Looking for a shop to shorten my torque tube, anyone have someone local (o.c. la) they can recommend? Also has anyone used the cut to fit kit from speedway- or similar? Good? bad? Thanks
I got the cut to fit from Dick Spadaro, easy to use and have had no problems after several thousand miles.
The *Hot Rod Works* in Nampa, Idaho......I know, I know.....local is good, but Nick and Ken did two of them for me and I am in New Jersey......only cost me $20 each way to ship it to them.......they are top shelf guys and specialists in shortening and resplining banjo drive shafts.......give them a look....here: http://www.hotrodworks.com/ CB
Cooks Machine Shop did my torque tube and driveshaft a few years ago. They know what they're doing. I highly recommend them, like Fogger did.
P.S.: Just don't wear that avatar outfit when you go in there. You'll get better service with a HAMB t-shirt and a pair of Levis.
A very mild sbc, there idea for the driveshaft kit is great and the piece that you use to weld in is good there problem is the actual thickness of the driveshaft, they could have made it the same thickness as an original 32 driveshaft and they would hold up to a heck of a lot more power, I ended up cutting down a stock 32 driveshaft and turning the diameter of the adaptor they supplied and welding it in and beat the hell out of it with no problems......yet.
Why do you need a shop to shorten the Torque Tube? I doesn't need to be balanced, it just needs to be straight and strong. Really no special equipment is required other than a good tube cutter, a grinder and a welder. No rocket science behind it. The drive shaft yes, I would take to a shop, but the TT, I would do at home.
With its flange alignment at the front of the banjo, coupled with center indexing of front driveline bearing (2" long rollers) a misalignment when welding centrifugally would wear those needle rollers in short order. I've clamped-and-welded them before, but spun them on Bonneville Butch's 9-foot engine lathe and cut-and-welded them again. (second time in the bed of the lathe!) They really do flex when being welded, no matter how straight you grind them and how rigidly you clamp them, i.e. angle iron, etc. Good practice to see Cook's. (Oh, Wilcap is now in (or near) Paso Robles, CA.)
One more for Cooks - they've been doing that kind of work longer than the 55 years I've walked the earth
Six Carb I remember when that happened now. Did Dick ever chime in on that? I dont know if I'd use one behind a SBC now after seeing that. However I did shorten my own torque tube by clamping it square with 4 pieces of angle iron and welded my own driveshaft kit from Spadaro and have'nt had any problems with 5000+ miles on with my 239 flatty.
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