mods clean it up. That’s understandable. Thanks.
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